Michelle Andrews

Effective Strategic Assessment – What might it look like?

Michelle Andrews
Acting General Manager
Office of the Environmental Protection Authority, WA

Abstract:
As the EPA enters a new era for environmental protection, Western Australia is emerging from the global financial crisis with all the signs of a strong economic recovery. The EPA is already seeing a large number of mining and industrial projects being referred to it for environmental impact assessment, and they are of increasing scale and complexity.

In addition, economic prosperity brings with it rapid population growth and the associated need for land supply and infrastructure provision in Perth and key regional centres. This puts increasing pressure on the State’s natural environment and calls for a more strategic approach to manage the associated environmental impacts. The EPA is also part way through a major reform program. The reforms aim to improve the effectiveness and timeliness of the EPA’s processes including greater use of strategic assessments and creation of the new Office of the EPA.

It is clear that the EPA can have the greatest effect in protecting the environment by providing early strategic advice to proponents and Governments, well before individual projects are referred for impact assessment.

It is the intention of the EPA to place greater emphasis on this ‘front end loading’ approach in the way it does business in coming years.

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