Proposed changes to Queensland's Environmental Protection Regulation open for submissions

Further to our update in August on the Environmental Protection (Greentape Reduction) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2012 (Qld) amendments to the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) (EP Act), the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) has released the proposed changes to the Environmental Protection Regulation 2008 (Qld) (EP Reg) as part of the Greentape Reduction Project. These changes can be found in detail here.

There are three key initiatives which form the basis of the changes. These are:

1. Removing 29 Environmentally Relevant Activities from the EP Reg. These activities have all been identified by the DEHP as 'low risk' when assessed against considerations such as amenity issues, potential water contaminants and whether the general environmental duty is sufficient to control the ERA. It is said that deleting some of these activities will bring Queensland into line with other states, which currently do not regulate low-risk