EPHC Meeting Endorses Air Toxins NEPM

A National Environment Protection Measure for air toxins has been endorsed at the most recent meeting of the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, encompassing benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, toluene and xylenes.

The NEPM includes includes a guideline and protocols to monitor and report on the five air toxins.

The Council has also used the meeting to release for public consultation a draft variation to the National Environment Protection Measure for the movement of controlled waste between States and Territories (controlled wastes are those presenting a hazard in storage, handling and transport).

This draft variation recognises the importance of recycling, and will improve existing mechanisms to ensure that controlled wastes are identified, transported and handled in accordance with environmentally sound practices.

Ministers also agreed to explore regulatory safety-net options for waste tyre and television recycling.

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State of the Air Report Released

The inaugural State of the Air report has been released, providing an overview of the level of urban air pollution across the nation.

The report is the result of 10 years of data, from 1991 to 2001, from 79 sites in all states and territories.

The report shows that ozone and particle levels have remained relatively high, due mainly to increasing traffic, although lead, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide concentrations have fallen.

In 2001, the air quality standards were met for carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and lead at all monitoring sites. The standards were exceeded for ground level ozone and particles in some cities, and sulfur dioxide levels were high at specific sites outside capital cities.

For the full report, go to http://www.deh.gov.au/atmosphere/airquality/status/

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NSW Releases Metropolitan Sydney Blueprint

Sustainability it to be the top priority of a 25-year planning blueprint for metropolitan Sydney, released for comment by the NSW Government.

Under the blueprint, the Metropolitan Strategy for Sydney, building rules that require new homes to reduce energy use by 25 per cent and water use by 40 per cent from July 1 will be extended to alterations and additions from October next year. It will also extend the light rail, and incorporate sustainability criteria as conditions for approval of land releases.

NSW has also appointed a sustainability commissioner, Professor Peter Newman, who will evaluate plans for extending the city, advise on population capacity of the Sydney basin and look at ways to ease the pressure on the coast.

Planning Minister, Craig Knowles, said the blueprint would be "fundamentally different" from earlier strategic plans.

"Previous attempts to plan for Sydney's growth have been little more than a developers' street directory," he said.

http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plansforaction/metro.html

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Queensland Passes New Landclearing Laws

New laws to phase out broadscale land clearing in Queensland by December 2006 have been passed by the Queensland Parliament, with support from the Liberal Party.

Key elements of the new laws include:

• The phasing out of broadscale clearing of remnant vegetation in Queensland by December 2006;
• A $150 million financial assistance package to assist affected landholders;
• A ballot for the balance of 500,000 hectares of trees able to be cleared will be held in September 2004;
• New vegetation management codes based upon regional vegetation management plans.

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WA Provides Full NAP Funding

The Western Australian Government has announced that it will provide the full $158 million in funding for the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, matching the funding provided by the Federal Government under the bilateral agreement signed in September last year.

At the time of the signing of the NAP, the WA Government agreed to take up just $31 million, and the Federal Government gave the Western Australia until its next budget to come up with the additional life of the program required to match the full amount allocated by the commonwealth under the NAP.

Questions have, however, been raised by the Federal Minister for Environment and Heritage,Dr David Kemp, about whether all the funding announced by the WA Government qualifies as new money, and whether the funding has been allocated to priority projects. The funding in question includes the proposed $15 million Collie/Wellington dam project and a $32 million contribution to plantation forestry

Should the funding prove to be satisfactory to the Federal Government, the WA announcement now means that $316 million will be spent over the next five years on salinity and water quality projects in targeted areas within the state. The regions chosen within WA for NAP focus are the South Coast, South West, Avon, Ord and Northern Agricultural.

Regional NRM groups are in the final stages of preparing their strategies that will include identification of further priority projects for NAP funding.

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Westpac Leads Corporate Responsibility

Westpac Banking Corporation is yet again the leader in social and environmental responsibility among Australia's major public companies, according to the 2004 Corp Rate project.

The project brings together the opinions of the Australian Consumers' Association (ACA), Oxfam Community Aid Abroad (Oxfam) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), to provide an assessment of corporate governance, social and environmental performance of Australia's top 50 listed companies.

The scorecard showed an overall poor performance in the environmental analysis, with most of the companies performing much better in the governance section than in environmental and social analysis.

