The Environmental Protection Amendment (Validation) Bill 2014 was introduced into the Legislative Council yesterday to validate a number of past environmental approvals.

The decision was made after the Supreme Court ruled last year that the WA Environment Minister and the WA Environment Protection Authority had acted illegally in the assessment and approval of the James Price Point gas plant.

WA Environment Minister Albert Jacob said the legislation would provide certainty for projects that related to EPA decisions between 2002-12 that had been identified as being at potential risk of being found to be invalid.

“Following the court’s decision, I asked the State Solicitors Office to conduct a review of the validity of other environmental approvals,” Jacob said.

FMG said Solomon was one of 25 projects identified as being at risk following the decision but the company said it didn’t see any threat of operational impacts.

“This doesn’t mean the projects pose risks to the environment, and there is nothing to indicate that the EPA did anything other than assess the environmental factors relating to proposals on their merits,” Jacob said.



“Rather, these potential risks stem from technical governance issues relating to the EPA’s conflict of interest procedures, with conflicted board members being allowed to participate in discussion evaluating projects in which they had declared an interest.”



FMG said it was assured the government was taking all appropriate steps to remove any risk and provide investment certainty.

“We applaud the state for taking this decisive action to provide certainty and confidence to significant Western Australian projects,” FMG CEO Nev Power said.

The Solomon hub comprises the Firetail and Kings mines, producing a combined 60 million tonnes of iron ore per annum.

FMG shares fell 2% to $A3.96 in early trade.