The Environmental Approvals Process

WESTERN AUSTRALIA | ACTION

The environmental approvals process for a uranium mine in Western Australia has never been completely put to the test, as thus far our state has never hosted a working uranium mine.

Local nuclear hopefuls Paladin and Acclaim are bringing their projects (Manyingee and Murchison respectively) toward a stage where we will suddenly need to know a lot more about how the government approves projects of this nature.

Triggering the Process
When the mining company believes it is ready to go ahead, it sends what's called a 'trigger document' to Environment Australia (the federal environmental agency), the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the WA Department of Minerals and Energy. This document alerts the authorities to the company's intention to mine and requests some environmental guidelines.

The EPA will then set a level of assessment that will be advertised in the West Australian. The levels of assesment range from a Consultative Environmental Review (CER), Public Environmental Review (PER), Environmental Review and Management Programme (ERMP) or Public Inquiry, all with different time frames and levels of detail. The public have 14 days to appeal that the level of assessment should be raised if they don't think the level of assessment significant enough for the project.

Once the level of assesment has been set after appeal, the EPA will devise a set of draft guidelines, in collaboration with Environment Australia. These outline what the government wants to know about the proposal and how impact on the environment will be 'minimised' by the company.

The draft guidelines are in many cases provided to the Conservation Council for input, which is where we come in: ANAWA is the antinuclear arm of the Cons Council, and Robin has been researching Manyingee for some time.

An ERMP
If the level of assesment is set at an ERMP, the EPA then hands the (hopefully) revised Guidelines for Assessment to the mining company. The company then goes away and prepares an ERMP document for the EPA's consideration. This document may be submitted to the EPA on several occasions during the process and will not be submitted for public consideration until the EPA is satisfied that it has covered all the requirements set out in the guidelines.

The companies spend years preparing for this exercise, often doing a lot of preparatory work before they have even submitted the original trigger document, and will spend millions of dollars in this process preparing a glossy report showing how environmental impact will be 'negligible', monitoring will be 'stringent' and how we can all rest easy. They submit their ERMP document to the EPA when they are ready and the EPA calls for public comment. This process takes 10 weeks after which they analyse it, again in conjunction with Environment Australia, and taking into account the submissions they receive from the environment movement and members of the public.

A Crooked Game
Unfortunately, we live under a government which legalises the sale of uranium, which means the environmental approvals process is stacked in favour of the developer. Consider these gems from the booklet the EPA gives developers:

"If proponents cannot show that the environment will be protected, the EPA will recommend against their proposals.

In WA, less than 1% of the average of more than 900 proposals assessed each year are found to be unacceptable because the environmental impact cannot be managed."

In the end the EPA only makes a recommendation to the government (Environment Minister Cheryl Edwardes). The Minister makes a decision on whether the project goes ahead or not, irrespective of what the EPA says.

Export Licences
As well as achieving environmental approval for its project, a uranium mining company also needs an 'export licence' before they can open their mine, owing to the fact that the Federal Customs Act prohibits export of uranium. The Federal Government is required to give permission for this export, in a process which is largely symbolic. It depends on the company having found a buyer for its product, which these days may prove more challenging than meeting environmental regulations.

Wait for it...
The moment a uranium mining proposal comes before a government, it is essential we mobilise the community to make submissions to the process, and put our opposition firmly on the record. Both Paladin and Acclaim may try to get approvals in place before the next state election. The ALP's definition of when a mine is too far advanced to cancel will be of critical importance at the election.