GEOSEQUESTRATION—A SOLUTION FOR AUSTRALIA?

Abstract

Managing its growing greenhouse gas emissions has become a key issue in Australia’s energy and environmental policy.

Geological storage (or geosequestration) of carbon dioxide emissions produced by power stations and gas processing plants is being promoted as an innovative way to combat the threat of climate change. Australian governments and industry are interested in the process because it would allow Australia to continue to rely on its extensive fossil fuel reserves as an energy source and export commodity into the future. The process, however, is still in an experimental phase. If geosequestration does prove to be a viable technology then regulatory changes will be required to facilitate large-scale commercial use.

This paper discusses the status of geosequestration development in Australia. It considers some of the key legal and regulatory issues that would need to be addressed to allow geosequestration projects to proceed, including:

jurisdictional issues between State and Commonwealth governments;

access to land and rights to use storage sites;

priorities between competing land uses;

potential application of third party access regimes to geosequestration infrastructure;

potential legal liabilities, especially over the longer term; and,

the extent to which a consistent national approach to the regulation of geosequestration may be required. This paper is general in nature and must not be relied upon as legal advice in any respect.