 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
AEBN® SubmissionsThe Australian Environment Business Network (AEBN®) National Head Office in Victoria prepares submissions on Government discussion papers, organises special meetings with Government officers, the EPA and lobbies Government on issues that may impact our member organisations and their operations. The following Submissions have been provided to State and/or Federal Government - AEBN® responded to the Victorian Government's Draft Environment Protection (Industrial Waste Resource) Regulations 2009 on 1 April 2009. AEBN® has made a number of recommendations as provided in the Submission. Please refer to the Submission for details. AEBN's Submission on NSW's RIS POEO General Regulation 2008 AEBN® responded to the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change's (DECC) document Regulatory Impact Statement Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2008. AEBN® welcomed the opportunity to comment, however, public comment was for the minimum period. AEBN® is concerned the science used to add new substances and industrial sectors to the POEO General Regulation is flawed. DECC based these changes and expected revenue increases on National Pollutant Inventory data, which is widely know for having errors out by more than 100 times. AEBN® recommended the regulation include an exemption clause to permit sites with low ($500) Load Based Licensing fees to be able to discontinue their measurements. Members report to AEBN® that LBL measurement costs can be 100s of times higher than the load fee. Load fees below $500 are considered environmentally insignificant and should be discontinued. AEBN's Submission on The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper AEBN® responded to the Commonwealth Government's document Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper. AEBN® supports most of the design the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in principle. However, the way in which the CPRS deals with carbon leakage and the protection of Emissions Intensive Trade Exposed (EITE) industries can be significantly improved. AEBN® argues that the definition of EITEs should be broader and their corresponding treatment should be undertaken in a sector-by-sector approach. This approach is more consistent with current state driven environmental controls such as site licences. Ultimately, sectoral agreements should be available to specific products as well. The trade exposure of EITEs points to international trade needing considerable attention. As all tariffs are product based under GATT, product level detail may be required over the longer term. AEBN's Submission on NSW Energy Efficiency Trading Scheme AEBN® responded to the NSW Government's document NSW Energy Efficiency Trading Scheme Discussion Paper. While AEBN® accepts that an energy efficiency trading scheme can be useful, it should only be administered at the Commonwealth Government level. The NSW Government uses a number of poor reasons to justify its partial continuation of the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (GGAS). AEBN® does not support the NEET scheme as it is a duplication of legislation which the NSW Government is actively spreading to Victoria, South Australia and other States. AEBN® argues that Australia should be a leader in greenhouse emissions regulatory efficiency as well as other initiatives. However, running more State based schemes for a national and global issue is considered regulatory inefficient, costly and bureaucratic for little environmental gain compared to similar schemes run at the Federal level. AEBN's Submission on The New Waste Classification Guidelines AEBN® responded to the Department of Environment and Climate Change's document Waste Classification Guidelines Part 1. Note this document is not being publically discussed it however, contains a number of issues which prompted AEBN® comments and recommendations. The key issues raised include:
AEBN's Submission on NGER Technical Guidelines for Reporting AEBN® responded to the Federal Government's Technical Guidelines For The Estimation Of Emissions And Energy At Facility Level Discussion Paper which, details the measurement and estimation techniques for greenhouse gases that can be used for reporting under the NGER Act. 4 increasingly accurate levels of measurement approaches are proposed in the paper which AEBN® considered conceptually useful. AEBN® considers there is a need to more formally approve appropriate alternative measurement and estimation techniques than the standard set provided. A similar and useful process for dealing with alterntaive measurement and estimation has been used under the NSW Load Based Licensing scheme. Consequently, AEBN® recommends the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme adopt a similar approach for greenhouse gas reporting. AEBN® consequently, recommends that an independent scientific panel be formed under NGER. This will enable emitters to approach the panel with alternative measurement and estimation techniques. It will have the advantage of letting industry use alternative approaches which will cut their costs of measurement and or provide more accurate measurements of greenhouse emissions.
