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NSW gas activities to require an EPA licence

“The NSW Government announced an expanded compliance role for the EPA in November 2014 as one of the key measures in the NSW Gas Plan.

“All gas exploration, assessment and production activities, including conventional gas, CSG, tight gas and shale gas are now required to hold an environment protection licence issued by the EPA,” NSW EPA Chief Environment Regulator Mark Gifford said.

“An environment protection licence contains legally enforceable site specific conditions, which holders must comply with in order to prevent and minimise pollution, and safeguard the environment.

“This regulatory change gives the EPA direct regulatory oversight of gas activities and ensures effective, consistent and transparent regulation of the gas industry.”

Additional changes to the regulation include a new administrative fee scale for the activity, and the requirement of operators to pay load-based fees on specific assessable pollutants when annual production capacity exceeds 0.5 PJ.

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