Approval Publications
Fortescue prepares environmental impact assessment (EIA) documents, in accordance with the State Environmental Protection Act 1986 and Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, for new mines, major expansions to its existing mines and for its significant infrastructure proposal e.g. new ports and railways. These EIA documents detail the key characteristics of each proposal, describe the potential environmental impacts and detail how Fortescue will manage these impacts. In most instances, the EIA documents are available for 4-8 weeks of public review and comment. Following receipt of any public comments, the WA Environmental Protection Authority and Federal Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities complete their assessment of the proposal, and issue a report to their respective Ministers.
Public environment reporting gives our stakeholders the opportunity to understand our key environmental risks and opportunities. It also provides us with a mechanism to communicate how we effectively manage our environmental obligations. Internally, we use our public environment reporting process to help us to manage, measure, gain feedback on and improve our performance over time.
At the regulatory level we engage with a number of Government and independent bodies who ensure that we comply with environmental standards and also drive us to improve as regulations for the mining industry become more thorough. Bodies who monitor and audit our performance include the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP), the Department of Water (DoW), the Department of Health (DoH), Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPC), Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEF) and the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET). Beyond our compliance requirements we are actively seeking to improve our environmental performance, and the transparency with which we provide information to the public.