Offshore Petroleum Facility Incidents Post Varanus Island, Montara, and Macondo: Have We Really Addressed the Root Cause?

This Article analyzes the role of offshore petroleum legislation in contributing to offshore facility integrity incidents in Australia’s offshore petroleum jurisdiction. It examines the regulatory framework that existed at the time of the Varanus Island, Montara, and Macondo facility incidents, determining that the regulatory regime contributed to each of these incidents. Assessing the response of the Commonwealth government to the regulatory framework existing at the time of the events, particularly the integration of well regulation as part of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority’s (“NOPSA”) functions and the establishment of a national offshore regulator, this Article determines that while the integration of well management into NOPSA’s functions has been a valuable and a significant improvement. There is still a likelihood that differing standards applied to the regulation of petroleum facilities (“Safety Case Regime”) and wells (“Good Oilfield Practice”), multiple regulators, and regulatory disjuncture may continue to contribute to facility incidents. This Article concludes that the establishment of the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Authority, the retainment of the Joint Authority, and the enhancement of NOPSA’s functions to include environmental management have created a regulatory framework that is complex, increasingly convoluted, and has not addressed the root cause of facility incidents in Australia’s offshore petroleum jurisdictions

Offshore Petroleum Facility Incidents Post Varanus Island, Montara, and Macondo: Have We Really Addressed the Root Cause?

This Article analyzes the role of offshore petroleum legislation in contributing to offshore facility integrity incidents in Australia’s offshore petroleum jurisdiction. It examines the regulatory framework that existed at the time of the Varanus Island, Montara, and Macondo facility incidents, determining that the regulatory regime contributed to each of these incidents. Assessing the response of the Commonwealth government to the regulatory framework existing at the time of the events, particularly the integration of well regulation as part of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority’s (“NOPSA”) functions and the establishment of a national offshore regulator, this Article determines that while the integration of well management into NOPSA’s functions has been a valuable and a significant improvement. There is still a likelihood that differing standards applied to the regulation of petroleum facilities (“Safety Case Regime”) and wells (“Good Oilfield Practice”), multiple regulators, and regulatory disjuncture may continue to contribute to facility incidents. This Article concludes that the establishment of the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Authority, the retainment of the Joint Authority, and the enhancement of NOPSA’s functions to include environmental management have created a regulatory framework that is complex, increasingly convoluted, and has not addressed the root cause of facility incidents in Australia’s offshore petroleum jurisdictions

Carbon Down Under - Lessons from Australia: Two Recommendations for Clarifying Subsurface Property Rights to Facilitate Onshore Geologic Carbon Sequestration in the United States

This Comment’s analysis requires a few necessary assumptions. First, the feasibility of large-scale deployment of geologic CCS technology for the purposes of permanently storing CO2 is assumed. Second, the establishment of a regulatory framework with incentives to mitigate or offset GHGs is assumed. Third, the carbon-capture technology retrofitting of point-source emitters is assumed. And finally, the existence of infrastructure to transport supercritical CO2 to a storage site is assumed. This Comment contains five parts: Part I provides an introduction and overview to contextualize the need for CCS; Part II details the technology of GS; Part III is an overview of Australia’s activities related to CCS—specifically, the Victorian model of GS regulation; Part IV discusses CCS-related activity in the United States and analyzes bodies of law that inform a discussion of subsurface property rights; and Part V synthesizes the prior sections and details two recommendations for the United States

Adapting to climate risks and extreme weather: guide for mining - minerals industry professionals

AbstractExtreme weather events in Australia over recent years have highlighted the costs for Australian mining and mineral processing operations of being under-prepared for adapting to climate risk. For example, the 2010/2011 Queensland floods closed or restricted production of about forty out of Queensland’s fifty coal mines costing more than $2 billion in lost production.Whilst mining and mineral professionals have experience with risk management and managing workplace health and safety, changes to patterns of extreme weather events and future climate impacts are unpredictable. Responding to these challenges requires planning and preparation for events that many people have never experienced before. With increasing investor and public concern for the impact of such events, this guide is aimed at assisting a wide range of mining and mineral industry professionals to incorporate planning and management of extreme weather events and impacts from climate change into pre-development, development and construction, mining and processing operations and post-mining phases. The guide should be read in conjunction with the research  final report which describes the research process for developing the guide and reflects on challenges and lessons for adaptation research from the project.The Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney (UTS) led the development of the guide with input from the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, University of Queensland and a Steering Committee from the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy’s Sustainability Committee and individual AusIMM members, who volunteered their time and experience. As the situation of every mining and mineral production operation is going to be different, this guide has been designed to provide general information about the nature of extreme weather events, and some specific examples of how unexpectedly severe flooding, storm, drought, high temperature and bushfire events have affected mining and mineral processing operations. A number of case studies used throughout the guide also illustrate the ways forward thinking operations have tackled dramatically changing climatic conditions.Each section of the guide outlines a range of direct and indirect impacts from a different type of extreme weather, and provides a starting point for identifying potential risks and adaptation options that can be applied in different situations. The impacts and adaptation sections provide guidance on putting the key steps into practice by detailing specific case examples of leading practice and how a risk management approach can be linked to adaptive planning. More information about specific aspects of extreme weather, planning and preparation for the risks presented by these events, and tools for undertaking climate related adaptation is provided in the ‘Additional Resources’ section

Carbon Capture and Storage: Wishful Thinking or a Meaningful Part of the Climate Change Solution

