If you hold an environmental authority (EA) in Queensland you may, at any time, apply to surrender your EA (or, for certain activities, part of your EA) voluntarily. In some circumstances, for example when a resource tenure is relinquished, the administering authority may require you to make a surrender application.

If you no longer require an EA for your environmentally relevant activity (ERA), you should make a surrender application. If you do not surrender your EA you will continue to be charged your annual fee.

Before approving a surrender application, the administering authority will want to make sure that:

• the site has been adequately managed in accordance with the EA conditions
• land on which you have been carrying out activities has been satisfactorily rehabilitated or suitably managed in accordance with rehabilitation conditions or the progressive rehabilitation and closure plan (PRCP) schedule for the relevant activities.

How to surrender an environmental authority

To surrender an EA, you’ll need to complete the relevant application form and submit it to the department or local government that issued your EA. The application form you should use will depend on the activity authorised by your EA:

• if your EA authorises a resource activity, such as a mining, petroleum or gas activity, use the application for surrender or partial surrender of an EA – resource activity (ESR/2015/1751) (DOCX, 243KB)
• if your EA authorises a prescribed ERA, such as a animal feedlotting, sewage treatment or waste processing, use the application for surrender of an EA – prescribed ERA (ESR/2015/1719) (DOCX, 121KB).

If you’re unsure which application form to use, please either consult your EA for the administering authority that issued it or contact the relevant administering authority for environmental authority.

If you never commenced operation, the only document you are required to provide with your surrender application is a statutory declaration stating that the activity was not carried out.

If the activity was carried out, you must provide the following documents with your surrender application:

• a final rehabilitation report (if the EA contains conditions about rehabilitation and a PRCP schedule does not apply for the relevant activity)
• a post-surrender management report (if the EA relates to a resource activity)
• a compliance statement for your EA in your surrender application.

For more information, see 'Final rehabilitation and post-surrender management reports' below.

In general, you may only make an application to surrender an EA for a resource activity if you also make an application to surrender the relevant tenure under resource legislation.

Partial surrender

The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) may approve a surrender application for part of an EA that relates to mining, petroleum, or a geothermal activity. This is to ensure that the tenure always covers the same area as the EA, if the tenure for the relevant area has also been surrendered. If you make a surrender under these circumstances, and you are currently required to have a plan of operations, you also need to change your plan.

In your surrender application you will need to specify the part of your EA that is to be surrendered, including the area of the site. If DETSI approves the partial surrender it will then amend your EA.

EA relating to a mining activity

If you have applied for a conditional surrender of your tenure, you may apply for a partial EA surrender for the part of the EA that takes place over the land that is being surrendered under the tenure.

Residual risk payment

If you are required to pay a residual risk payment, the surrender does not take effect until the administering authority receives payment. This means that, for example, annual fees must still be paid, and any financial assurance will not be returned, until you make the residual risk payment to finalise the surrender.

Read more about residual risk payments and financial assurance.

Final rehabilitation and post-surrender management reports

Surrender applications for EAs that contain rehabilitation conditions must include a final rehabilitation report. If the EA is for a resource activity, and the activity was carried out, regardless of whether or not a PRCP schedule applies, a post-surrender management report must also accompany the surrender application. The post-surrender management report requires that a risk assessment be carried out in compliance with the Residual risk assessment guideline (ESR/2020/5433) (PDF, 786KB).

These reports must include enough information to allow the administering authority to decide whether you have complied with the conditions of your EA and satisfactorily rehabilitated the land on which you carried out each relevant activity for the EA. You can complete the relevant reports by submitting a final rehabilitation report (ESR/2015/1616) (DOCX, 233KB) and/or a post-surrender management report (ESR/2020/5434) (DOCX, 293KB).

Read more about final rehabilitation reports for non-mining resource activities (ESR/2016/1874) (PDF, 95KB).

Read more about progressive rehabilitation and closure plans (ESR/2019/4964) (PDF, 2.3MB).

Rehabilitation direction

If DETSI refuses your surrender application for an EA for a resource activity because your rehabilitation is not adequate, they may direct you to carry out further rehabilitation. This is known as a 'rehabilitation direction'.

DETSI will provide you with a rehabilitation direction at the same time as notifying you of the refusal of your surrender application.

Also consider...

• Find out how to apply for an EA.
• Find out how to comply with an EA.
• Find out how to change, combine or transfer an EA.
• Read Environmental notifications and reports for coal and mineral activities for more details on surrendering or partially surrendering an EA for mining activities.
• Read Environmental notifications and reports for petroleum and gas activities for more details on surrendering or partially surrendering an EA for petroleum and gas activities.
• Read the Mineral Resources Act 1989.
• Read the guideline on Approval processes for environmental authorities (ESR/2015/1743) (PDF, 884KB) for more details on EA assessment processes.

If your activity operates intermittently, and you wish to suspend your activity for a year or longer, you may be able to suspend your environmental authority (EA) and avoid paying fees while you are not operating.

How to suspend an EA

To suspend your EA, you must:

1. complete the suspension application (ESR/2015/1728) (DOC, 173KB)
2. submit it to the administering authority for your EA.

If you’re unsure who your administering authority is, you can consult your EA or enquire to the relevant department using the information provided in the suspension application (ESR/2015/1728) (DOC, 173KB). Your application will need to specify the proposed suspension period, which must be for 1, 2 or 3 years.

The administering authority will consider a number of issues when deciding your application, including:

• the degree of risk of environmental harm that has already been caused by the relevant activity, or that might reasonably be expected to be caused during the suspension of the relevant activity
• the likelihood of action being required to rehabilitate or restore and protect the environment because of environmental harm being caused during the suspension of the relevant activity
• your environmental record.

The administering authority will decide your application within 20 business days. If approved, you will receive a notice specifying the suspension period for your EA, which will commence on your EA's next anniversary day. If you wish to recommence operation before the end of the suspension period, you can terminate the suspension by notifying your administering authority.

An annual fee for the next year is due each anniversary day. The application must be submitted in sufficient time to be decided before the next anniversary day of the EA otherwise the annual fee must be paid.

If you choose to terminate the suspension period early, a payment of the pro-rata annual fee – from the termination date until the next anniversary date – is required. For more information on how to calculate the pro-rata annual fee, refer to the fee calculator (ESR/2015/1731) (XLSX, 74KB).

Extending the suspension period

You can apply to extend the suspension period of an already suspended EA for a further term of 1, 2 or 3 years. If the Queensland Government is your administering authority, use the suspension application (ESR/2015/1728) (DOC, 173KB).

Also consider...

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