EASTERN GAS PIPELINE PROJECT: BREAKING NEW GROUND IN COORDINATED APPROVALS

Abstract

The opening of 'free and fair trade' in natural gas from 1 July 1996 provides the opportunity to service Sydney and regional NSW energy markets with competitively priced Bass Strait gas.

The Eastern Gas Pipeline Project (EGPP), proposed by BHP Petroleum Pty Ltd and a Canadian company, Westcoast Energy Inc, will link Victorian reserves to NSW transmission and distribution systems.

The proponents have taken on a major coordination exercise to ensure that project planning, market development, communications, environmental assessment and regulatory approvals are integrated and managed against a demanding project schedule.

Exposure to three regulatory jurisdictions has complicated this task.

The project requires many approvals including approval under the Commonwealth government's foreign investment policy, pipeline permits and licences under Victorian and NSW Pipelines Acts and requires environmental impact assessment under Commonwealth, Victorian and NSW legislation.

Early in the project's life the proponents recognised the need for a strongly coordinated approvals process and have since worked with government assessment and facilitation agencies to achieve a coordinated process. This ground-breaking project is now the subject of one Environmental Impact Assessment process, one process for public review and one coordinated decision-making process to meet the requirements of all three jurisdictions.

This paper explores the challenges of coordination and suggests ways of improving future joint assessment and approval processes.