AEBN's Submission on the Early Abatement Incentives Discussion Paper The main issue identifiied is that for those companies which undertook early action to abate greenhouse emissions, many through the Federal Government’s own Greenhouse Challenge program, will not be entitled to claim credits under the proposed scheme. This is disappointing as the government has repeatedly stated that no company taking early action would be disadvantaged and also that these companies should be rewarded for such early action. Such companies will now have much higher marginal costs for further abatement compared to companies that undertook no action. Perversely, such companies that lagged behind are now in a better position to claim credits due to their lower marginal costs of abatement. AEBN® recommended the government consider rewarding such companies by use of a supplimental grants program. Other detailed issues associated with the proposed credit market were also discussed.
This submission generally welcomes most of the changes. The use of exemptions opens the way for many wastes to be more easily and environmentally responsibly beneficially used. However, the regulatory package contained an number of issues and apparent errors in definitions of wastes, hazardous wastes and other areas. AEBN® proposed a standard exemption covering the industrial activities that commonly use wastes as a raw material in a responsible manner. Under environmental laws such activities are in technical breach. This exemption provides a means to legitimise those recycling, reusing, reprocess that are environmentally responsible.
This discussion paper proposes a cap and trade greenhouse gas trading scheme for Australia. While AEBN® does not support a trading scheme at this stage, the likely hood of its introduction promoted the submission and recommendations.
AEBN's Submission NSW's draft Major Hazards Facilities Regulation AEBN® raised concerns over the full cost recovery from MHF sites for the operational costs of the government's MHF Unit. Fees of over $50,000 p.a. were exposed as being inequitable and undermining NSW as a state for investment for major facilities. This is in contrast to Queensland which charges no fees and Victoria which costs at least 70% of the proposed NSW fees. AEBN® proposes a simple 2 level approach consisting of:
AEBN's Submission COAG's Greenhouse Gas Mandatory Reporting Scheme In a similar process to the NPI COAG is establishing a mandatory greenhouse reporting Scheme. AEBN® identified a number of issues for COAG to consider especially the extreme under estimation of the cost to companies in reporting to such a scheme. An estimate by COAG of $2,100 per company was considerably lower than AEBN® member feedback of between $40,000 to $50,000 per site! Lack of consistency with the Energy Efficiency Opportunities scheme on joint ventures and concern over commercial-in-confidence information and public access via Freedom of Information legislation. COAG recommended that companies can write and be assessed to attain commercial-in-confidence protection, whereas AEBN® recommended that protection be automatic. AEBN's Submission National Pollutant Inventory Variation Submission AEBN® supported the proposed name change for the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) to the National Emissions Inventory. The main issue addressed was the proposed inclusion of transfers. Transfers include the NPI substances that appear in waste and wastewater streams set to another party who usually treat or dispose of the materials. AEBN® considers there are 2 types of approaches to generate NPI data for transfers, both of which are undesirable. As wastes a notoriously variable the use of estimation techniques, based on a handful of analysis will provide meaningless data. If on the other hand NPI data was collected to a meaningful level, this would be very costly and lead to the export of Australian jobs. AEBN's Submission On the Productivity Commission's Draft Waste Review Report AEBN's largely supports the Productivity Commission's views on the way in which waste is handled by government policy. However, there is too much momentum behind the current poor waste strategies, which will cost Australian's more and may also lead to perverse outcomes where environmental harm is increased. We strongly support the need for better data on all types of wastes and where they go. An example, of the lack of data on waste is the work AEBN® has done on contaminated soils sent to landfill and the counter waste minimisation policy regulations, which encourage it. The NSW waste levy is especially criticized as well as the extremely low proportion of revenue that is returned to waste research and evaluation. AEBN's Submission On the Assessment of Site Contamination NEPM AEBN® supports some the main issues identified in the discussion paper on the use and abuse of the NEPM. Too often jurisdictions have used the investigation criteria for clean up levels, which in most cases is too conservative. AEBN® supported the thrust to introduce remediation levels across the NEPM to provide better guidance to its users. AEBN® also considers the NEPM is an evolving document that will grow with more research on new and existing substances. AEBN's Submission On the DEC's Underground Petroleum Storage Systems Regulation and RIS AEBN's generally supports the thrust of this regulation but wishes