Manly Lagoon Dredging Project - Manly Council - NSW Government

Manly Lagoon Dredging Project – Review of Environmental FactorsPrepared for Manly and Warringah CouncilsSEPP 71 applies to the area declared as the NSW Coastal Zone under the CoastalProtection Act 1979, defined by Coastal Zone Maps for the Greater Metropolitan Region(GMR). This SEPP applies as the proposed works site as the foreshore immediatelysurrounding the lagoon is part of the Coastal Protection Zone, according to GMR Map 15(DoP, 2009a).Although this SEPP is enacted, the determination under Part 5 of the EP&A Act 1979 willnot need to be referred to the Director General of the Department of Planning. However, thedetermination authorities will need to consider all matters listed in Clause 8 of the SEPPwhen determining the matter.4.2 Pollution Control LegislationThe Protection of Environment Operations Act 1997 (PoEO Act) is administered by DECCWand ultimately aims to protect, enhance and restore the quality of the environment in NSW,to reduce risk to human health and promote mechanisms that minimise environmentaldegradation through a strong set of provisions and offences.A POEO licence is required from DECCW if any of the activities associated with theproposed works are determined to be a ‘scheduled activity’ under Schedule 1 of the Act.Water-based extractive activities are listed under Schedule 1 of the Act, meaning theextraction of extractive materials, either for sale or re-use, by means of dredging or othersuch water-based methods. If the Manly Lagoon dredging works were to involve theextraction of more than 30,000m 3 per year of material, then a licence from the EPA (withinDECCW) will be required under the PoEO Act 1997. As the proposed works do not involvethe extraction of over 30,000m 3 of material, regardless of the end use of the dredge spoiland whether it used/sold by the contractor carrying out the dredging works, a licence is notrequired.Resource recovery, including recovery of general waste, is listed under Schedule 1 (Clause34 – Resource Recovery) of the Act, meaning the receiving of waste (other than hazardouswaste, restricted solid waste, liquid waste or special waste) from off site and its processing,otherwise than for the recovery of energy. As the Manly Lagoon dredging works will involveresource recovery (via dosing and dewatering of lagoon sediments) on site, as opposed toreceiving waste from various different off site locations, a licence from the EPA would not berequired under the PoEO Act.Initial consultation with DECC (now DECCW) in May 2009 also indicated that the proposeddredging works do not constitute a ‘scheduled activity’ and do not require an EnvironmentalProtection Licence under the PoEO Act (Section 3.2). This was confirmed in writing byDECCW following a meeting between DECCW, Cardno and Manly Council which took placeon 17 November 2009.The Pesticides Control Act 1999 states that pesticides must be registered by the NationalRegistration Authority for Agriculture and Veterinary Chemicals (NRA). The NRA thereforeregulates the sale of pesticides, whilst the EPA (DECCW) enforces proper use of pesticidesafter the point of sale to minimise the impacts on health, the environment and trade. Permitsfor “off label” use may be obtained under the existing legislation, however Penalty and2 July 2010 Cardno (NSW/ACT) Pty Ltd 31H:\Doc\2010\Reports.2010\Rep2580v4.doc