❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice addresses compliance with mining environmental regulations following an Auditor General's report. The response reveals shortcomings in AER submissions, inspection rates, and rehabilitation planning, while highlighting ongoing efforts to improve compliance monitoring.
AnsweredQoN 8671Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Auditor General's report 'Ensuring Compliance with Conditions on Mining' released a year ago, and I ask:
(a) can the Minister confirm that 100 per cent of mine operators submitted their required Annual Environmental Reports (AERs) since September 2011, and if not:
(i) why not; and
(ii) what percentage did so;
(b) has the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) followed up with operators in every instance that an AER was not submitted since September 2011 and if not, why not;
(c) since September 2011, has DMP reviewed every AER submitted;
(d) how many potential non-compliance detections have occurred (major, moderate and minor) since September 2011 and in each instance, what action was taken;
(e) in what ways has DMP's inspection regime and frequency changed since September 2011;
(f) what percentage of mines have been inspected in the year since September 2011?;
(g) have DMP and the Department of State Development put in place arrangements to monitor compliance for State Agreement Act mines, and if not, why not; and
(h) what percentage of mines have submitted a costed rehabilitation plan since July 2011?
(a) can the Minister confirm that 100 per cent of mine operators submitted their required Annual Environmental Reports (AERs) since September 2011, and if not:
(i) why not; and
(ii) what percentage did so;
(b) has the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) followed up with operators in every instance that an AER was not submitted since September 2011 and if not, why not;
(c) since September 2011, has DMP reviewed every AER submitted;
(d) how many potential non-compliance detections have occurred (major, moderate and minor) since September 2011 and in each instance, what action was taken;
(e) in what ways has DMP's inspection regime and frequency changed since September 2011;
(f) what percentage of mines have been inspected in the year since September 2011?;
(g) have DMP and the Department of State Development put in place arrangements to monitor compliance for State Agreement Act mines, and if not, why not; and
(h) what percentage of mines have submitted a costed rehabilitation plan since July 2011?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
16 October 2012
Responded by
Minister representing the Minister for Mines and Petroleum
Response time
34 days
(a) No.
(i) I am unaware of the reasons why 100 per cent of mine operators did not submit required Annual Environmental Reports (AERs). However, regardless of the reasons, the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) expects all operators to be aware of their tenement obligations, and ensure that they have processes in place to comply with these obligations.
(ii) 86 per cent.
(b) Yes.
(c) No. The requirement for an effective and robust compliance system is recognised by DMP as being critical for maintaining community, industry and government confidence in the regulation of mining. The Auditor General recognised in his report that the compliance monitoring and reporting system used by DMP had meant that no serious environmental harm had occurred which had not been responded to, however, there were areas that could be further improved. The key approach that DMP is pursuing is a risk-based approach to regulatory effort to ensure that the resources of Government are focused on those areas of potentially unacceptable environmental risks. Applying a risk based approach to environmental regulation does not support the approach that all AERs are reviewed as they are received. Instead, DMP is modifying its processes for receiving AERs so that proponents are required to identify to DMP any known non-compliance at the site. In this way, DMP will review those reports specifically and take appropriate action, and use a risk-based approach to audit the remaining AERs. In this way, an appropriate level of compliance oversight will occur in an efficient way.
(d) Since September 2011, DMP detected 93 minor non?compliances. DMP required operators to take preventative or corrective actions to rectify these non-compliances. DMP does not use the term moderate non-compliance. For seven major non-compliances detected since September 2011, DMP has issued one direction to modify and six fines in lieu of tenement forfeiture.
(e) Since September 2011, DMP's inspection regime and frequency has continued to be based upon a risk-based inspection prioritisation model.
Once fully implemented, the Reforming Environmental Regulation (RER) Program will strengthen DMP's inspection regime and frequency by implementing a more comprehensive, formalised risk assessment methodology across DMP's entire environmental regulatory role.
(f) 27.1 per cent (156 inspections of 576 sites).
(g) For many years DMP has been inspecting State Agreement sites as part of its compliance inspection program. DMP and the Department of State Development are currently working together to put more formalised compliance monitoring arrangements in place.
(h) Nil. The Mine Closure Plans submitted for assessment have not required the submission of a costed rehabilitation plan. However, section 4.12
(Financial Provisioning for Closure) of the Mine Closure Plan Guidelines requires mine operators to provide closure cost estimates, including a detailed methodology for calculating those estimates. Where necessary, DMP may require a fully detailed closure costing report to be submitted for review, and/or an independent audit to be conducted on the report to certify that the company has adequate provision to finance closure.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
(i) I am unaware of the reasons why 100 per cent of mine operators did not submit required Annual Environmental Reports (AERs). However, regardless of the reasons, the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) expects all operators to be aware of their tenement obligations, and ensure that they have processes in place to comply with these obligations.
(ii) 86 per cent.
(b) Yes.
(c) No. The requirement for an effective and robust compliance system is recognised by DMP as being critical for maintaining community, industry and government confidence in the regulation of mining. The Auditor General recognised in his report that the compliance monitoring and reporting system used by DMP had meant that no serious environmental harm had occurred which had not been responded to, however, there were areas that could be further improved. The key approach that DMP is pursuing is a risk-based approach to regulatory effort to ensure that the resources of Government are focused on those areas of potentially unacceptable environmental risks. Applying a risk based approach to environmental regulation does not support the approach that all AERs are reviewed as they are received. Instead, DMP is modifying its processes for receiving AERs so that proponents are required to identify to DMP any known non-compliance at the site. In this way, DMP will review those reports specifically and take appropriate action, and use a risk-based approach to audit the remaining AERs. In this way, an appropriate level of compliance oversight will occur in an efficient way.
(d) Since September 2011, DMP detected 93 minor non?compliances. DMP required operators to take preventative or corrective actions to rectify these non-compliances. DMP does not use the term moderate non-compliance. For seven major non-compliances detected since September 2011, DMP has issued one direction to modify and six fines in lieu of tenement forfeiture.
(e) Since September 2011, DMP's inspection regime and frequency has continued to be based upon a risk-based inspection prioritisation model.
Once fully implemented, the Reforming Environmental Regulation (RER) Program will strengthen DMP's inspection regime and frequency by implementing a more comprehensive, formalised risk assessment methodology across DMP's entire environmental regulatory role.
(f) 27.1 per cent (156 inspections of 576 sites).
(g) For many years DMP has been inspecting State Agreement sites as part of its compliance inspection program. DMP and the Department of State Development are currently working together to put more formalised compliance monitoring arrangements in place.
(h) Nil. The Mine Closure Plans submitted for assessment have not required the submission of a costed rehabilitation plan. However, section 4.12
(Financial Provisioning for Closure) of the Mine Closure Plan Guidelines requires mine operators to provide closure cost estimates, including a detailed methodology for calculating those estimates. Where necessary, DMP may require a fully detailed closure costing report to be submitted for review, and/or an independent audit to be conducted on the report to certify that the company has adequate provision to finance closure.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.