WORLD BANK — ZERO
ROUTINE FLARING BY 2030
143. Hon ROBIN CHAPPLE to the minister representing the
Minister for Mines and Petroleum:
I
refer to a media statement made by the Minister for Environment on 7 February
2019, announcing that Western Australia would be the first Australian
jurisdiction to join the World Bank's Zero Routine Flaring by 2030
initiative.
(1) Will the
minister table documents and correspondence pertaining to consultation with
industry while formulating this policy announcement?
(2) Does the new
policy apply retrospectively to existing facilities, or will it apply from only
now on?
(3) What regulatory or legislative
instruments will be used to apply the policy?
(4) If the answer to (3) is none,
how will the policy be implemented?
(5) Given that
the Environmental Protection Authority's policy on climate change has
for a long time required that proponents undertake best practice measures and
all reasonable and practicable measures to minimise carbon pollution, and that
the WA government has made commitments to ensure that all unconventional gas
projects are assessed by the EPA, what additional environmental benefit or
protection will this new policy confer that would not have otherwise been a normal
requirement under the EPA assessment process?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The Minister for Mines and Petroleum has provided the following answer.
(1) No.
(2) The World
Bank initiative applies to wells only, not to facilities, and will apply to new
wells in the first instance. The government will work with industry to make
every effort to end legacy flaring on existing wells into the future.
(3) This will be enabled through regulations under the
Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources Act 1967 and the Petroleum
(Submerged Lands) Act 1982.
(4) Not applicable.
(5) The benefit
of the policy is that world's best practice for routine flaring is
applied to all gas projects with routine wellhead flaring, and not just
projects being considered by the Environmental Protection Authority.