What is an EIS?
An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a general and technical document that assesses the feasibility of a project by conducting thorough technical studies of potential environmental, social and economic impacts, and proposes feasible ways to manage them.
On 16 July 2007, the Queensland Government declared GLNG to be a 'Significant Project requiring an Environmental Impact Statement'.
Santos and PETRONAS have undertaken an EIS involving almost 18 months of stakeholder consultation and scientific study to ensure the project is economically, socially and environmentally sound.
The GLNG EIS has three major project components:
- Coal seam gas fields (near Roma)
- Transmission as pipeline (435km pipeline connecting Roma to Curtis Island)
- LNG liquefaction and export facility on Curtis Island.
It provides a detailed description of the:
- Existing social, economic, natural and built environment.
- Proposed project and development objectives.
- Potential impact of the project on the social, economic, natural and built environment.
- Need for, and scope of, any environmental management plans and/or operational plans to mitigate potential adverse impacts.
- Measures proposed to mitigate potential adverse impacts.
- Framework for setting approval conditions to ensure environmentally sound development.
The Queensland Government’s Coordinator-General, in consultation with the community and other key stakeholders including relevant advisory agencies, has determined the study guidelines for the EIS, listed in the Final Terms of Reference.
The Coordinator-General reviewed a draft of the GLNG EIS, which was released for public review from in mid-2009. Written submissions were invited from members of the public during this time.
Submissions were considered by the Coordinator-General who then requested the GLNG project team submit a Supplementary EIS to address issues raised.
The Supplementary EIS was submitted in November-2009. A further period of public review was undertaken from 16 December 2009 to 1 February 2010.
On 28 May 2010, the Coordinator-General approved the GLNG project’s EIS and stipulated conditions attached to the project's approval.
The approval process continues with the project’s referral to the Commonwealth Government for assessment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.