a number of areas to be clarified. These include the use of new land pollution provision (s142A) under the POEO Amendment Act and the way in which licenced sites will be covered by the regulation. AEBN® was also cautioned the DEC that many smaller sites have underground tanks and may not be aware of the require provisions to mandate ground water monitoring wells and integrity checks on such tanks. AEBN's Submission On the 7th Edition Australian Dangerous Goods Code AEBN's comments focused on the generic definitions of class 3 flammable liquids, class 8 corrosives and class 9 miscellaneous. AEBN® called for simpler means in which to assign a UN NOS number to a waste. Under current ADG Code requirements any substance must have the tests undertaken before a UN NOS number can be assigned. This is extremely difficult when managing wastes, especially hazardous wastes. A number of minor changes were also recommended largely dealing with hot liquids such as bitumen. AEBN's Submission On the Water and Energy Savings Plans AEBN® recommended that increased flexibility be the main amendments to the new Water and Energy Savings Plans that applies to site that use over 50 ML/year and 10 GWhrs/year of energy at stationary sources. These plans will over time apply to smaller sites and require many companies to commit to savings targets on water and energy consumption. AEBN® identified many reasons to keep the process flexible due to large variations between industries and regulatory impediments to such savings. AEBN's Submission On the Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment Bill AEBN® recommended keeping the 4 to 5 fold increase in fines levels to a doubling of fines. The 16-fold increase in noise fines should be limited to only where the offensive noise is a health issue. AEBN® expressed concern over the proposed Pollution of Land offence, which is extremely broad. For example, earth-moving equipment clearing land could breach this new offence. Any company with contaminated land is also liable as any increase or potential increase in contamination could breach the section. AEBN® recommended a number of changes and regulations to clarify the extent of this new offence. AEBN's Submission On the National Packaging Covenant Mark II and Associated Documents AEBN® is a supporter of the National Packaging Covenant (NPC). The Mark II NPC represents a substantial change especially in the required KPIs. AEBN® commented on these recommended many changes from omitting KPIs to refining their definitions and clarifying their meaning. Many other changes are recommended to improve the workability of the NPC and make it more relevant to protecting the environment. AEBN® has been involved with the development of the new dangerous goods regulation for NSW that adopts the National Standard for Storage and Handling of Workplace Dangerous Goods. The submission identifies and number of drafting errors, but also highlights the differences between NSW, Victoria and Queensland similar dangerous goods regulation. C2 combustible liquids are the areas of most concern as they have fewer exemptions in comparison to C1 combustible liquids. This submission complements AEBN's earlier submission on the on the Clean Air (Plant and Equipment) Regulation 1997. The DEC is proposing considerable strengthening of the air emissions standards and requiring industry to replace older equipment with more expensive newer equipment, breaking a long standing grandfathering arrangement. There are many issues with the Regulatory Impact Statement, which AEBN® considers is biased and does not reflect industry costs and inflates health costs. AEBN's Submission On the Review of the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation The DEC invited AEBN® to provide preliminary views leading up to the main review of the POEO (General) Regulation 1998 next year. The POEO (General) regulation is the primary law that enables the Load Based Licensing Scheme. AEBN's submission recommends, among others, that a new approach to air pollution issues should be implemented, attacking peak levels rather than continue to tightening industry emissions and taxes. Also recommended is a $10,000 threshold, above which current LBL measurement practices be used. However, below $10,000 cheaper estimation techniques be used as it is common for measurement to cost more than the load fees. AEBN's Letter to the Minister on the shock LBL fee increases The NSW Government increased fees for a number of companies by over 30% via changes to the Load Based Licensing Scheme. AEBN® calls on the NSW Government to postpone the 50% increase in air pollutant weightings under the Load Based Licensing Scheme until the full review of the POEO (General) Regulation 1998. AEBN's Submission on the NSW Greenhouse Office's Strategy The NSW Government is developing its own greenhouse gas (GHG) strategy which considers the development of a trading market for these emissions. AEBN® makes it clear that it opposes any unilateral action on emissions trading schemes for GHGs and would only support a national program which includes the Federal Government. AEBN® also calls for a whole of government policy to deal with the conflicts that can occur between local air pollutants and GHGs AEBN's Submission on the Clean Air (Plant and Equipment) Regulation 1997 (CAPER) AEBN® has prepared a major submission on this important regulation