Seeking advice

Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999(Cth) (EPBC Act), the Australian Government and relevant state government regulators request advice from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development (IESC) on the potential impacts of coal seam gas and large coal mining developments on water resources such as groundwaters, rivers, wetlands and springs, and to provide greater transparency in the regulatory process.

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Regulator requests advice from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development

The regulator requests our advice

The IESC can only give advice when a regulator requests advice. When a project is referred by the relevant minister (or their delegate) the regulators submit Request for Advice (RfA) documentation which includes specific questions about the potential water impacts of a project for the IESC to respond. The advice includes, but is not limited to, responses to the specific questions asked by the regulators.

Who are the regulators?

Which decisions they seek advice on

Under the EPBC Act the Australian Government Minister must assess and approve or reject all proposals for coal seam gas and large coal mining developments that are likely to have a significant impact on a water resource. These developments can be anywhere in Australia. Before making their decision, the Minister must request and consider advice from the IESC.

The EPBC Act allows for the IESC to provide scientific advice on proposed coal resource developments and anything relevant to those developments, including water management plans. Any plans submitted as part of a proponent’s Environmental Impact Assessment for a project would be considered during the IESC’s assessment process.

Where appropriate, the IESC draws on any material provided by the regulators and relevant publicly available material and information in forming its advice. This may include recent scientific literature, Environmental Impact Statements for similar projects, and publicly available data.

The state regulators in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia also request and consider our advice at certain points in their assessment and approvals process. Each state has a protocol that says which types of projects they will seek our advice on, and at which point they will do so:

Advising the regulator and publishing advice

The IESC consider the request, develop their scientific advice and provide this advice to the regulator for consideration in their decision-making process.

Topics covered in advice include:

  • the potential water-related impacts of the proposal and the likely risks to water resources and water-dependent assets
  • critical data and information gaps that need addressing to complete an adequate assessment
  • the cumulative water-related impacts of the proposal in the context of past, present and reasonably foreseeable actions.

The EPBC Act requires the IESC to provide advice to the regulator within two months of receiving the request.

The IESC publish their scientific advice within 10 business days of providing it to the regulator.

The regulator considers the advice

Regulators use the IESC's scientific advice to develop and set appropriate conditions to ensure that any impacts on water resources are managed. The regulators have committed to take the advice into account and to be transparent about how they do this.

The following case studies show how regulators have used the IESC's advice:

The Commonwealth and Queensland use expert scientific advice to manage risk from a coal seam gas project

Examples illustrating how advice from the IESC has been applied in setting project conditions

Details of decisions

Details of the development proposals are publicly available. This includes public notices, referrals and environmental impact statements.

The regulators provide this information on their websites: