Bills Digest no. 28 2008–09
Offshore Petroleum (Safety Levies) Amendment (Greenhouse Gas
Storage) Bill 2008
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage history
Purpose
Background
Financial implications
Main provisions
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
Date introduced:
18 June 2008
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Department of Resources, Energy and
Tourism
Commencement:
The day after the Offshore
Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Act 2008 receives
Royal Assent
Links: The
relevant links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and second
reading speech can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/.
When Bills have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is
at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
The Offshore
Petroleum (Safety Levies) Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill
2008 (the Bill) proposes to amend the Offshore Petroleum
(Safety Levies) Act 2003 (the Act) by extending the imposition
of safety levies under the Act to greenhouse gas facilities and
pipelines.
For a comprehensive background to the proposed
greenhouse gas storage regime, please refer to the Bills
Digest on the Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas
Storage) Bill 2008.
Financial implications
The government has stated that:
The operator of a greenhouse gas sequestration
title will face many compliance costs analogous to the operation of
offshore petroleum titles. Lodgement of documents, compilation of
plans, requests for permission and record keeping are expected to
be broadly consistent with that under the OPA. In the absence of
detail on regulation and guidelines, it is impossible to quantify
such costs at this stage with traditional tools such as the OPBR
Business Cost Calculator.[1]
Items
3-29 of Schedule 1 of the Bill proposes
to change references from the name Offshore Petroleum Act to
Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act .
Currently, the Act imposes the following
levies with respect to petroleum facilities and pipelines in
Commonwealth waters, as well as State and Territory coastal
waters:
- safety case levies
- pipeline safety management levies, and
- safety investigation levies.[2]
It is worth noting that the government points
out that:
The levies will not become payable in respect
of any greenhouse gas injection and storage infrastructure in State
or Northern Territory coastal waters, even though the amendments
made by this Bill will potentially extend the levies to such
facilities.
This is because the States and Northern
Territory are not at present moving to extend the operation of
their Offshore Petroleum Acts to greenhouse gas injection and
storage operations. The required State and Northern Territory
legislative underpinning that is necessary for these levies to
apply will therefore not be in place.[3]
Schedule 2 of the Bill simply
proposes consequential amendments regarding the renumbering of
provisions in the Act.
Sharon Scully
17 September 2008
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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