review. The DEC (was the EPA) has proposed some very tough tightening of the limits under CAPER. AEBN® challenges the need for such tightening and argues for many changes to increase the flexibility of CAPER. AEBN's Submission on the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act AEBN® points out the overlap that this piece of legislation has between its Chemical Control Orders and National standards and policies on the management of contaminated land. For example, under the ECH Act DDT limits are and order of magnitude tighter than national levels. AEBN's Second Submission on the Review of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act NSW's primary piece of environmental legislation the Protection of the Environment Operations Act is undergoing its statutory five yearly review. AEBN® commented on the Review of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act Issues paper and made additional recommendations especially on waste matters. A number of important licence and enforcement issues are also covered in this submission. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal sets the maximum prices for government monopolies in NSW. Transport of electricity through the wires to you site is controlled by what are called Distributed Network Providers and they are proposing to raise prices by about 10% next year. But the last 11% of capacity in the wires networks is used for only 25 hours each year, on very hot summer days. AEBN submission strongly pushes for better demand management to flatten these peak loads and therefore reduce the need for more. We estimate that up to $1 billion over 5 years can be saved if the correct pricing signals and a more flexible tariff arrangements can be offered to industry. If Sydney does not embrace demand management then we will experience increased costs and end up with substantial payments under the NSW Greenhouse Abatement Levy due to inefficient electricity use. AEBN's Submission on the Consultation Paper: Extended Producer Responsibility Priority Statement As part of the NSW's Government's plans to place pressure on post consumer waste, the production of a priority list of industry sectors for potential extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations was legislated under the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001. Under this Act the EPA is to develop a priority list. The Consultation Paper discussed the reason and processes for listing the industry sectors chosen for the list include tyre, information technology, battery, agricultural and veterinary chemicals and packaging. AEBN's Submission on the Review of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act NSW primary piece of environmental legislation the Protection of the Environment Operations Act is undergoing its statutory five yearly review. AEBN® commented and made eight recommendations in its submission to the Act to improve the implementation of environmental protection in a clearer and more outcome focused manner. The submission focuses largely on elements of the Act dealing with licensing issues, but also covers issues such as green offset schemes and tradeable emissions regulations. AEBN's Submission on Resource NSW's Draft NSW Waste Strategy AEBN® prepared this submission as it should be the guidance for waste management across NSW for the next 12 years. A major concern is the expected price increases in waste disposal and treatment costs over the net 10 years. AEBN® expects increases in the order of 40% to 60% or more. In addition the number of suitable waste facilities for some industrial wastes are not being replaced to treat these wastes. AEBN® calls for more effective waste infrastructure to manage all waste streams in an environmentally satisfactory and cost-effective manner. Many other issues are discussed in the submission. AEBN's Submission on the EPA's Compost and Related Organics Processing Guidelines AEBN's submission calls for recognition for the beneficial use of inert waste materials in composts and other organic materials used for soil conditioning. Currently the draft guidelines only address the organic materials considered for use in a compost mix. However, many composts use inert bulking agents. AEBN® recommended that use of concentration limits, risk assessments and a combination of other factors be permitted to be used for assessing composts using waste materials for beneficial use. AEBN® also called on the EPA to develop a range of guidelines and polices to enhance the beneficial use of a vide spectrum of industrially derived wastes. AEBN's Submission on the Sydney Harbour and Southern Sydney Catchment Blueprints 18 Catchment Blueprints have been prepared for most of the major catchments across NSW. AEBN is mainly concerned over two of these documents, which set a whole of government approach to managing catchments in the future. A major issue with the Sydney Harbour and the Southern Sydney Catchment Blueprint is they define riparian buffer zones as requiring a minimum 20 metres each side of a watercourse. Water course is also very broadly defined and would impact on many industrial lands in the Sydney area. While all Blueprints have actions requiring the improvement of riparian zones, it is only these two that clearly defined the extent of a riparian zone. AEBN® called for the unprecedented definition to be modified to remove the references