Environment Protection Act 1970

The Environment Protection Act 1970 was at its inception only the second Act in the world to deal with the whole of the environment in a systematic and integrated way. The Act is outcome oriented, with a basic philosophy of preventing pollution and environmental damage by setting environmental quality objectives and establishing programs to meet them. Over the years the Act has evolved to keep pace with the world's best practice in environment protection regulation and to meet the needs of the community.

Key aims of the Act include sustainable use and holistic management of the environment, ensuring consultative processes are adopted so that community input is a key driver of environment protection goals and programs and encouraging a co-operative approach to environment protection.

To help achieve these aims, the following Principles of Environment Protection were added to the Act in 2001:

integration of economic, social and environmental considerations; precautionary principle; intergenerational equity; conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity; improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms; shared responsibility; product stewardship; wastes hierarchy; integrated environmental management; enforcement; and accountability.

Such concepts parallel those included in the National Strategy on Ecologically Sustainable Development and the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment (IGAE).

Changes made to the Act by the Environment Protection (Resource Efficiency) Act 2002 were designed to help all sectors of the Victorian community to continue to find innovative ways of using resources more efficiently and to reduce the ecological impact.

The Act establishes the powers, duties and functions of EPA. These include the administration of the Act and any regulations and orders made pursuant to it, recommending State environment protection policies (SEPPs) and industrial waste management policies (IWMP) to the Governor in Council, issuing works approvals, licences, permits, pollution abatement notices and implementing National Environment Protection Measures (NEPMs).

EPA's statutory functions under the Environment Protection Act 1970 include:

works approvals ; licences ; research development and demonstration approvals ; pollution abatement notices ; waste transport permits and certificates ; and appeal rights that exist in certain statutory processes.

Environment Protection (Amendment) Act 2006 Environment and Resource Efficiency Plans Metropolitan waste management reforms Plastic bags Changes to the scheduled premises and licensing system Pollution Abatement Notices Enforceable undertakings Clean up notices Increased levies for prescribed industrial waste .

The Victorian Government’s Environment Protection (Amendment) Act 2006, passed by Parliament in August 2006, brings in a range of changes to the Environment Protection Act 1970.

These changes strengthen EPA's role in helping Victorians to live sustainably, and help EPA achieve its purpose of protecting, caring for and improving the environment.

In addition, the legislative changes make some key reforms to waste management to keep Victoria at the forefront of resource efficiency.

The intent of the changes is outlined in the Second reading speech ( Adobe PDF file from Victorian Parliament website - p. 2504), which was presented to Parliament by the then Minister for Environment, Mr John Thwaites, on 20 July 2006.

A summary of the key legislative changes follows.

Environment and Resource Efficiency Plans (EREP)

From 1 January 2008 all commercial and industrial sites in Victoria that use more than 100 TJ of energy and/or 120 ML of water in a financial year need to prepare a plan that identifies actions to reduce energy and water use and waste generation. Each site that exceeds one or more thresholds must register with EPA, prepare a plan, implement actions with a payback period of three year or less, and report on their performance annually.

Visit the Sustainable Business and Industry section for more on EREP, including answers to frequently asked questions.

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Metropolitan waste management reforms

Victoria has achieved high levels of resource recovery that are keeping valuable and usable materials out of landfill. Regional Waste Management Groups (RWMGs) have played an important role in this success by forming effective partnerships between local governments and state agencies.

Victoria’s Towards Zero Waste strategy builds on these achievements and sets the bar higher – aiming to both reduce waste generation and increase the rate of resource recovery. The metropolitan waste management reforms introduce some key changes that will strengthen the partnership between state and local governments to meet the challenges of Towards Zero Waste.

These reforms introduce a new metropolitan wide waste and resource recovery planning framework and a new organisation to work in partnership with the 30 metropolitan councils to plan, coordinate and deliver improved resource efficiency.

The four Regional Waste Management Groups (RWMGs) in metropolitan Melbourne are to be replaced with a new statutory body – the Metropolitan Waste Management Group (MWMG).

Merging the existing RWMGs and harnessing the collective buying power of councils will give the MWMG better access to emerging waste management technologies. This enables significant increases in the amount of waste that can be reused and recycled, rather than going to landfill.

The MWMG will complement and support metropolitan councils in their role of providing waste management services to their local communities and determining the approach that best meets their needs and circumstances.

A new metropolitan-wide strategic waste and resource recovery plan is to be established. This plan will have three key components:

The Metropolitan Plan – a strategic analysis of the patterns and trends in the generation and composition of waste and recoverable resources setting the key directions for resource efficiency for the next 20-30 years.

The Municipal Solid Waste Infrastructure Schedule – an assessment of the needs, priorities and general preferred location for municipal solid waste infrastructure facilities (other than landfill) for the next 5-10 years.

