Policy and better regulation
The EPA continues to lead and participate in a range of programs for the identification and implementation of more effective regulation and regulatory processes at local, state, national and international levels.
Key achievements for 2013–14 include the following.
Heads of the EPA (HEPA) forum
Following the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) decision to abolish the Standing Council on Environment and Water, the heads of the state and territory environment protection regulators agreed, in early 2014, to establish a collegiate forum. To be known as Heads of EPA (HEPA), the group aims to provide a setting for Australian environmental regulators to collaborate, share knowledge, develop joint policy and discuss issues of common or national interest.
International project on measuring environmental compliance
The EPA worked in partnership with its Victorian counterpart to represent Australia on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) project to consider improvements to measuring environmental compliance, and designing analytically sound and policy relevant indicators. The project also drew on experience and expertise from other OECD member countries, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland. It aims to help environmental enforcement authorities (EEAs) strengthen the design of environmental compliance measures, and make their outcome performance more effective, efficient and open to potential benchmarking across different subnational EEAs. The final OECD report will be used to improve the EPA’s existing performance measures and develop better outcome-focused compliance performance measures.
Harms problem solving approach
The EPA is committed to identifying important external environmental problems and resolving them in an effective way.
This is the basis of the harms-based problem solving approach, which has seen over 160 staff undergo training and four pilot projects in 2013–14.
Pilot projects focused on:
- Waste disposal from stormwater gross pollutant trap maintenance.
- Compliance and emission controls of major licensees.
- Landfill leachate contamination to groundwater.
- Generation and disposal of waste asbestos.
Due to the success of the pilot projects, harms problem-solving projects will be an ongoing program for the EP
Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulators neTwork (AELERT)
In May 2014, CE Tony Circelli was appointed as the new Chair of AELERT. This is a cross‑jurisdictional network established to improve operational effectiveness, enhance regulatory compliance capacity and promote consistency of approach to operational regulatory reform for its member agencies. Mr Circelli has been South Australia’s AELERT Jurisdictional Representative since 2010 and Vice Chair since 2011. The AELERT Secretariat will also move to South Australia so it can continue to unearth, broker, coordinate and promote participation, knowledge exchange and connection across AELERT’s broad member base.
Desalination legislation
In November 2013, desalination became a specific prescribed activity under the EP Act. This applies to plants with a water production capacity of more than 200 kilolitres per day and extends licensing requirements to include desalination plants that:
- discharge waste to land
- discharge waste that does not contain chemical additives
- comprise networks of small plants that desalinate water underground, and are within a 1-km2 area.
Under the reforms, all proposed developments of desalination plants requiring a licence under the EP Act will be referred to the EPA for assessment.
Review of the Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy 2003
Consultation was undertaken for the Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy 2003 (Water Quality Policy), and further drafting instructions commenced as a result of feedback. The EPA also began preparing a framework for setting appropriate environmental values and a water quality monitoring approach. The monitoring approach is consistent with the National Water Quality Guidelines.
The main changes proposed to the policy are the replacement of mandatory water quality criteria with national water quality guidelines that trigger a risk-based assessment for determining the relevant impact on the environment, in line with the general environmental duty under the EP Act.
The consultation included public meetings in Adelaide, Port Pirie, Port Lincoln, Berri and Mount Gambier. Meetings were also held with indigenous groups and industry associations. A second consultation period in late 2013 included a further public meeting in Adelaide. The consultation feedback will now be consolidated and considered by the EPA Board in its development of a final revised policy for the consideration of the minister.
Review of the civil penalty calculations Policy
During 2013–14, the EPA amended the Civil Penalties Calculations Policy following a policy review in 2012 and key stakeholder consultation on the proposed amendments in early 2013.
The key findings were that the calculation of past negotiated civil penalty amounts were generally consistent with the penalty applied by the court for similar offences, and that the penalties were generally adequate. However, negotiated penalties for less serious offences were considered an inadequate deterrent (approximately $300 for an average breach) and a $1 000 penalty was introduced. The review also recommended an increase to take into consideration the cost savings of avoiding court proceedings and possible conviction. The base penalty was increased by 10% and will be increased by a further 10% in July 2015. There has also been an increase in the penalty reduction that a party may seek.
The EPA also held discussions with the US EPA about the calculation of civil penalties, which assisted the review of the policy to ensure that it meets its objective of providing a transparent and consistent method of calculating negotiated civil penalties.
Review of the Environment Protection (Air Quality) Policy 1994
A regulatory impact statement (RIS) was completed for the proposed revisions to the Environment Protection (Air Quality) Policy 1994 (Air Quality Policy). The revised policy is now being drafted prior to a rigorous statutory consultation process required under the EP Act. Consultation is planned to begin later in 2014, with the finalised policy coming into operation later in 2015.
Publish Framework for Air Quality
The EPA continued work on the development of a Framework for Air Quality for South Australia to provide guidance for the management of air quality over the next decade. Covering both Greater Adelaide and the regional industrial and agricultural areas of the state, the project has its origins in a government-endorsed recommendation of the State of Environment Report 2008.
The new framework will incorporate strategies for reducing emissions from a wide variety of sources, such as transport and domestic appliances, complementing the current active regulation of industry emissions by the EPA.
While there is a need to actively implement broad strategic actions for air quality in a region such as metropolitan Adelaide, collaboration with local communities and their councils is also required to address localised concerns more effectively. Outside Greater Adelaide, the regional industrial centres also have their own unique character, industrial base and consequent special air quality concerns. Much of 2013–14 was spent consulting about the draft framework: seeking and collating input from a range of state government agencies.
The draft sits in the context of South Australia’s Strategic Plan and complements other important planning documents, such as the 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.
The project is also occurring in parallel with a comprehensive review of the National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure (Air NEPM), providing important regulatory underpinning and policy guidance for coming decades and within the context of major national initiatives on air quality. In particular, the EPA is actively participating in the statutory review of the Air NEPM, now the subject of a variation process, which is considering updates to the current advisory reporting standards for PM2.5 particles and converting them to full compliance standards. Additionally, the variation process includes consideration of a methodology for assessing population exposure.
In parallel, on 29 May 2014, the Council of Environment Ministers decided to develop a National Agreement for Clean Air for Australia by 2016, which will incorporate approaches and guidance jurisdictions for meeting the revised standards. The ministerial council also agreed to progress the review of the current standards for oxidants, for example ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.
It is expected that the outcomes of the Air NEPM variation process will be incorporated into the Framework for Air Quality.