A sweeping set of reforms currently before the Queensland Parliament will cut red tape and improve land access protection for landowners and the petroleum and gas sector, according to the head of the Queensland Resources Council.
“QRC is confident the result will be a streamlining of unnecessary processes complemented by the maintenance of world class environmental protections,’ Mr Roche said.
A centrepiece of the new Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Bill 2014 is a new framework for managing overlapping tenures for coal and coal-seam gas development.
Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said the Bill addressed issues of overlapping coal mining and coal seam gas tenures and gas emissions from legacy exploration bores.
“It delivers the first stage of our Modernising Queensland’s Resources Acts initiative, which involves phased development of a single, common resources Act for the mining, petroleum and gas, greenhouse gas storage and geothermal energy sectors,” the Minister said.
“Importantly, it also delivers key land access reforms that will provide greater certainty for landholders and resource companies about their rights and obligations when undertaking resource activities.”
Mr Cripps said the Bill proposed a consistent framework across all resources types to provide landholders and resource companies with greater clarity about their rights and obligations for gaining access to private land near residences and other infrastructure.
“It also provides greater certainty about assessment timeframes and reduces costs for small scale alluvial miners and the broader mining sector,” he said.
“The legislation also enables coal mining companies to make more effective use of incidental gas extracted as a result of coal mining operations, enabling the industry to lower the cost of coal production.”
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