The Metropolitan Landfill Schedule – an assessment of the needs, priorities and management requirements for waste disposal landfills for the next 5-10 years.

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Plastic bags

The Environment Protection Act 1970 has been amended to give the Minister for Environment the power to make future regulations banning the free provision of plastic bags.

Under any future regulations made with this power, if retailers wanted to continue providing plastic bags to customers, they would be required to charge a minimum prescribed fee (possibly 10c per bag) – and must make that price transparent to the customer.

Appropriate exemptions would apply, for example, where a bag is required for health and safety reasons such as bait bags or bags for fresh foods, and in developing the regulations consideration will be given to exemptions for small businesses, biodegradeable plastic bags and other purposes.

Plastic bag waste can threaten wildlife, cause drains to block and overflow and create amenity problems. For these reasons, plastic bag litter continues to be a prominent community issue.

In October 2003, Environment Ministers around Australia agreed to phase-out lightweight plastic shopping bags by the end of 2008.

Through voluntary schemes, large supermarket retailers have achieved a 41 per cent reduction in plastic bag use based on 2002 consumption levels, but 1.1 billion bags are still consumed annually in Victoria.

The amendment gives the Environment Minister the power to make future regulations banning the free provision of plastic bags if further reductions are not achieved through voluntary action.

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Changes to the scheduled premises and licensing system

Works approvals and licensing of industrial and waste management facilities that have the potential for significant environmental impact are key tools for environment protection established by the Act. These tools operate well, but opportunities have been identified for improving their operation in order to deliver better outcomes for the environment and to lower administration and compliance costs.

As part of the review of the Environment Protection (Scheduled Premises and Exemptions) Regulations 1996, three key initiatives have been introduced by the Amendment Act to improve the operation of works approvals and licences.

Firstly, at the request of a licensee, EPA will have the capacity to amalgamate two or more licences for different premises held by the same licensee, into a single ‘corporate licence’. Licence amalgamation is voluntary, not mandatory, and will help EPA and businesses streamline licence development, monitoring and management processes.

This will benefit many businesses with more than one licence, by enabling the integration of environmental issues into the broader corporate group, rather than on a site-by-site basis. Companies will have the flexibility to invest in environmental improvements across their whole business in a more cost-efficient and effective way.

Secondly, uniform reporting requirements for all licensees will be introduced when the new regulations are made. Licensees will be able to report on compliance with a licence in a single 'performance statement', submitted once a year. This will move away from the different reporting requirements currently contained in individual licences. Where a licensee’s performance does not meet licence conditions, a summary of failings and actions taken or proposed to address that failure will accompany the statement.

The proposed amendment makes it an offence for a licensee to fail to submit a performance statement by the required date, or to provide false or misleading information to EPA, or to conceal information from EPA.

These changes, which have come about through consultation with current licensees, are designed to create administrative savings and reduce compliance complexity.

However, standard reporting will not impact on a licensee’s obligation to comply with its licence conditions, take and keep monitoring data and make that data available to EPA on request.

Finally, in order to simplify the licensing structure, the existing six classifications of scheduled premises have been replaced with a single definition of ‘scheduled premises’.

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Pollution Abatement Notices (PANs)

The Environment Protection Act 1970 now enables a single Pollution Abatement Notice (PAN) to be issued to set requirements or direct actions be taken at multiple premises.

Under the current system, if a business operates at multiple premises, each with the same environmental problem, each site must be issued with a separate notice. Now, one PAN can be issued to multiple premises of the same business.

This change will enable PANs to more efficiently address emerging product stewardship and resource efficiency issues (for example, in support of the National Packaging Covenant), which tend to be company wide, rather than single-site based. The change

will also improve EPA’s capacity to use PANs for direct pollution issues, for example by requiring stormwater and erosion controls at building and construction sites.

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Enforceable undertakings

A new enforcement tool, known as an 'enforceable undertaking', is now available for EPA to use when a contravention of the Act occurs.

An enforceable undertaking is a voluntary, negotiated written promise or set of promises to carry out various tasks as part of a settlement for contravening the Act. In all circumstances, enforceable undertakings will be voluntary agreements, and can only be entered into with the agreement of both EPA and the business and/or person who has breached the Act.

If an undertaking is withdrawn, EPA can use other enforcement options as appropriate. If an undertaking is breached, EPA can apply to the Magistrates' Court for its enforcement.

Guidelines on the development, use and enforcement of undertakings will be prepared and published by EPA.

The ability of EPA to agree on measures to make amends for a breach of the Act with the offender enables issues to be resolved efficiently, without the need for costly and time-consuming court proceedings.

Guidelines as to how enforceable undertakings will be developed and applied are currently under development and will be released for public comment in the near future.

Enforceable undertakings have been adopted and used successfully by a number of other agencies including Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Consumer Affairs Victoria and the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation.

