Letter to Mr Kim Evans, Secretary, Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and Environment,
from,
Warren Jones, Director, environment Protection Authority,
20 October, 2009
It begins:
Kim,
As you will be aware, I have sought advice from the Solicitor-General regarding the status of the permits taken to have been issued under the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act (LPUAA) with the passage of the Pulp Mill Permit through Parliament. These are schedules LU!, LU2, LU3 of Appendix 2A to the Pulp Mill Permit.
I have sought this advice because:
• Each of the Schedules designates the Director of Environmental Management (now the Director, EPA) as the person or body responsible for the enforcement of Part 3 of the LPUAA permits, which contain the environmental management conditions.
…
Gunns did undertake some on-ground works in the areas covered by each of the four land-use permits prior to 30 August.
It was not self-evident to me that the works that Gunns had undertaken prior to 30 August represented “substantial commencement” of the activities authorised by each of the permits.
The advice from the Principal Crown Counsel in the Solicitor-General’s office on the matter is attached. There are in my view three key points:
(Section blanked out)
The consequence of this advice is that the doubt over the current status of the permits needs to be resolved. There appear to be two main options for achieving this; either a ruling will need to be made by the Supereme Court or the PMAA could be amendedto clarify its intent and operation.
…
This advice has thown that the interpretation of the clause and understanding how it willwork in practice is complex and open to question. Sooner or later this uncertainty is likely to result in the clause being tested in court.
Download, read for yourself:
SKMBT_C652D11082411050.pdf
