Introduction
Last Friday afternoon the Minister for Energy and Environment
made broad changes
to a number of the scheduled activities listed in Schedule 1 of the
Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (the POEO
Act).
These changes alter the way a number of key scheduled activities
are regulated in NSW.
This means that some activities which previously needed an
Environment Protection Licence (EPL), may no
longer need one, and other activities now do require an EPL to be
undertaken. These changes, among other things, impact railway
systems activities, crushing, grinding and separating activities,
and extractive activities.
What amendments were made and how?
The changes to Schedule 1 of the POEO Act have been introduced
by the Protection of the Environment Operations Legislation
Amendment (Scheduled Activities) Regulation 2019 (the
Amendment Regulation). The EPA exhibited a
consultation draft of the changes to the public back in 2016.
