Impact assessment for the Beetaloo GBA region (stage 3)25 Sep 2021 07:22
For the impact assessment in Stage 3 of the GBA Program, a causal network was used to assess the potential impacts of unconventional gas resource development on water and the environment in the Beetaloo GBA region. This assessment was informed by the Stage 2 baseline synthesis and gap analysis that presented knowledge about the geology, and prospectivity for unconventional gas resources, water resources, protected matters and potential impacts to water and the environment in the Beetaloo GBA region.
The impact assessment identifies pathways of ‘very low concern’ where impacts are not physically possible or are extremely unlikely (having an estimated probability of less than 1 in 1,000), ‘low concern’ where impacts can be avoided by current legislation or because the impact does not represent a material change. If impacts can be minimised or mitigated by existing management controls, pathways are evaluated as of ‘potential concern’. Impacts from pathways of ‘potentially high concern’ cannot be avoided or mitigated at the scale of the GBA region ( Table 2 ).
The impact assessment, based on current knowledge, found that there are no pathways of ‘potentially high concern’ in the Beetaloo GBA region. Furthermore, all potential pathways to impacts due to unconventional gas resource development identified in the Beetaloo GBA region can be mitigated when existing regulatory and management controls are implemented.
The pathways of ‘potential concern’ are primarily related to activities that create a disturbance at the surface (transport of materials and equipment, civil construction, decommissioning and rehabilitation, and seismic acquisition) ( Figure 3 , Figure 13 ). The pathways of ‘potential concern’ connect these activities with the protected matters, protected fauna and terrestrial vegetation endpoints, reflecting how surface disturbance has the potential to impact these endpoints. These potential impacts are mitigated through environmental management plans that are intended to ensure that appropriate environmental management practices are identified and implemented during the various stages of an activity. There is high confidence that there are mitigation strategies in place for these potential impacts.
https://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/71-key-findings
https://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/gba/beetaloo-gba-region-synthesis
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