Environment

Sustainability and stakeholder engagement must underpin energy sector development.

Sustainability at MEPAU is about delivering energy in a responsible way to meet Australia and the world’s growing needs. The core components of sustainable development are:

Economic growth;
Social investment; and
Environmental protection.

Before MEPAU begins substantial work on major projects or existing facilities, regulatory, environmental and social impacts are assessed, alongside commercial and technical considerations. This process includes environmental, social and health impact assessments to help understand and manage risks and opportunities.

In undertaking its operations, MEPAU consults with local landowners, Traditional Owners, communities, governments and environmental experts to help develop our plans and inform our approach.

MEPAU is required to obtain a number of regulatory approvals in order to continue to carry out its operations as well as projects before construction can commence. The key government departments that assess the environmental impacts of our activities are the Department of Mining, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER).

Environmental planning

Providing energy in a responsible way

MEPAU has a vision to be a leader in cleaner energy solutions, consistently demonstrating operational excellence, safety performance and a commitment to the communities in which we operate.

The Waitsia Stage 2 Project has implemented a Greenhouse Gas Management Plan, which will ensure MEPAU manages and reduces contribution to greenhouse gas concentrations from emissions.

Green House Gas Management

Pioneering fully offset reservoir emissions.

The Waitsia Stage 2 Project was assessed under the EPA’s Environmental Factor Guideline – Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2020, and an implementation condition of the approved project was to implement a Greenhouse Gas Management Plan (GHGMP).

As part of the submission of a GHGMP, MEPAU offered to fully offset all reservoir greenhouse gas emissions from Waitsia Stage 2. MEPAU is the first West Australian onshore gas project to have this condition.

The key provisions of the GHGMP require the management and reduction of contribution to state GHG concentrations from emissions through:

Application of mitigation hierarchy and review and adoption of reasonable and practicable measures to mitigate Proposal Emissions;
Establishing Proposal baseline emissions and maintain emissions within the agreed baseline, to comply with the Commonwealth Safeguard Mechanism;
Implementing GHG monitoring and reporting in accordance with the Commonwealth National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007;
Summarising design choices to demonstrate that all reasonable and practicable measures have been applied to avoid, reduce and offset a Proposal’s Emissions over the life of the proposal;
Ongoing monitoring and preventative maintenance to minimise fugitive emissions of natural gas;
Ongoing monitoring and preventative maintenance to ensure that emissions remain within the agreed baseline for the Proposal;
Reforestation by environmental or mallee plantings (FullCAM);
Adaptive management through five yearly review of reasonable and practicable measures to mitigate GHG emissions in response to developments in Commonwealth and State policies, markets, technology and regional infrastructure (Adaptive Management Review).

Sustainability and stakeholder engagement must underpin energy sector development.

Providing energy in a responsible way

Pioneering fully offset reservoir emissions.

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