Compliance audits completed in 2016

On 14 May 2013 the (then) Minister for the Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities approved the South of Embley Bauxite Mine and Port Development Project under the EPBC Act. The project was approved with 76 Conditions having effect until 21 May 2063. As part of the process, a Sea Dumping Permit with 26 conditions was approved by the (then) Minister.

Condition 69 of the approval requires that every three years from the date of approval, the approval holder (RTA Weipa Pty Ltd) must ensure that an independent audit of compliance with the conditions is conducted and a report submitted to the Minister.

The independent audit has addressed the criteria to the satisfaction of the Delegate of the Minister for the Environment.

Overall, the audit found a high level of compliance with the conditions relating to preliminary work and the development of Management Plans. However, the Department’s review of the findings identified a non compliance relating to:

Condition 66 which relates to the requirement within 10 days after commencement of preliminary works, the approval holder must advise the Minister in writing of the actual day of commencement.

The Department has noted the above non compliance and will monitor conditions that require the approval holder to notify the Minister at stages of the project.

On 23 February 2015, the Australasian Conference Association Limited (ACA Limited) was directed to undertake an independent compliance audit of the approval under EPBC 2008/4460. This is in accordance with condition 5 of the approval and part of the Department’s random compliance audit program.

The scope of the audit included all nine conditions of the approval. These conditions related to minimising impact on EPBC listed threatened species and ecological communities. This is to be achieved through implementation of a number of plans that includes a Biodiversity Management Plan.

The independent audit has addressed the criteria to the satisfaction of the Minister’s delegate.

The audit found that the ACA Limited breached five of the nine EPBC approval conditions, the non-compliances related to:

• Condition 1 – Requirement to carry out the action in accordance with the final Wahroonga Estate Development Concept Plan;
• Condition 2 – The development, approval and implementation of the Biodiversity Management Plan;
• Condition 4 – The requirement to report compliance with the conditions of approval annually from the commencement of the action;
• Condition 6 – requires that if the person taking the action wishes to carry out any activity otherwise than in accordance with the plans referred to in the conditions of this approval, the person taking the action must submit for the Minister’s approval a revised version of any such plan; and
• Condition 9 – Requirement to maintain accurate records substantiating all activities associated with or relevant to the above conditions of approval.

The Department is engaging with ACA Limited to ensure the non-compliances identified above are addressed to the satisfaction of the Department and in accordance with the EPBC Act Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

On 4 December 2015 Origin APLNG were directed to undertake a second independent compliance audit of the EPBC Act approval granted to develop, construct, operate and decommission the coal seam gas component of the APLNG project in the Walloons gas fields within the Surat Basin, QLD – EPBC 2009/4974. This was undertaken in accordance with condition 102 of the approval and as part of the strategic audit component of the annual compliance audit program.

The project has 116 conditions of approval. However, the second directed audit’s scope focussed on the Stage 1 and 2 Water Monitoring and Management Plan (WMMP) requirements, Coal Seam Gas (CSG) water use requirements, as well as the threshold and breach notification requirements to the Department.

The independent audit has addressed the criteria to the satisfaction of the Minister’s delegate.

The audit found that the Origin APLNG had met the majority of activities to satisfy the conditions of the EPBC Act approval that were within the scope of the audit. However, the audit identified 10 non-compliances (6 direct non-compliances and 4 due to the linked nature of the approval conditions) that include requirements to:

• include certain CSG performance indicators, water drawdown limits and borehole characteristics in the Stage 1 and 2 Water Management and Monitoring Plans (50a, 50e and 50i).
• detail the constituent components of any hydraulic fracturing agents and any other reinjected fluids (50f).
• implement an ongoing water treatment program to ensure that any water to be used for re-injection or other repressurisation options is treated to at least equal to water quality of the receiving groundwater system or environment (53a and 53cii).

Furthermore, the audit found a number of conditions that were non-compliant due to the linked nature of the approval’s sub-conditions (51, 54, 58 and 60).

The Department is engaging with Origin APLNG to ensure the non-compliances identified above are addressed to the satisfaction of the Department and in accordance with the EPBC Act Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

On 4 December 2015, QGC was directed to undertake a scoped independent compliance audit (compliance audit) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 approval granted to develop, construct, operate and decommission the coal seam gas field component of the Queensland Curtis LNG Project, including expansion of the QGC operated coal seam gas fields in the Surat Basin, QLD. This was in accordance with condition 100 of the EPBC approval and as part of the strategic audit component of the Department’s annual compliance audit program.

