The Greenhouse Gas Geological Sequestration Regulations 2019 establish requirements in Victoria for eliminating or minimising environmental, health and safety hazards and risks associated with greenhouse gas geological sequestration operations. Made under the Greenhouse Gas Geological Sequestration Act 2008, they regulate exploration permits, retention leases, injection and monitoring licences and special access authorisations. Injection testing and injection and monitoring plans must describe geological formations, existing environmental and resource conditions, monitoring equipment and techniques, verification methods and risk management measures, with monthly reporting on monitoring and verification activities. Operation plans must include an environment management plan that describes the affected environment and its cultural, historical, social, ecological, biological, landscape and economic values. The plan must identify direct and indirect environmental effects and risks, including those arising from accidents or emergencies, and set measurable environmental performance objectives and standards. Its implementation strategy must address risk minimisation, personnel responsibilities and training, monitoring, auditing, review, and quantitative records of emissions and discharges. Authority holders must report serious situations within prescribed periods, review operation plans when risks change and at least every five years, collect geoscientific, engineering, safety, injection and monitoring data, and preserve specified samples and records. The Regulations require information about wells, seismic and other surveys to be submitted to the Minister and impose annual operational reporting covering technical investigations, drilling, injected substances, test results, interpretations and expenditure. They provide for the decommissioning of unused wells, royalties and market-based rent for occupying Crown land, disclosure and public registration of officers’ pecuniary interests, application, renewal, annual and transfer fees, and procedures for compensation disputes before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal or the Supreme Court. The Minister may also require petroleum operators to provide information on geological formations, petroleum activities and infrastructure, and potential interactions with greenhouse gas sequestration operations.
澳大利亚 · 2019-11-30