Annual fees

For most activities, environmental authority (EA) holders will be required to pay an ongoing annual fee for their EA.

Prior to the due date for the annual fee, the administering authority will issue EA holders with a notice outlining this requirement. This notice will be sent at least 20 business days before the anniversary day for the EA (i.e. the day the EA took effect), and this notice will include details on when and where to pay the annual fee.

Free ecoBiz program

Queensland businesses with less than 200 full time employees can register for the free Business Chamber Queensland ecoBiz program. The ecoBiz program is a free eco-efficiency program for Queensland businesses that can help cut costs associated with your energy, water and waste usage while also reducing your environmental impact. Access on-site one on one coaching session with an ecoBiz sustainability expert, to help save money and resources, and help your business go green by putting sustainability initiatives into practice. You could be eligible for a 10% EA fee reduction after 12 months of implementing the recommendations from the sustainability expert if at least a 10% reduction is achieved in either energy, water, or waste (all 3 must be monitored to be eligible for the reduction). Learn more about the ecoBiz program.

Read more about annual fees for EAs.

Annual returns

Each year holders of certain EAs are required to complete and submit an annual return to the administering authority.

If an EA holder is required to submit an annual return they will receive a written notice of this requirement.

The annual return notice will be issued prior to its due date, which is 1 April each year. The annual return notice will include information on how to complete and submit the annual return.

Holders of EAs that do not receive an annual return notice from the administering authority will not be required to submit an annual return.

Read the annual return requirements for resource activities: frequently asked questions (ESR/2022/6003) (PDF, 103KB) for more information.

Also consider...

• Find out how to change the anniversary day of an EA.
• Read more about the fee for changing the anniversary day (PDF, 404KB).
• Read more about the annual fees for environmentally relevant activities (ERAs) (PDF, 1MB).

Your environmental authority (EA) will contain conditions that you must comply with. These conditions will generally state what is permitted as part of your EA's activity.

The conditions of your EA will relate to the operation of the Environmentally Relevant Activity (ERA) and, in some instances, may also cover rehabilitation requirements.

There may also be a need for a condition to expressly prohibit an action based on the level of environment risk posed by the activity or if a 'no release' requirement is necessary. For example, contaminants must not be released to land.

Your EA may include conditions from a code of environmental compliance or ERA standard. You can find copies of these conditions in the following documents:

Prescribed ERAs

Codes of environmental compliance (eligibility criteria and standard conditions)

• Superseded code of environmental compliance: ERA 16 – Extractive and screening activities (Version 6) (ESR/2015/1568) (PDF, 120KB) – for approvals applied for prior to 9 November 2012
• Superseded code of environmental compliance: ERA 16 – Extractive and screening activities (Version 7) (ESR/2015/1761) (PDF, 145KB) – for approvals applied for in the period 9 November 2012 to 5 December 2013
• Superseded code of environmental compliance: ERA 57 – Regulated waste transport (Version 3) (ESR/2015/1630) (PDF, 200KB) – for approvals applied for prior to 9 November 2012
• Superseded code of environmental compliance: ERA 57 – Regulated waste transport (Version 4) (ESR/2015/1670) (PDF, 623KB) – for approvals applied for in the period 9 November 2012 to 28 June 2018

ERA standards (eligibility criteria and standard conditions) for approvals from 6 December 2013 to 29 September 2015

