Environmentally Relevant Activities (ERA’s)

Environmentally Relevant Activities (ERAs) are activities that will, or have the potential to, release contaminants into the environment that may cause environmental harm. It is a requirement of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act) and the Environmental Protection Regulation 2008 (EP Regs) that anyone who conducts an ERA must possess an environmental authority.

Changes to EP Act and EP Regs

The Queensland Government on 31 March changed the provisions of the EP Act and Regulations. Some of the major changes and impacts are listed below.

A number of environmentally relevant activities (ERA's) have been deleted under the Regulations. Businesses previously holding a registration certificate with Council to operate an ERA that has been deleted will no longer require the registration certificate to operate and will be made exempt from the licensing requirements.

Attached is a list of the deleted ERA's.

It is important to note that any environmental conditions that have been prescribed under a development condition that formed part of a Council approval to conduct an ERA will remain in force even though the ERA category has been deleted under the Regulations. If Council assesses an activity that is no longer required to have an approval under the EP Act, it will be legally bound to comply with these development conditions.

Another change relates to the terminology used in the legislation. The certificate of registration will now be referred to as an environmental authority. Council, for the remainder of the 2012/13 licence period will recognise existing approvals as an environmental authority. It will be replaced with a new environmental authority during the annual renewal period to occur in May - June this year.

For further information about the changes to the legislation, you can access the Department of Environment & Heritage Protection web page on the Greentape Reduction Program at:
http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/management/greentape/index.html

Local Government Devolved ERA's

The following ERAs are devolved to Local Government as listed in schedule 1 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2008.

ERA # 12 Plastic Product Manufacturing
ERA # 19 Metal Forming (greater than 1000 tonnes per year but excluding cold processing)
ERA # 20 Metal Recovery
ERA # 38 Surface coating (for anodising, electroplating, enamelling or galvanising using 1 - 100 tonnes of materials per year)
ERA # 49 Boat maintaining and repairing (within 50 metres of a bed of naturally occurring surface waters)
ERA # 61 Waste incineration and thermal treatment

Please note that the above-mentioned activities are not devolved to local government if any of the following apply:

The activity includes a non-devolved ERA at the same place;
The activity is carried out by local or state government; or
The activity is mobile and temporary ERA that is carried out in more than one local government area.

What activities are the Department of Environment & Heritage Protection responsible for?

ERA's not devolved to local government, listed in Schedule 2 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2008, must be notified to the Department of Environmental and Heritage Protection (DEHP) within the state government. To find out what type of Licence or Permit you need and how to apply, go to the DEHP website - Click Here

Notifiable Activities

In Schedule 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994, certain activities are defined as notifiable activities. If the owner or occupier of land becomes aware a notifiable activity is being carried out on the land, the owner or occupier must give notice to the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) in the approved form below.

DERM Notifiable Activity form (46KB PDF)

Fact Sheets

Pollution Solutions are an operator's Environmental Guide for Environmentally Relevant Activities that have been compiled by Brisbane City Council and industry. These will help you understand how to comply with Environmental Protection requirements.

Abrasive Blasters (398KB PDF)
Animal Housing (150KB PDF)
Asphalt Manufacturing (389KB PDF)
Boat Maintaining or Repair & Marina or Seaplane Mooring (452KB PDF)
Concrete Batching (409KB PDF)
Crematorium Operators (391KB PDF)
Metal Finishers and Engineers (531KB PDF)
Motor Vehicle Workshop, Spray painting and panel beating, Motor Racing (489KB PDF)
Pet, Stock & Aquaculture Food Manufacturers (389KB PDF)
Plastic Manufacturing (437KB PDF)
Poultry Farms (429KB PDF)
Printing (418KB PDF)
Sand Gravel Stone Quarriers and Processors (372KB PDF)
Scrap Metal Yards & Automotive Dismantlers (434KB PDF)

Other Information and Factsheets

Environmental Matters newsletter

Developed as an educational resource for Council registered Environmentally Relevant Activities in the Gladstone Region, the newsletter will provide up-to-date information on environmental matters, helpful tips, advice on training opportunities and any upcoming legislative changes. Council aims to produce the newsletter four times a year, and invites you to provide feedback and suggestions as to newsletter content.