Compliance and enforcement
CSG Compliance Plan
The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is committed to full transparency of its enforcement and compliance activities associated with coal seam gas (CSG) operations.
DERM has developed a CSG Compliance Plan (PDF, 200K)* which sets out its compliance activities to address the key areas of the CSG to LNG industry that have the potential to affect the environment and natural resources.
This plan outlines how the department has significantly increased its compliance activities in relation to this industry. In particular the focus has been on establishing strong monitoring programs and ensuring effective management and response to reports or complaints concerning the impacts of the industry.
CSG Compliance Plan Updates
Compliance Strategy and Guidelines
The Compliance Strategy 2010-14 (PDF, 239K)* conveys principles and strategies to ensure that the compliance program delivers on DERM’s objectives.
As set out in the strategy, DERM is committed to proactively managing and monitoring risks to Queensland’s environment and natural resources through the implementation of a compliance strategy founded on a targeted and transparent approach to compliance, supported by a modern and strong enforcement capability.
DERM will:
- ensure that our clients understand Queensland’s environmental and natural resource management obligations
- encourage voluntary compliance with those obligations
- work with government, business, industry and the community to improve performance
- monitor compliance with Queensland’s environmental and natural resource management laws
- take consistent and proportionate responses to non-compliance in accordance with the Enforcement Guidelines to achieve environmental and natural resource outcomes and deter further non-compliance.
DERM Enforcement Guidelines
DERM has developed enforcement guidelines (PDF, 306K)* to ensure that its enforcement responses are:
- proportionate to the conduct involved
- consistent with past responses to similar conduct
- completed in a timely fashion
These guidelines assist DERM in choosing an enforcement response, and inform those regulated by DERM about the standards that are expected when their activities affect Queensland’s natural assets.
DERM has a wide range of enforcement measures available to it. Each piece of legislation has its own suite of enforcement measures, but generally they consist of the following:
- encouraging voluntary compliance through education and self regulation
- strategic compliance audits and site impact programs
- working with other agencies
- verbal warning and warning letters
- infringement notices
- administrative and court orders to stop an activity or to take action to remedy a breach or both
- cancellation, suspension or amendment of licence, lease or other permits
- prosecution.
DERM has focused its attention on compliance and is working with the community and industry to achieve good environmental performance and natural resource management through provision of advice, technical assistance and support of innovation.
LNG Enforcement Unit
The LNG Enforcement Unit monitors CSG operators and ensures they comply with laws and policies affecting the industry.
The unit includes multi-disciplinary staff from both DERM and the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), including environmental and groundwater experts, petroleum and gas safety specialists and staff specialising in land access issues.
The unit is responsible for the regionally coordinated delivery of compliance activities and also ensures that there is an integrated whole-of-government approach to managing complaints.
The unit:
- acts as a one-stop shop to respond to safety, land access and environmental concerns
- manages and investigates complaints in addition to monitoring and compliance relating to CSG activities
- undertakes planned inspections of sites where CSG activities are conducted
- is responsible for sampling 300 groundwater bores per year to monitor the impacts of groundwater quality from CSG activity and to verify the monitoring data that is being supplied by CSG companies.
To ensure the unit delivers the best outcomes for landholders and community members lodging complaints, a specific officer is allocated to manage each complaint from beginning to end. This includes liaising with investigators and working with landholders and companies until the complaint is resolved.
The LNG Enforcement Unit can be contacted via the CSG-LNG Hotline: 13 25 23.
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Last updated 7 December 2011