Carbon Farming

Our Landowner Lawyer came across a very interesting article, Farming in 2050: storing carbon could help meet Australia's climate goals written by Brett Anthony Bryan and published on the Australian CSIRO blog.

"Agriculture, and particularly livestock, is currently a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. But new markets and incentives could make storing carbon or producing energy from land more profitable than farming, and turn our agricultural land into a carbon sink."

"What is it that Australians really want from our land? We know what we don’t want: wall-to-wall crops, pasture, buildings, gas wells, mines, wind farms or trees.

We can expect healthy debate around the margins, but, in general, diversity, productivity and sustainability seem to be widely valued. Most of us want to leave the place in decent condition for future generations."

If you have any queries about carbon farming opportunities that may be available to you, please do not hesitate to contact our Energy, Environment and Agribusiness Team on (07) 49276333 or at enquire@reesjones.com.au.

You may also be interested in a previous article written by our Energy, Environment and Agribusiness Team Carbon Emissions.

Gasfields Commission Review - Have your say

Bob Scott has been appointed as an Independent Reviewer of the role of the GasFields Commission.

People may remember Bob Scott as a serving member of the Land Court for some 14 years. Public submissions, as well as submissions from industry groups will be considered and recommendations made to the Minister for State Development.

You can have your say one whether you feel the current model works or make submissions as to whether a different form of Ombudsman might be more appropriate.

A link to the review process can be found here.

http://www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/industry-development/gasfields-commission-review.html

Our Mining and Gas Lawyers will be happy to assist Landowners who wish to make submissions or require assistance with Coal Seam Gas Agreements.

AgForce Qld - Employers Toolbox

Mitigating Workplace Risk

Rees R & Sydney Jones Partner, Justin Houlihan recently spoke at an Emerald Agricultural College information session on Mitigating Workplace Risk in a Rural Environment.

Some of the commonly encountered issues he discussed were:

• No Workplace Health & Safety Policy and Safety Management System in place. If it is in place, it is either limited and lacking in detail or not enforced or followed.
• Equipment, vehicles and machinery are unsafe or defective due to lack of maintenance, modification or age.
• Worker isn’t competent to operate equipment or machinery due to a lack of training or no competency assessment.
• No personal protective equipment provided or the wearing of personal protective equipment wasn’t enforced.
• No induction.
• Inadequate training and/or supervision.
• Lack of records and reporting.

Many of the attendees expressed an interest in obtaining resources that would help them meet their workplace health and safety obligations.

AgForce Queensland has answered the call by producing an Employers Toolbox. This toolbox provides rural employers with information and the templates to assist in meeting their obligations under industrial relations (Fairwork), human resources and work health and safety legislation.

Gasfields Commission Queensland Pipeline Pointers

Below is a summary of the Pipeline Pointers Learnings from Pipeline Stocktake Topic Sheet, available on the GasFields Commission Queensland website.

Background

The GasFields Commission Queensland conducted a major stocktake of land rehabilitation across 64 property locations and tabled the following 10 key learnings.

10 Key Learnings

1. Communication with landholders critical to good relations
2. Contractor management key to best practice
3. Level of compensation to be relative to total impact
4. Multiple pipelines require coordination and cooperation
5. Tapping local knowledge can lead to better outcomes for all
6. Keeping on top of soil subsidence
7. Weed management requires joint effort
8. Fencing the easement can be a valued investment
9. Property and business security brings peace of mind
10. Specific rural industry requirements need to be understood

Rees R & Sydney Jones Energy, Environment and Agribusiness Partner, Melanie Findlay can be contacted on 07 4927 6333 or at enquire@reesjones.com.au.

Arrow Update February 2016

Melanie Findlay and Emma Kime from our Energy, Environment & Agribusiness team attended the AgForce February 2016 Member Meeting in Middlemount to discuss the current position of the Arrow pipeline.

Below is a brief summary of the presentation. The full presentation can be view here, Arrow Update.

Arrow Bowen Pipeline Project

The gas project initially comprised of:

• LNG plant Gladstone
• Bowen Gas Project
• ABP (pipeline from Bowen)
• Surat Gas Project
• ASP (pipeline from the Surat)

Additional articles written by our team on the project are “Strategic Cropping Land Declarations at Risk” and “What is a a Pipeline??”

What Now?

Arrow is joint venture of Shell and PetroChina.

December 2015 – the project has been delayed/shelved as gas and oil prices continue to lower.

Shell has recently sold off natural gas and shale assets in Northern America and walked away from the Alaskan Artic project worth $7B.

Energy is an Evolving Industry

The change in attitude towards coal fired power is seeing the closure of coal mines both overseas and in Australia. New technology is bringing down the costs of solar. Renewable energy is definitely an area to watch.

Our Energy, Environment & Agribusiness Partner, Melanie Findlay can be contacted on 07 4927 6333 or enquire@reesjones.com.au.

ARENA data release and large-scale solar projects shortlisted

ARENA data release and large-scale solar projects shortlisted

ARENA have released a summary of the data sourced from their competitive expressions of interest (EOI) round. 

In the EOI round, solar and renewable energy companies were invited to submit a proposal in a bid to secure a portion of the $1000 million in funding that has been set aside for large-scale solar projects. ARENA received proposals for 75 large-scale projects in the EOI round. 

ARENA assessed the EOI applications last year and have since listed 22 projects that are invited to proceed to the full application stage. 10 projects that have been invited to proceed to the full application stage are located in Queensland.

If the Queensland projects are successful in securing funding from ARENA, it is likely that we will see large-scale solar projects in Baralaba, Longreach, Hughenden, Dalby, Collinsville, Oakey, Proserpine and Ipswich.

Full applications must be submitted to ARENA by 15 June 2016. 

Links:
http://arena.gov.au/programmes/advancing-renewables-programme/large-scale-solar-pv/
http://arena.gov.au/resources/large-scale-solar-pv-competitive-round-eoi-application-data/

See also, Emma Kime's article "Solar Projects: The Prospecting Race and ARENA Funding"

What is Groundwater?

Did you know that groundwater makes up 98% of the liquid freshwater on the planet? 

L-R Linda Munns, Emma Kime, Amy Gudmann

Last week, Emma Kime along with Amy Gudmann and Linda Munns of our Mining, Gas and Rural Team attended Capricornia Catchment's Getting to know your Groundwater Workshop held in Rockhampton. 

Emma said that "this workshop was a fantastic local event that was able to bring interested members of the community together to gain an understanding of groundwater and the extraction process, the local geology and the impacts of coal and coal seam gas developments on water resources."

Many of our client's have concerns about whether they are entitled to enter into a Make Good Agreement with mining and resource companies and how coal and coal seam gas developments may impact their water resources and bores. As a result, Emma enjoyed learning first-hand how graziers and landowners can be proactive in monitoring water levels and measuring the quality of their bores on an ongoing basis to collate data that may then be used as part of a Baseline Assessment. 

Emma also enjoyed connecting with local community members and hearing the concerns that locals have with their bores and why they choose to attend the Getting to know your Groundwater Workshop.

If you would like to discuss how the Mining, Gas and Rural Team can assist you with any concerns that you may have about your bore or whether you are entitled to enter into a Make Good Agreement, please do not hesitate to contact us on (07) 4927 6333 or enquire@reesjones.com.au.