More Power to the EPA

  • Category
    Education
  • Published
    19 October 2011
  • Read time
    2 minutes
Biodiversity
‘Biodiversity’ refers to the incredible variety of life: large and small, common and rare. At the Australian Museum, exploring Australian and global biodiversity is fundamental to what we do. Image: Martin Pueschel
© Martin Pueschel

New environmental laws giving the Environmental Protection Authourity (EPA) more powers pass in the NSW State Parliment unopposed in the shadow of the Carbon Tax.

A recent news-article on the ABC's News Website is reporting that that the NSW State Parliament has implemented tougher new environmental protection laws in the wake of the disastrous chemical leak from the Orica Plant near Newcastle this year.

The article states that these laws are designed to "hold industry to account for its environmental performance and improve the community's access to information." These changes are apparently going to put the community back at the centre of the EPA, to quote the aforementioned article it will "put community back at the heart of pollution monitoring and information." (To read the full article click here)

With an environmental audit of NSW set to take place and combined with the Gillard administration passing the Carbon Tax Legislation through the House of Representatives this week; are we seeing a political awakening to the importance of environmental issues in the current political agenda?

  • What do you think?
  • Do you want more community involvement in environmental monitoring?
  • What do you think of these new laws and the carbon tax?