• ERA 2(1)(a) – Intensive animal feedlotting >150 to 1000 standard cattle units – for approvals (PDF, 810KB)
• ERA 2(2)(a) – Intensive animal feedlotting >1000 to 10,000 standard sheep units (PDF, 810KB)
• ERA 3(1) – Keeping >400 to 3500 standard pig units (PDF, 810KB)
• ERA 4(1) – Poultry farming >1000 to 200,000 birds (PDF, 810KB)
• ERA 7(1) – Chemical manufacturing >200 cubic metres of water based paint in a year (PDF, 808KB)
• ERA 7(3)(a) – Chemical manufacturing >200 tonnes of soap, surfactants or cleaning or toiletry products in a year (PDF, 808KB)
• ERA 13(2) – Retreading tyres (PDF, 732KB)
• ERA 16(2)(a) – Extracting 5000 to 100,000 tonnes of material in a year (PDF, 817KB)
• ERA 16(3)(a) – Screening 5000 to 100,000 tonnes of material in a year (PDF, 814KB)
• ERA 16(3)(b) – Screening >100,000 to 1 million tonnes of material in a year (PDF, 810KB)
• ERA 16(3)(c) – Screening > 1 million tonnes of material in a year (PDF, 811KB)
• ERA 23 – Bottling or canning 200 tonnes or more of food in a year (PDF, 813KB)
• ERA 25(1)(a) – Meat processing, not including rendering, 1000 to 5000 tonnes of meat or meat products in a year (PDF, 814KB)
• ERA 25(2)(a) – Meat processing, including rendering, 1000 to 5000 tonnes of meat or meat products in a year (PDF, 814KB)
• ERA 26 – Milk processing (PDF, 813KB)
• ERA 29(2) – Metal foundry, producing 50 tonnes or more of non-ferrous metal castings using permanent moulds in a year (PDF, 810KB)
• ERA 38(2) – Surface coating, painting or powder coating using >100 tonnes of surface coating materials in a year (PDF, 808KB)
• ERA 59 – Tyre recycling (PDF, 808KB)
• ERA 63(1)(a)(i) – Sewage treatment works with total daily peak design capacity of 21 to 100 equivalent persons if treated effluent is discharged through an irrigation scheme (PDF, 817KB)

Repealed ERA standard (eligibility criteria and standard conditions) for approvals from 29 September 2015 to 30 June 2019

• ERA 59 – Tyre recycling (ESR/2015/1698) (PDF, 489KB)

Superseded ERA standard (eligibility criteria and standard conditions) for approvals from 29 June 2018 to 30 June 2019

• ERA 57 – Regulated waste transport (ESR/2018/4202) (PDF, 462KB)

These conditions do not apply for new EA applications for these activities.

You can read the eligibility criteria and standard conditions for new operations.

Requirement to complete a work diary

If you operate a mobile and temporary environmentally relevant activity (ERA), other than regulated waste transport, you are required to maintain a work diary. You must:

• use the approved form for a work diary (DOCX, 139KB)
• keep the work diary records for 2 years after the last entry
• inform the administering authority within 7 days of the work diary being lost or stolen
• record the information required in the work diary for each location within 1 day of leaving the location.

Enforcement of environmental obligations

To ensure that operators comply with their EA, and do not cause unlawful environmental harm, the Environmental Protection Act 1994 provides a range of tools to help your administering authority enforce environmental obligations. These include:

• environmental protection orders
• environmental evaluations
• transitional environmental programs
• penalty infringement notices.

If the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation is your administering authority, you can find more information on the range of compliance actions and management tools in the department's compliance and enforcement guideline (ESR/2016/2514) (PDF, 687KB).

Transitional environmental programs

A transitional environmental program (TEP) is a specific program that sets out actions, requirements and conditions in relation to a particular activity, that would otherwise contravene the Act. When complied with, an approved TEP achieves compliance with the Act, by doing 1 or more of the following:

• reducing environmental harm caused by the activity
• detailing the transition of the activity to an environmental standard
• detailing the transition of the activity to comply with
• a condition of an environmental authority (EA), whether it is standard or site specific
• or
• a development condition
• or
• a prescribed condition for carrying out a small scale mining activity
• or
• an agricultural ERA standard that applies to an agricultural ERA.

For more information, visit compliance guidelines.

Also consider...

• Find out how to apply for an EA.
• Find out how to change, combine or transfer an EA.
• Find out how to surrender or suspend an EA.

A plan of operations provides details about how you intend to meet environmental authority (EA) conditions, including rehabilitation requirements.

You may be required to prepare a plan of operations if you hold a site-specific environmental authority for a petroleum lease.

Preparing a plan of operations

Your plan of operations must comply with your EA conditions and can be for a maximum time frame of 5 years.

The plan of operations must be submitted to the administering authority using the approved form: Submission of a plan of operations (ESR/2018/4340) (DOCX, 249KB).

The plan of operations must include a:

• description of all activities that will take place – on the site during the time frame covered by the plan
• proposed program of actions – to comply with EA conditions
• rehabilitation program for land disturbed – or land that will be disturbed during the period of the plan
• compliance statement – describing how much you have complied with your EA conditions.

When developing your plan of operations you may identify amendments to your EA.

Submitting a plan of operations

You submit your plan of operations to the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation at least 20 business days before carrying out any activities.

To prevent negotiations from affecting your proposed operations, you may submit your plan of operations well in advance of the 20 business day limit.

The department will not approve your plan of operations, but it may audit the plan at any time to make sure it includes all of the required content.