While Telstra, which came second, rated more highly in the environmental assessment, Westpac was well ahead in the social criteria.

BHP Billiton was ranked third, although it scored low in the environmental analysis, as did WMC Resources Limited which was placed fourth.

National Australia Bank, Bluescope Steel, Origin Energy, Southcorp Limited, Amcor Limited and Brambles Industries rounded out the top 10 companies.

Of Australia's top 50 listed companies, only 4 garnered a respectable score of 15 or above in the environmental analysis. 29 companies, or over half of those examined, scored less than 10, indicating serious deficiencies in their environmental performance and policies.

It also shows a disappointing trend towards "environmental fatigue" in some sectors of corporate Australia. Some companies who had previously announced environmental initiatives are now abandoning such initiatives, such as the Macquarie Bank which had announced its GreenSmart home loan in 2000, but which has now stopped the program.

CSR has also stopped environmental reporting altogether. It has told the Australian Conservation Foundation that it has no plans to publish a 2003 report on its environmental performance and does not plan to publish one in the future.

The full detail of the report can be found at
http://www.acfonline.org.au/corp_rate/intro.asp

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Practical Workshop on Recent Techniques in Protection, Creation and Rehabilitation of Coastal Saltmarshes

Coastal saltmarshes are among some of the most vulnerable ecological communities in southeastern Australia. More than 80% of saltmarsh areas have been lost from the south-eastern coast of Australia. Although the bulk of these losses took place in the past, the trend is still on-going. As a protective measure, the Scientific Committee of NSW has made a Preliminary Determination to support a proposal to list the Coastal Saltmarsh as an ENDANGERED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY.

This workshop is essential for those who need to know more about saltmarshes and who want to gain a practical learning experience. The workshops are based on a hands-on experiential, learning approach and training is focused on building skills in assessment, planning, restoration, monitoring and management. In a combination of classroom talks and field visits, numerous examples will be taken from both natural and man-made saltmarshes and a variety of saltmarsh creation and restoration sites will be analysed. Highly skilled experts and practising ecologists will be delivering these tutorials and field studies lessons.

Date: 3-4 June 2004, Venue: Bicentennial Park Visitor Centre Theatrette, Sydney Olympic Park

For bookings and program details contact (612) 9714 7888 or e-mail
wetworkshop@sopa.nsw.gov.au or visit SOP at http://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au

Fees:
(Fees include: workshop, lunch, workshop notes and field studies)
Two Day Rate Single Day Rate
Regular: $396.00 (GST inc) $253.00 (GST inc)
Student: $297.00 (GST inc)

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2004 Advanced Environmental Auditor Workshop

Enhance your environmental auditing knowledge, and build on your existing skills and experience, in Thomson CPD’s Advanced Environmental Auditor Workshop.

This unique forum for experienced auditors incorporates up to nine hands-on workshops over three days. Discuss the latest auditing principles and techniques with peers and field experts.

Gain an in-depth working knowledge of:

• Legal implications of environmental audits
• Ethics of environmental auditors
• Types of environmental audits
• Auditing standards
• Audit protocol
• Auditing techniques
• Business systems

Presented by Australia’s leading environmental expert, Graham A Brown, a certified environmental auditor with over 30 years industrial experience, this is your opportunity to:

• Share your expertise — discuss experiences with peers and industry specialists
• Analyse the latest auditing information — understand how it applies to you
• Learn how to use auditing techniques — turn theory into practice
• Understand auditing tools available — support your enhanced knowledge all year round
• Gain valuable professional development hours

Pre-requisite: Prior completion of Thomson’s Environmental Audit Certification Workshop or equivalent certification as an environmental auditor, or demonstration of knowledge and prior auditing experience required for this level of workshop.

Optional dinner forum with Graham A Brown
On the evening of Day 2, workshop leader Graham Brown will host a delegates’ dinner. Discuss issues with your peers and tap into Graham’s extensive auditing experience and knowledge. (Cost of optional dinner is not included in the registration fee.)

Sydney 26–28 May
Melbourne 1–3 June
Perth 12–14 October

To register or for further information please contact Robyn Clark on 03 9208 4534, email cpdseminars@thomson.com.au, or visit http://www.cpd.com.au.