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Clean up notices

Notices issued under section 62A of the Act (commonly known as ‘clean up notices’) are the key mechanism used to direct the clean up or management of contaminated sites and groundwater. Clean up notices can be issued to the occupier of the contaminated site or to the polluter. Under the changes to the Act, EPA is now empowered to require a parent or controlling company to accept responsibility for cleaning up pollution caused by a subsidiary in appropriate cases.

The change enables EPA to issue a clean up notice to a parent company where its subsidiary, associated entity or related entity caused pollution, and where:

the parent company had requisite control over, and was aware of the polluting activities of the subsidiary, and

the parent company did not take all reasonable steps to prevent the polluting activity of the subsidiary.

Requiring accountability by parent companies will ensure previous polluters pay for old pollution (strengthening the application of the Principles of Environment Protection) and will also help prevent new pollution by giving companies an incentive to manage environmental risks before they become offences.

In addition, the amendment clarifies that a notice issued under section 62A of the Act can require clean up and/or on-going management measures to be undertaken at a site.

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Increased levies for prescribed industrial waste

Prescribed industrial waste (PIW) is produced from the manufacture of goods and services we use every day. It is generated by activities such as petroleum refining, chemicals manufacture, metals smelting and auto manufacturing.

The Amendment Act introduces increased levies for the disposal of PIW to landfill and introduces differential levies reflecting the level of hazard posed by different classes of PIW. This amendment is intended to accelerate the drive towards waste avoidance, reuse and recycling and will increase the support programs available to help industry reduce waste disposal. Levy revenue will be reinvested in programs to support industry to avoid the generation of PIW or to find safe re-use alternatives to disposal.

Effective 1 July 2007, new landfill levies will be introduced for prescribed industrial waste as follows:

Prescribed industrial waste disposed to landfill Amount until 30

June 2007 ($/tonne)

Amount as at 1 July 2007 ($/tonne)

Category B – includes wastes from manufacturing industries and contaminated soils 26 130

Category C – includes wastes which pose a low hazard from manufacturing industries and level contaminated soils

26 50

Packaged waste asbestos – levy remains unchanged to encourage safe handling and disposal of asbestos

26 30

In January 2007, the Government announced further increases to landfill levies to take effect from 1 July 2008.

Oil spillAn oil spill is a release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term often refers to marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters. Oil spills include releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs and wells, as well as spills of refined petroleum products (such as gasoline, diesel) and their by-products, and heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel, or the spill of any oily white substance refuse or waste oil. Spills may take months or even years to clean up.[1]

Oil also enters the marine environment from natural oil seeps.[2] Public attention and regulation has tended to focus most sharply on seagoing oil tankers.

Mumbai oil spill: Impact on the environmentUran, Raigad:  NDTV travelled to Uran in Raigad district to find out the impact of the oil spill off the coast of Mumbai, and the situation is scary.

A snake which came in from the sea was covered in oil and chemicals and was struggling. Neither could it go back into the sea as it is filled with oil, nor could it remain in the open in the baking sun. The oil spill has turned deadly. And it's not just this one snake.

"Our fishing nets in the sea are all covered with oil. Naturally no one is willing to buy such fish," said a concerned fisherman.

The marine life here is contaminated. This has been confirmed by initial reports carried out by the state government.

"Tests on some fish have been done. Some contamination has been detected," said Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister, Maharashtra.

The oil slick has even entered the sensitive mangrove belt. While the government is working towards a swift clean up, environmentalists fear it may be too late.

"My fear is that the oil slick will enter the mangroves and mudflats and once that happens we can't do anything to clean it up. Moreover I don't think India has the technology or the intent," said Bittu Sehgal, an environmentalist.

"Removing oil from the sea, the entire thing will take 45 days. Comprehensive detailed investigation on damage on mangrove forest will be done by Maharashtra Pollution Board," said the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

And while the leak may have been plugged, going by the extent to which the slick has spread, it will be a while before the villagers can return to the seas for their livelihood.

Animal rightsAnimal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings.[3] Advocates approach the issue from different philosophical positions, ranging from the protectionist side of the movement, presented by philosopher Peter Singer—with a utilitarian focus on suffering and consequences, rather than on the concept of rights—to the abolitionist side, represented by law professor Gary Francione, who argues that animals need only one right: the right not to be property. Despite the different approaches, advocates broadly agree that animals should be viewed as non-human persons and members of the moral community, and should not be used as food, clothing, research subjects, or entertainment.[4]

The idea of awarding rights to animals has the support of legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz and Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School. Animal rights is routinely covered in universities in philosophy or applied ethics courses, and as of spring 2010 animal law was taught in 125 law schools in the United States and Canada. Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby argued in 2008 that the movement had reached the stage the gay rights movement was at 25 years earlier.[5]

Critics of the idea argue that animals are unable to enter into a social contract or make moral choices, and for that reason cannot be regarded as possessors of rights, a position summed up by the philosopher Roger Scruton, who wrote in 2000 that only humans have duties and therefore only humans have rights.[6] A parallel argument is that there is nothing inherently wrong with using animals as resources so long there is no unnecessary suffering, a view known as the animal welfare position.[7] There has also been criticism, including from within the animal rights movement itself, of certain forms of animal rights activism, in particular the destruction of fur farms and animal laboratories by the Animal Liberation Front.