to distances. The submission also called for a grandfather clause on existing developments and flexibility in the application of the action agenda of the Blueprints. AEBN's Submission on the Green Offsets Concept Paper The NSW Government is proposing to enable the use of green offsets. This is where for example an industrial site can pay to reduce emissions from other generally local sites as it would be more cost effective than cutting emissions on-site. The concept has merit and many companies could benefit from its use. However, AEBN® raises a number of concerns about how it will be implemented. There are a number of legal issues between the site paying and those accepting it to cut emissions from their site. AEBN® is also concerned that industry will be forced by the application of load limits to pay for the pollution of other, especially non-licensed sites and diffuse pollution. Copies of the EPA's Green Offsets concept paper are available on its website Green Offsets concept paper. AEBN's Submission on NEPC Air Toxics The National Environment Protection Council is continuing its development of a NEPM on air toxics. AEBN® is a member of the Non-Government Organisations committee reviewing this proposed NEPM. The NEPM is focusing on five pollutants - benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), toluene, and xylenes. The outcome is a potential set of standards or response limits on these substances for ambient air quality. AEBN® submission is the first of a number of responses, which are normally required to prepare a NEPM. AEBN's Submission on NEPC PM2.5 Standard The National Environment Protection Council, is proposing to include a new standard for Particualte Matter 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5) to the existing National Environment Protection Measure on ambient air quality. This is on top of the existing standard for PM10. AEBN raises a number of issues on the new proposal. Copies of the NEPC discussion paper is available at the NEPC website. AEBN's Submission on Proposed Changes The EPA are proposing a number of amendments to the POEO Act and other NSW environmental laws. AEBN® has a few issues with the proposed removal of the 60 day deemed refusal for licence renewals and variations. [see section 287(3) in Part 9.2 Appeals] NSW Waste Resource & Recycling Bill - Replaces the Waste Minimisation and Management Act 1995 A major shift in the management of waste is outlined in this Bill. All NSW's Waste Boards are to be scrapped and replaced by "Resource NSW". This is consistent with AEBN's submission last year. (See below to download a copy of AEBN's submission) NSW Waste Service Corporatisation Bill The Waste Service has commenced the formal process to make it a Statutory Corporation. Product Stewardship for Electrical Appliances: AEBN Response Environment Australia has preempted its discussion paper "Developing A Product Stewardship Strategy For Electrical And Electronic Appliances In Australia" by releasing "Proposed Model For A Product Stewardship Strategy For Electrical And Electronic Equipment" (Proposed Model) before the closing date of submissions. The Proposed Model calls for:
EPA's Draft Odour Policy 2001: AEBN Submission AEBN® has prepared a submission on the EPA's Draft Assessment and Management of Odour from Stationary Sources. Some of the contentious issues include:
Protection of the Environment (Tradeable Emission Scheme) Amendment Bill 2000: AEBN Submission AEBN® prepared this submission after receiving advice from the NSW Shadow Minister for the Environment Peta Seaton the Bill had been tabled in Parliament in November without consultation. The Bill, which is now an Act greatly strengthens the POEO Act economic measures. Briefly the Act permits the EPA to make regulations which establish Tradeable Emission Schemes, trade in their own scheme and impose penalties including suspension of parties in trading in the scheme. Review of the Waste Minimisation and Management Act (WMMA): AEBN Submission The NSW Government is undertaking a major review of the WMMAct. AEBN®prepared this submission based on comments from our NSW Policy Reference Group. The main issues for industry include the poor handling of future solid and hazardous waste management planning. Especially concerning is the high costs of disposal of solid wastes and the diminishing infrastructure for hazardous waste management. Issues such as the Waste Boards and the use of the Waste Levy are also addressed. A major recommendation is the formation of new single waste management entity for NSW to replace the Waste Boards and take on part of the EPA's functions in waste management. Review of the National Pollutant Inventory : AEBN Submission AEBN® responded with this submission on the review of the NPI. Concerns the NPI has not been adequately funded and as a consequence the quality of contextual data is questionable. AEBN® was adamant to prevent the inclusions of transfers of emission, such as the emissions to sewer, when the sewerage agency will be reporting these emissions as well. In addition the measurement and estimation techniques contained in the industry sectorial handbooks use for reporting requires urgent review. Comments by members, industry and business on submissions are welcomed. |
Top of Page | Home | Contact us | Back | Australian Environment Business Network (AEBN) | Site Map | Design by Pagination |