The Protection Of Environmental Quality - 1423 Words

Introduction Protection of environmental quality is a globally growing concern, and there has been an increasing use of economic instruments in the environment protection policies, such as tradable permits or pollution charges, to reduce environmental harm by harnessing economic incentives to encourage the industries. In New South Wales, the Environment Protection Authority (â€Å"EPA†) introduced the load-based licensing (â€Å"LBL†) scheme as a new approach of environment protection licence under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW) (â€Å"POEO Act†) and the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulations 2009 (NSW). Subsequently, a broader range of pollution issues is now embraced under the LBL system by†¦show more content†¦In the past, a fixed fee was charged to the industries, and it was difficult to find a relationship between pollutant discharges and the licence fee. Inequity in licence fees was resulted therefrom, and there was very little incentive available for licence holders. Consequently, this approach was regarded as an unpleasant cost, and the earnest licence holders had to be economically disadvantaged by the neglected licensing system. Furthermore, ineffective system in environment protection licence failed to reduce emissions and irreversible impacts on the environment were perceived. To overcome those issues stated above, the EPA of New South Wales updated the POEO Act, and as a result, legislations including the Waste Minimisation and Management Act 1995 (NSW), were repealed and incorporated into the POEO Act. Under the Chapter 3 of the POEO Act and the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2009 (NSW) , LBL is implemented as a new method of charging a licensing fee based on the amounts of the pollution emission resulted from the licensed activities. In accordance to the LBL scheme, licence holders are charged an annual licence fee which consists of the administrative fee and the load-based fee. The load-based fee depends on the amounts of the pollutant discharged, and the administration fee is payable in each reporting period. Unlike the traditional approach, the LBL enhances