The project has 114 conditions of approval. The compliance audit scope included those conditions concerning the Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 Water Monitoring and Management Plan (WMMP) requirements, Coal Seam Gas (CSG) water use and management requirements and threshold and breach notification requirements.

The compliance audit has addressed the criteria to the satisfaction of the Minister’s delegate.

Overall, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (the auditors) found that QGC had complied with the conditions of the EPBC approval 2008/4398 within the scope of the compliance audit. This is an excellent result.

The compliance audit identified one improvement opportunity that related to signage at one of the groundwater wells (the lack of visible signage resulting in difficulty in identifying one of QGC’s groundwater wells). Although signage is not a requirement of the EPBC approval, the Department agrees with the recommendation that this will enable more effective identification of groundwater wells.

The Department will continue ongoing compliance monitoring of QGC’s coal seam gas operations. The purpose of these ongoing monitoring activities will be to ensure that QGC continue to comply with and act in accordance with their EPBC approval conditions.

On 4 December 2015 Santos Ltd was directed to undertake a second independent compliance audit of the EPBC Act approval granted to develop, construct, operate and decommission the coal seam gas resources in the Surat and Bowen Basins between Roma and Emerald in Queensland to supply gas for a related proposal for a natural gas liquefaction and export facility near Gladstone as described in EPBC 2008/4059. This was undertaken in accordance with condition 100 of the approval and as part of the strategic audit component of the Department’s annual compliance audit program.

The project has 114 conditions of approval. The second directed audit focused on the implementation of the Stage 1 and 2 of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) Water Monitoring and Management Plan (WMMP) requirements, and the effectiveness of the conditions in protecting MNES.

The independent audit has addressed the criteria to the satisfaction of the Minister’s delegate.

The audit found that overall Santos Ltd has demonstrated reasonable measures have been undertaken to achieve compliance with the WMMP.

The audit found that Santos Ltd had met the majority of activities to satisfy the conditions of the EPBC Act approval that were within the scope of the audit, however four non-compliances were identified.  These included:

• delays to agreed delivery dates to finalise commitments (77.1 and 78.1);
• not meeting all monitoring requirements (50.1.2(i) and 50.1.9)
• failure to communicate and seek approval for changes to aspects of the Plan implementation (77.1 and 78.1).

All non-compliances are considered to be low level and not to have resulted in impacts to MNES.

The Department is engaging with Santos Ltd to ensure the non-compliances identified above are addressed to the satisfaction of the Department and in accordance with the EPBC Act Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

On 15 July 2016, Diversified Minerals Pty Ltd (Diversified Minerals) were directed to undertake a directed compliance audit of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) approval granted for the Dargues Reef Gold Project.

This was undertaken in accordance with condition 23 of the EPBC Act approval and as part of the random compliance audit component of the annual compliance audit program.

The project has 26 conditions of approval, including a Statement of Commitments from the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Planning and Infrastructure. The scope of the directed audit included all the conditions of the EPBC Act approval,groundwater and surface water monitoring, environmental monitoring and documentation requirements under the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure’s Statement of Commitments.

The independent audit has addressed the criteria to the satisfaction of the Minister’s delegate.

The directed audit found that Diversified Minerals met the majority of activities to satisfy the conditions of the EPBC Act approval within the scope of the audit and the terms of the Statement of Commitments.

The Department’s review of the findings identified one non-compliance with the EPBC Act approval conditions. This related to the requirement within the Water Management Plan (the protocol) to:

• include the Department of the Environment and Energy as a relevant agency to advise of surface water and groundwater trigger value exceedances.

Diversified Minerals have advised that they are in the process of updating the the protocol and will provide the updated version to the Department in January 2017.

On 9 June 2016, Seqwater wrote to the Department advising they planned to engage FRC Environmental (the auditors) to undertake the independent audit of the Estuarine Ecology Management Plan (EEMP) annual performance report as required under condition 2 (vi) of approval 2006/3157.

The audit was completed in August 2016 and has addressed the audit criteria to the satisfaction of the Minister’s delegate.

The audit found that Seqwater’s EEMP annual performance report complied with the requirements of the EEMP with the exception of:

• assessment of saltmarsh, which was not assessed
• assessment of the linear distribution of mangroves, which was not assessed.

The Department is engaging with Seqwater to ensure the non-compliances identified above are addressed to the satisfaction of the Department and in accordance with the EPBC Act Compliance and Enforcement Policy.