Kingsgrove to Earlwood Rail Electricity Supply REF (pdf 1.6MB)

Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997The Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) provides a licensingframework for certain activities as defined in Schedule 1 of the POEO Act. The proposal is notconsidered to fall within the definition of Section 33 ‘Railway systems activities’ of Schedule 1.As such, the proposal does not require an environment protection licence (EPL) under thePOEO Act.Roads Act 1993Under Section 138 of the Roads Act 1993, a person must not “erect a structure or carry out awork in, on or over a public road, or dig up or disturb the surface of a public road...” other thanwith the consent of the appropriate roads authority. However, clause 5(1) in Schedule 2 of theAct states that public authorities do not require consent for works on unclassified roads.The proposal does require work to be undertaken over Bexley Road which is a classified as aMain Road; therefore, approval from Roads and Maritime Services (Roads and Maritime) willbe required prior to these works being undertaken.Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995The Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act) is directed at conserving threatenedspecies, populations and ecological communities of animals and plants. Threatened species,populations, endangered ecological communities will not be affected by the proposed workand further consideration under the Act is not required.Native Vegetation Act 2003The Native Vegetation Act 2003 (NV Act) manages the clearing of native vegetation in NSW.Section 25(g) of the NV Act provides that any clearing that is part of an activity that ispermissible without consent does not require approval under the Act.Nevertheless, RailCorp’s guideline for vegetation management in rail corridors provides aframework for compliance with this Act. No native vegetation will be affected as part of theproposed works.3.7 Commonwealth LegislationEnvironmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999The EPBC Act requires approval from the Australian Government Minister for theEnvironment, Heritage and the Arts if a development is likely to have, or would have, asignificant effect on a matter of National Environmental Significance (NES). The Act alsorequires approval from the Minister for any action on Commonwealth land that has, wouldhave, or is likely to have a significant impact on the environment.A search of the EPBC Act Protected Matters database was undertaken on 11 January 2013, thesearch comprised a five kilometre radius around the proposed site. The results of the searchfound the following matters of NES in Table 2:Page 14