Your application for an estimated rehabilitation cost (ERC) decision must be submitted on the same day as the plan of operations.

Updating a plan of operations

You must update and resubmit your plan of operations at least every 5 years. A replacement plan of operations must be submitted to the administering authority not less then 20 business days prior to the expiry of the current plan period.

As the EA holder, you must amend or replace the plan of operations if:

• the EA conditions change (e.g. approval of new activities, an amendment, partial surrender)
• your operations become inconsistent with the plan
• the holder of an EA becomes aware that the plan is inconsistent with the EA.

You may amend or replace the plan at any time before the plan ends.

If you are replacing your plan of operations, the replacement plan must be submitted using the Submission of a plan of operations (ESR/2018/4340) (DOCX, 249KB).

On the day you submit a replacement plan of operations to the department, you must also apply for a new ERC decision.

Also consider...

• Learn more about preparing a plan of operations for an EA relating to a petroleum lease (ESR/2015/1821) (PDF, 433KB).
• Find out how to apply for an ERC decision.
• Find out how to apply for an EA.
• Find out how to change, combine or transfer an EA.
• Find out how to surrender or suspend an EA.

The administering authority may cancel or suspend an environmental authority (EA) if certain events occur. These events are specified in section 278 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994.

For example, an EA can be cancelled or suspended if the holder of an EA is, after the giving of the EA, convicted of an environmental offence, if a financial assurance requirement has not been complied with, or for non-payment of fees.

As the holder of an EA you may also apply to suspend your EA voluntarily (e.g. if you intend to suspend an activity for 1-3 years).

Cancelling your EA

You can only apply to cancel your EA if you are the holder of a mining claim that meets the cancellation criteria and definition for a small scale mining activity.

A small scale mining activity can be a mining claim or exploration activity.

You can find the small scale mining activity definition and cancellation criteria in the Request to cancel an environmental authority (small scale mining activity) form (ESR/2015/1564) (DOCX, 181KB).

Process to cancel or suspend an EA

If your administering authority proposes to cancel or suspend your EA they will give you a notice outlining the proposed action and the grounds or reasons for the proposed action.

You can write to the administering authority stating why you think the proposed action should not be taken. The administering authority must consider your written representations when making a final decision.

After considering your representations, the administering authority may decide to suspend or cancel your EA if it still believes grounds exist to take that action.

Alternatively, if after considering the representations the administering authority believes those grounds do not exist, or that suspension or cancellation is not appropriate in the circumstances, the administering authority may decide not to suspend or cancel your EA.

Once the proposed action decision has been made, the administering authority must take the action and record particulars of the action in the relevant register.

Also consider...

• Find out how to apply for an EA.
• Find out how to change, combine or transfer an EA.
• Find out how to surrender or suspend an EA.
• Read the guideline on Approval processes for environmental authorities (ESR/2015/1743) (PDF, 884KB) for more details on EA assessment processes.

A temporary emissions licence (TEL) is a permit that temporarily allows the release of a contaminant into the environment in response to an event, either natural or caused by sabotage, that was not foreseen (or did not have conditions applied because there was a low probability of it occurring) when particular conditions were imposed on an environmental authority or transitional environmental program (an applicable event).

A TEL is a flexible tool that can be used to appropriately manage the environmental impacts of contaminant releases to the environment as a result of applicable events. Such an event could be considered to be a flood or bushfire that was not reasonably foreseen at the time of the original application.

Learn more from the Temporary emissions licence guideline (ESR/2015/1724) (PDF, 172KB).

If the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) is your administering authority, you can lodge your Application for a temporary emissions licence online.

If the Department of Primary Industries is your administering authority, complete the Application for a temporary emissions licence form (DOCX, 187KB) and email it to livestockregulator@dpi.qld.gov.au

Enquiries

• During business hours:
  • if you have contact details of your local DETSI office, contact that office
  • or
  • phone 1300 130 372 and select option 4. The Permits and Licensing team will transfer your call to the relevant DETSI office.
• Outside business hours phone 1300 130 372 and select option 2.
• For the Department of Primary Industries (for TELs relating to ERAs 2, 3 or 4):
  • phone 13 25 23
  • or
  • email livestockregulator@dpi.qld.gov.au.

Also consider...

• Find out how to apply for an environmental authority (EA).
• Learn how to change, combine or transfer an EA.
• Find out how to surrender or suspend an EA.