Managing air quality in Queensland
Overview
Air quality in Queensland is impacted by emissions from a number of different types of human activities, including transport, industry, rural activities and domestic activities. Emissions inventories indicate that the main human sources of air emissions in the region are transport and industrial activities.
Different management approaches are applied to different types of activities with the aim of achieving the most efficient and effective mix of control measures. Natural events, such as bush fires, dust storms, temperature and rainfall, also play an important role in determining regional air quality, but these are not subject to human management.
Air quality management exists as a complex pattern of local, state and national measures, overlaid by inherently unpredictable climate cycles, and determining future outcomes for regional air quality presents a range of significant challenges.
National
At the national level, the National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure 1998 establishes national goals for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, particles and lead to be achieved by 2008.
Emission standards for new vehicles are set by Australian Design Rules (ADRs) under the Commonwealth Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989. Ongoing tightening of ADRs over the last 20 years has resulted in significant reductions in emissions of lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and particles.
National fuel quality standards are set by determinations under the Commonwealth Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000. Standards have been set to cover a wide range of physical properties of fuel that give rise to emissions directly (e.g. benzene content), allow catalyst technology to operate more efficiently (e.g. sulfur content), or give better engine performance (poorer performing engines have higher emissions).
State
At the state level, the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and the Environmental Protection Regulations 1998 establish a list of types of industrial activities, called environmentally relevant activities (ERAs), that must have a current development approval or environmental authority.
A person carrying out an activity must also ensure that all reasonable and practicable steps are taken to prevent or minimise environmental harm, and conditions of approval are included with the aim of ensuring that best practice environmental management is implemented. Conditions of approval may include limits on emissions of air pollutants, and requirements to monitor emissions or ambient air quality.
The Environmental Protection (Air) Policy 1997 (Air EPP) establishes long-term goals for ambient air quality in Queensland. Goals have been established for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, particles, lead and a number of air toxics. The policy also gives powers to require proponents to carry out atmospheric dispersion modelling to determine the potential impact of air emissions from proposals for new ERAs. The goals in the Air EPP must be taken into consideration when making decisions regarding conditions of approval for ERAs.
Regional
South East Queensland
At the regional level, planning arrangements including the South East Queensland Regional Plan 2005—2026 and local government planning schemes under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, make major contributions to air quality management. They help to determine the pattern of development in South East Queensland, establishing the location and nature of major infrastructure, and setting up overarching goals and processes to guide development decisions at local, suburban and regional scales.
Transport planning initiatives under the South East Queensland Regional Transport Plan aim to increase the proportion of travel taken by public transport, walking and cycling, and reduce emissions from the vehicle fleet through improved maintenance and driving techniques and greater penetration of low emissions vehicles into the fleet.
Ongoing cooperation between Queensland Government land management agencies, the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) and the Bureau of Meteorology is aimed at ensuring that controlled burning (hazard reduction and ecological) takes place under conditions conducive to the rapid dispersion of smoke away from populated areas. Controlled burning is also postponed if DERM air quality monitoring indicates that regional air quality is already poor.
Outcomes
Following these approaches, the Air Quality Sciences branch of DERM monitors air quality throughout the region, and has recorded very few exceedences of either the Air EPP or national goals in recent years. Trends are difficult to determine because of the influence of overlaying climate cycles, but there is evidence of steady or slightly improving performance despite recent rapid growth in population and economic activity particularly in South East Queensland.
Last updated 14 February 2011