Question Without Notice No. 517 asked in the Legislative Council on 5 September 2017 by Hon Robin Scott
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
MINING PROJECTS — ENVIRONMENTAL APPROVALS
517. Hon ROBIN SCOTT to the Minister for Environment:
(1) Will the minister advise the number of mining projects currently awaiting environmental approval in Western Australia?
(2) Is the minister able to advise the average time span required by mining projects to obtain environmental approval?
(3) Does the government of Western Australia have a target or official desirable maximum time for environmental approvals for mining projects?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) There are currently 22 mining projects being formally assessed by the Environmental Protection Authority under section 38 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986.
(2) Approval time frames vary depending on the complexity of the proposal and how advanced the environmental studies are when a proposal is referred.
(3) The Environmental Protection Authority has a target time frame of 12 weeks to report to the Minister for Environment from the time it receives all the relevant assessment information from the proponent.