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Stormwater Industry Association WSUD Seminar

The Future: Rainwater Tanks & Enviroplumber(TM)
12:30 - 2:30pm, Thursday, 27th May, 2004.
MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATION,
3 John St, Lidcombe.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: This seminar will benefit developers, builders, planners, Council planners, Stormwater Managers, all stakeholders in the development of sustainable housing.

COST: $75.00 (SIA Members: $55.00)

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Registration form and details available from the SIA website: www.stormwater.asn.au/nsw/events.asp. Contact SIA Secretariat, info@stormwater.asn.au or phone toll free 1300 76 11 22.

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Master of Biotechnology RMIT University

Are you interested in upgrading your skills and knowledge in the area of Biotechnology? Biotechnology is a rapidly expanding discipline, encompassing such diverse topics as protecting endangered plant species, developing improved crop species, evaluating water quality and developing medical diagnostic tests and novel vaccines.

The Master of Biotechnology at RMIT has a stream in environmental and agricultural biotechnology with courses in molecular plant pathology, plant tissue culture, molecular approaches to plant breeding, molecular biology, electron microscopy and bioinformatics. The program includes coursework and one optional semester of research or work experience. The program offers exit points at Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma and Master levels. You have the opportunity to study part-time or full time. All courses are available as single courses.

If you have a degree in Science, Applied Science, Chemical or Environmental Engineering you are qualified to apply for this program

Strong links with industry gives students the opportunity to also undertake work experience or a research project in the workplace.

Places are still available for July entry. Applications close at the end of June 2004.

If you are interested in taking this next step, please contact:
Associate Professor Margaret Deighton for further details about the program.

Email: m_deighton@rmit.edu.au
Phone: 03 9925 7123

For further information about the program and how to apply, visit
http://www.rmit.edu.au/biotechnology/biotechnology-pg

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Environmental Risk Assessment Course

Gold Coast - July 19 - 20

Why do this course ?
ERA provides a basis for comparing and ranking risks, so that natural resource managers can focus attention on the most severe risks first.

This course (more info) covers the steps involved in an ecological risk assessment (problem formulation, risk analysis and risk characterisation) and how to use this information to develop a risk management plan and adequate monitoring programs. Case studies will be used to illustrate the main points.

Issues addressed
• Risk perception
• Stakeholder interactions
• Risk assessment & management
• Ecological effects of contaminants (e.g. salinity, nutrients)
• Priority setting
• Design of monitoring programs

100% of delegates to IWES Melbourne 2004 indicated they would recommend this course to others.
SOURCE: IWES Melb 2004 Feedback

Presented by Barry Hart
Barry has an international reputation in the fields of environmental risk assessment, aquatic chemistry and water quality management. Projects completed include assessments of the Mekong River Basin, Fly River, PNG, Derwent Estuary. He is well known for developing water quality guidelines for Australia including the ANZECC/ARMCANZ water quality guidelines.

• Director, Water Studies Centre and Professor of Environmental Chemistry at Monash University
• member of the Victorian Catchment Management Council and the Victorian Environment Protection Authority Board.
• 30 years teaching experience including training courses in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia.

IWES Gold Coast 2004 - other courses
IWES Gold Coast 2004 features 15 courses in environmental management, air quality and wastewater treatment

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REGA Forum 2004 in conjunction with the ESAA 9th Renewable Energy Conference

Novotel Twin Waters, Sunshine Coast June 10-11.

The Renewable Energy Generators of Australia and the Energy Supply Association of Australia are offering two premier industry events together for the first time. The 2004 Forum theme, 'Bringing Renewables into the Mainstream: influencing the future energy mix', reflects the growing need to fully understand opportunities for increasing the level of renewable energy in the future energy mix, including addressing barriers that are currently inhibiting that growth.

The Forum will explore:
• The latest thinking behind Future Energy Scenarios
• Opportunities for renewables in a truly diversified energy mix
• Meeting electricity retailer and generator expectations
• Policy measures supporting an increased growth in renewables

This year’s Forum will be held at the Novotel Twin Waters Resort, Sunshine Coast in Queensland from 10– 11th June. Novotel Twin Waters is a multi award winning resort located just south of Noosa on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. REGA and esaa are proud to offer this Forum for a cost of $1,495.00 for REGA/esaa Members, $1,595.00 for esaa Associate Members and $1,695.00 for non members (including GST).

For program and registration details please visit http://www.tmm.com.au or call 02 9241 2955.

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