Project Tiger in IndiaProject Tiger was incorporated in 1973 with nine tiger reserves covering an area of 16,339 sq.km., which has increased to 37,761 sq.km. in 27 Tiger Reserves. The budgetary provision of the Government of India during 1973 was only Rs. 23 million, which has increased to 230 million during 2000-2001.

In the beginning of the 1970s, once tiger hunting had officially been banned in India, a tiger count was done across the entire country. This lead to the astonishing discovery that

only 1800 specimens of this magnificent animal were left. This jolted the concerned authorities and some serious thought went into devising plans to save the tiger. The result was the launch of "Project Tiger" in 1972 at the Dhikala Forest Rest House in Corbett National Park. The main idea behind the project was to provide safe havens for tigers where they could flourish as a species and hopefully reverse the startling decline in their population. The project initially had 9 parks that were chosen for it's implementation. This number has slowly risen and a total of 19 parks are now attached to the project. The project was begun in association with and still receives its main funding from the WWF.

Although the experts affirm that the project has its shortcomings, the increase in the populations of the tiger is clearly evident to even the common man. Many experts had predicted that the tiger would be extinct by the turn of the century, but, whoever may be responsible, the tiger has proudly proved them wrong. Tiger population may not still be in thrilling numbers and poaching still may be quite rampant but a lot more effort is being put into saving this beautiful animal. This is good news for the entire natural treasure of the country because if the tiger flourishes, so will the jungle and vice-versa.

Project Tiger Reserves in India:- Bandhavgarh - Bandipur - Bhadra - Buxa - Corbett - Dampa - Dudhwa - Indravati - Valmiki

- Kalakad-Mundanthurai - Kanha - Manas - Melghat - Nagarjunasagar - Namdapha - Palamau - Panna

- Pench (Madhya Pradesh) - Pench (Maharashtra)- Periyar - Ranthambhore - Sariska - Similipal - Sundarbans - Tadoba-Andhari

Problems faced by Tiger Reserves:Legend & Lore: In India tiger skins were & are still valued by black magicians as a seat during meditation. In China, various parts of tiger's body, from its collar bone to its whiskers, find wide variety of applications in medicine. Thus poaching & smuggle of tigers are the results of which.

Extractive Industries like mining & manufacturing units: such as power plants cannot coexist with either the tiger or its prey species. The insidious encroachment of development projects on the reserves represents an irreversible ecological transition.

The relationship with the local villagers: is the "weak spot" of the entire project. Villagers were relocated from the core areas of the tiger reserves without providing them alternative access for grazing or fuel collection.

Nuclear power in IndiaNuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro and renewable sources of electricity.[1] As of 2010, India has 20 nuclear power plants in operation generating 4,560 MW while 4 other are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW.[2] India's nuclear power industry is undergoing rapid expansion with plans to increase nuclear power output to 64,000 MW by 2032.[3] The country is involved in the development of nuclear fusion reactors through its participation in the ITER project and is a global leader in the development of thorium-based fast breeder reactors.[4]

India's domestic uranium reserves are small and the country is dependent on uranium imports to fuel its nuclear power industry. Since early 1990s, Russia has been a major supplier of nuclear fuel to India.[5] Due to dwindling domestic uranium reserves,[6] electricity generation from nuclear power in India declined by 12.83% from 2006 to 2008.[7] Following a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in September 2008 which allowed it to commence international nuclear trade,[8] India has signed bilateral deals on civilian nuclear energy technology cooperation with several other countries, including France,[9] the United States,[10] the United Kingdom,[11] and Canada.[12] India has also uranium supply agreements with Russia,[13][14] Mongolia,[15] Kazakhstan,[16] Argentina [17] and Namibia.[18] An Indian private company won a uranium exploration contract in Niger.[19]

India now envisages to increase the contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from 4.2% to 9% within 25 years.[20] In 2010, India's installed nuclear power generation capacity will increase to 6,000 MW.[21] As of 2009, India stands 9th in the world in terms of number of operational nuclear power reactors and is constructing 9 more, including two EPRs being constructed by France's Areva.[22] Indigenous atomic reactors include TAPS-3, and -4, both of which are 540 MW reactors.[23] India's US$717 million fast breeder reactor project is expected to be operational by 2010.[24]