In the lead-up to the climate change negotiations that are scheduled to take place in Copenhagen towards the end of 2009, pursuant to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and in order to reach agreement on a post-Kyoto Protocol international climate change regime, many countries around the globe are considering the options available to them to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a manner that will minimize the cost impacts to economies already battered from the onslaught of the 2008 global financial crisis. In addition to confronting a markedly changed geopolitical landscape including the election of a new administration in the United States under the Democrats and President Barack Obama, the ongoing military confrontation between Hamas and the Israelis in Gaza, an outbreak of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and Iran drawing ever closer to the possible development of nuclear weapons, the international community is facing what is predicted by some to be the most severe and prolonged economic downturn since the 1930s and the Great Depression. The collapse of the banking systems in several countries triggered in part by the sub-prime [*422] mortgage crisis in the United States has inevitably led to a credit crisis around the globe as job layoffs are expected to climb throughout 2009 and into 2010. The impact of these events on the ability of the international community to address the climate change challenges that lie ahead is fraught with uncertainty and the reluctance of the world's major coal producers to abandon or curtail an industry of vital economic importance in terms of both jobs and exports, has elevated carbon capture and storage (CCS) to increasing levels of importance in the consideration of available energy options. It remains to be seen whether the attention and investment dollars presently committed to the development of CCS technologies around the globe is warranted. This paper will endeavor to outline how CCS is currently viewed by Australia and the European Union as part of their respective energy strategies

GERENCIAMENTO DE RISCO NO LICENCIAMENTO AMBIENTAL: O CASO DO ROMPIMENTO DA BARRAGEM DE FUNDÃO

O dia 05 de novembro de 2015 será lembrado pela tragédia do rompimento da barragem de rejeitos de Fundão, da empresa Samarco, na cidade de Mariana/MG. Este acidente é considerado de grandes dimensões e dos mais graves desastres socioambientais do Brasil. Diante da sua importância, o presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o processo de licenciamento ambiental da barragem de Fundão da mineradora Samarco, que foi rompida, com a finalidade de identificar como o risco de rompimento da barragem foi gerenciado. O estudo foi realizado a partir da análise de conteúdo dos documentos componentes de processos de licenciamento. A partir dos dados levantados, foi possível observar que os impactos de um possível rompimento da barragem foram subestimados, tanto pela empresa como pelos órgãos ambientais do Estado, uma vez que a empresa não considerou tal possibilidade de forma significativa e os órgãos ambientais não foram atentos a essa situação, evidenciando uma grave falha no processo de gerenciamento de risco do empreendimento. Diante da importância econômica da indústria mineradora para a economia do Brasil e tendo em vista os inúmeros impactos ambientais inerentes a esta atividade, é necessário que o processo de licenciamento ofereça segurança e garantia de uma gestão de riscos responsável e capaz de dimensionar seu impacto potencial na tentativa de se evitar novas tragédias

Harmonization and standardization of risk management of underground ventilation in Australia

In Australia, all states and territories in Australia have maintained their own and separate set of laws for regulating health and safety. The difference has been more pronounced in the mining sector. The main reason for maintaining these separate regimes in mining has been based on an old-age argument that the hazards, culture and circumstances of the mining industry are somewhat different to those existent in other industries. As a result there are at least three different structures of the health and safety law in Australia. In recent years, however, there has been push by industry and government to drive some consistency and harmonization in regulating health and safety. To address this disparity the Federal Government has, in consultation with the states and territories, developed and issued the Model Work Health and Safety Act (WHSA) and the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations (WHSR) which is expected to become a uniform set of health and safety laws for the country. For the mining sector, a draft set of Regulations and Codes of Practice aimed at harmonizing health and safety has been issued. It is expected this will provide the country’s first ever set of standards and benchmarks for the mining sector. This paper compares and contrasts the existing and the proposed set of laws in the three states of Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. It concludes with a discussion on what the proposed laws mean for managing risks associated with ventilation in underground minin

Adapting to climate risks and extreme weather: a guide for mining and minerals industry professionals

Abstract Extreme weather events in Australia over recent years have highlighted the costs for Australian mining and mineral processing operations of being under-prepared for adapting to climate risk. For example, the 2010/2011 Queensland floods closed or restricted production of about forty out of Queenslands fifty coal mines costing more than $2 billion in lost production. Whilst mining and mineral professionals have experience with risk management and managing workplace health and safety, changes to patterns of extreme weather events and future climate impacts are unpredictable. Responding to these challenges requires planning and preparation for events that many people have never experienced before. With increasing investor and public concern for the impact of such events, this guide is aimed at assisting a wide range of mining and mineral industry professionals to incorporate planning and management of extreme weather events and impacts from climate change into pre-development, development and construction, mining and processing operations and post-mining phases. The guide should be read in conjunction with the research final report which describes the research process for developing the guide and reflects on challenges and lessons for adaptation research from the project. The Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney (UTS) led the development of the guide with input from the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, University of Queensland and a Steering Committee from the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgys Sustainability Committee and individual AusIMM members, who volunteered their time and experience. As the situation of every mining and mineral production operation is going to be different, this guide has been designed to provide general information about the nature of extreme weather events, and some specific examples of how unexpectedly severe flooding, storm, drought, high temperature and bushfire events have affected mining and mineral processing operations. A number of case studies used throughout the guide also illustrate the ways forward thinking operations have tackled dramatically changing climatic conditions. Each section of the guide outlines a range of direct and indirect impacts from a different type of extreme weather, and provides a starting point for identifying potential risks and adaptation options that can be applied in different situations. The impacts and adaptation sections provide guidance on putting the key steps into practice by detailing specific case examples of leading practice and how a risk management approach can be linked to adaptive planning. More information about specific aspects of extreme weather, planning and preparation for the risks presented by these events, and tools for undertaking climate related adaptation is provided in the `Additional Resources section