Strategic Environmental Assessment of Australian Offshore Oil and Gas Development: Ecologically Sustainable Development or Regulatory Reform?

Abstract

This article analyses the objective of applying strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to offshore oil and gas development in Australia. Aside from fisheries assessments, and in the land use planning sector, SEA under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) is applied mainly to the energy sector, both offshore oil and gas, and onshore energy – primarily iron ore development. The article reviews international experiences of applying SEA to offshore energy development, with specific reference to the United Kingdom, to enable comparisons to be made with the purpose of the EPBC Act offshore assessments. Findings are that while the SEA in Western Australia of the Browse Basin gas development was consistent with overseas experience in contributing towards (ecologically) sustainable development, recent and current application in Commonwealth, Northern Territory and South Australian waters has taken a different approach in advancing the regulatory reform agenda.