Dr Emma Carmody, Special CounselKimberley Slapp, Legal Intern Introduction Australia is an extremely dry continent that is in the process of becoming drier, including across swathes of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). For example, recently published research found that by 2070, most of Lake Eyre and parts of the MDB could become enveloped by the arid […]
Narrabri Gas Project Approved September 30 2020 The controversial Narrabri Gas Project has been approved by the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission (IPC). The approval comes after it was revealed that the IPC would not consider last-minute evidence from EDO’s clients that the project would likely have a greater impact on groundwater than previously […]
Part 1 in a series on water law and the Murray-Darling Basin By Special Counsel Dr Emma Carmody Everyone should care about water, and how it is managed. This is particularly true in Australia due to its scarcity, which is already being exacerbated by climate change in certain parts of the country. This article […]
LEPs and SEPPs These Fact Sheets explain what local environmental plans (LEPs) and State environmental planning policies (SEPPs) are, and how they fit together within the NSW planning system. They include descriptions of how SEPPs and LEPs are made, how they regulate what types of developments can go where, and how people can engage in […]
Last updated: May 2014 EDO has published a book on environmental Law for Aboriginal communities in NSW. For a more comprehensive guide, read Caring for Country: A guide to environmental law for Aboriginal communities in NSW. Overview Aboriginal people need to be able to access lands and waters to continue their traditions. These traditional practices […]
Dr Emma Carmody, EDO Special Counsel and water law expert, gave this talk at the 10th Water Symposium, hosted by Legalwise in Sydney on 18 October 2019. Introduction My presentation is, broadly speaking, oriented towards the future, although anyone who has visited Menindee or Wilcannia in the last year might be inclined to argue that […]
The Shenhua Watermark Mine was a proposed massive thermal and coking coal mine approved for the Liverpool Plains, near Breeza in north-western New South Wales. It was officially cancelled in April 2021 when the NSW Government announced it would pay the mine’s Chinese owner to withdraw its mining lease application and surrender its development consent. When it […]
This case note by Matt Floro, EDO Solicitor, and Jasper Brown, Legal Administrator, Sydney, was originally published in the Australian Environment Review, Vol 34, No 6 2019. Introduction In recent times, the use and allocation of our scarce water resources has become a flashpoint for conflict among irrigators, pastoralists and other water users, local communities […]
The site of Shenhua’s proposed three open-cut pits are located on the ancestral lands of the Gomeroi Traditional Custodians. […]
EDO has the legal tools and expertise to protect our fresh water from pollution and over-extraction. In 2017, we successfully negotiated for important environmental conditions to be added to the approval of Santos’s GLNG Gas Field Development Project in the Surat Basin, Queensland. Santos planned to develop 6,100 Coal Seam Gas (CSG) wells across about […]
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EDO recognises the traditional owners and custodians of the land, seas and rivers of Australia. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past and present, and aspire to learn from traditional knowledge and customs so that, together, we can protect our environment and cultural heritage through law.
