Edition 45, June 2007

WA industry to fully cover the cost of environmental compliance

Fees for Western Australia's 860 licensed industrial premises - from liquified natural gas plants to quarries - will rise in order to ensure that industry pays the full cost of monitoring its environmental compliance.

Consequently, licensing and works approval fees will increase by an average of 50 per cent over the next two years, depending on the level of emissions generated and the amount of monitoring required. About 60 per cent of the increased revenue is expected to come from the 20 largest operations.

This should yield about $4 million for the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), enabling it to fund additional resources and conduct more regular compliance checks. The extra funds will allow a more stringent monitoring regime and ultimately help speed up the approvals process.

DEC currently collects about $8 million a year in environmental licence, registration and works approval fees, while the current cost of regulation has been around $11 million.

In 2006-07, the department received almost 2,000 complaints from the public about various premises and, while the majority of operators act responsibly, some fall short and generate unacceptable levels of dust, odour or noise.

Fee increases will be greater for industries with higher emissions to cover the increased monitoring costs DEC faces in ensuring their compliance with environmental obligations.

Registration fees will also increase but, being a one-off payment, this will not affect the 1,670 existing registered premises.

For more information visit www.dec.wa.gov.au

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