Overview
We are inviting feedback on the exposure draft of the remake of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2009 (Environment Regulations).
To ensure continuity of regulatory coverage ahead of the 2009 regulations sunsetting (ceasing to be law), the Environment Regulations will be remade in 2022 without substantive policy change.
Minor technical amendments have been made to modernise the provisions and their language to align with current practice. These amendments include the restructuring and renumbering of the provisions.
Environment Regulations
The Environment Regulations provide for the robust regulation of environmental management of petroleum and greenhouse gas storage activities in Commonwealth waters.
The Environment Regulations aim to ensure that activities in these areas are:
- undertaken in a manner that is consistent with ecologically sustainable development
- in line with the objective that environmental impacts and risks are reduced to as low as reasonably practicable and are of an acceptable level.
The Environment Regulations, made under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006, are scheduled to sunset (ceasing to be law) on 1 April 2024.
The department has assessed the need for the Environment Regulations to remain in force and determined that there is an ongoing need for them.
The proposed remake of the Environment Regulations:
- is consistent with the current streamlined environmental management authorisation arrangements
- continues to meet the requirements of Part 10 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Consultation documents
We are inviting feedback on the following:
The exposure draft does not include the following provisions:
- Forthcoming amendments to the Environment Regulations to implement the measures in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Titles Administration and Other Measures) Act 2021.
- Transitional provisions that will ensure that processes and accepted documents under the existing Environment Regulations continue under the remade Regulations.
These provisions will be included in the 2022 remake of the Environment Regulations. However, the additional provisions will not change the content, structure or numbering of the provisions in the exposure draft.