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Environmental enforcement and compliance penalties reviewed

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

The Department for Mines and Petroleum has issued fines totaling $30,000 for two companies under the department’s environmental compliance and enforcement regime for mining and exploration operations.
A fine-in-lieu-of-forfeiture of $20,000 was issued to Reed Resources’ Barrambie Vanadium Project, located 70 kilometres north east of the town of Sandstone, for breach of several environmental conditions.
The department’s Director of Environment Phil Gorey said Reed Resources failed to comply with the conditions for rehabilitation of their exploration activities.
“Condition breeches included failing to cap surface holes and remove waste, as well as clearing vegetation outside of the area approved by the department,” he said.
Holcim Australia was issued a fine of $10,000 for the breach of tenement conditions at the Newman Hard Rock Quarry.
The company had also cleared vegetation outside of its approved plan of activity.
“The department is responsible for administering mining and petroleum legislation in Western Australia and its compliance and enforcement regime is designed to ensure that operators prevent any unnecessary harm to the environment,” he said.
“We have spent considerable effort improving the quality of our assessment and approvals systems, and we know that an effective enforcement and compliance regime is essential to ensure the integrity of the State’s environmental approval system.
“The department will also pursue penalties where required as a deterrent to non-compliance.”
As the result of a recent departmental review of its compliance and enforcement regime, a number of changes have been implemented to ensure positive environmental outcomes were achieved through compliance.
Dr Gorey said that the department’s compliance and inspection activities were identifying that the level of compliance by operators is generally high, with common areas of non-compliance able to be quickly or easily remedied by operators without lasting environmental damage. However where serious non-compliance is identified, the department’s regime allows this to be investigated and dealt with swiftly.
“Most mining and petroleum operators give environmental protection a high profile and it is only a few cases where we find examples of serious non-compliance.
Dr Gorey said this would include a focus on ensuring penalties were commensurate to the nature of the breach.
For example, penalties applied to the mining industry for any breaches will more broadly reflect aggravating factors such as: recidivist behaviour; culpability; where actual environmental harm occurs; and impact or potential impact on an area of defined environmental significance;
For all serious offences and those for which a calculated fine is greater than $50,000, the Minister can consider whether forfeiture of the tenement or title or a prosecution is appropriate.
Dr Gorey said upgrades to internal systems will also enable better recording of compliance information.
“This will allow environmental officers to access tenement compliance history, ensure accurate reporting to stakeholders, and facilitate a more accurate assessment of performance across the sector.”
Dr Gorey said that it was important for companies to ensure that they have received the necessary approvals for operations before undertaking works, including any expansions to approved plans.

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