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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Western Australia Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 Contents 1. Short title 2 2. Commencement 2 3. Act amended 2 4. Part 5A inserted 2 Part 5A -- Indemnification by State for long-term liability resulting from underground disposal of carbon dioxide 14A. Terms used 2 14B. Notice that Commonwealth representative is satisfied of certain matters 6 14C. Declaration of liability assumption date 7 14D. State to indemnify 8 14E. Payment under indemnity and appropriation 8 14F. Disclosure of information to Commonwealth representative 8 5. Section 17A inserted 9 17A. Protection from liability for wrongdoing 9 87--1B page i Western Australia LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 A Bill for An Act to amend the Barrow Island Act 2003. The Parliament of Western Australia enacts as follows: page 1 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 1 1 1. Short title 2 This is the Barrow Island Amendment Act 2015. 3 2. Commencement 4 This Act comes into operation as follows -- 5 (a) sections 1 and 2 come into operation on the day on 6 which this Act receives the Royal Assent (assent day); 7 (b) section 5 is deemed to have come into operation on 8 20 November 2003 immediately after the Barrow Island 9 Act 2003, other than section 12, came into operation; 10 (c) the rest of the Act comes into operation on the day after 11 assent day. 12 3. Act amended 13 This Act amends the Barrow Island Act 2003. 14 4. Part 5A inserted 15 After section 13 insert: 16 17 Part 5A -- Indemnification by State for 18 long-term liability resulting from underground 19 disposal of carbon dioxide 20 14A. Terms used 21 In this Part -- 22 CO2 means carbon dioxide; 23 CO2 disposal management plan has the meaning given 24 in the section 13 approval in clause 1 of the collateral 25 deed; page 2 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 4 1 CO2 injection cessation date has the meaning given in 2 the section 13 approval in clause 1 of the collateral 3 deed; 4 CO2 injection operations means the disposal of CO2 5 recovered during gas processing on Barrow Island 6 undertaken as part of the Project by -- 7 (a) injecting that CO2 into the formation as part of 8 a process known as geosequestration; and 9 (b) establishing and operating infrastructure and 10 facilities for that purpose and conducting 11 associated monitoring activities, 12 in accordance with the Agreement and the section 13 13 approval; 14 CO2 injection site closure notice means a notice issued 15 no earlier than 15 years after the CO2 injection 16 cessation date in accordance with clause 8 of the 17 collateral deed; 18 collateral deed means the CO2 Disposal by 19 Injection -- Collateral Deed dated 14 September 2009 20 executed by the then Joint Venturers (Chevron (TAPL) 21 Pty Ltd (ABN 18 081 647 047), Mobil Australia 22 Resources Company Pty Limited (ABN 23 38 000 113 217) and Shell Development (Australia) 24 Proprietary Limited (ABN 14 009 663 576)) in favour 25 of the State and given in compliance with condition 2 26 of the section 13 approval; 27 common law liability means liability for damages -- 28 (a) in an amount claimed on the basis of a common 29 law cause of action and either -- 30 (i) awarded by a court; or page 3 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 4 1 (ii) payable under a settlement, if the 2 settlement was reached with the prior 3 approval of the Commonwealth 4 representative and the BI Act Minister 5 as to the amount; 6 and 7 (b) not arising as a result of a failure by any of the 8 Joint Venturers to act in good faith or without 9 malice, fraud or recklessness; 10 Commonwealth representative means -- 11 (a) the Minister of the Commonwealth to whom 12 the administration of the Offshore Petroleum 13 and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 14 (Commonwealth) is from time to time 15 committed; or 16 (b) another Minister or official of the 17 Commonwealth that is from time to time 18 notified to the BI Act Minister by the Minister 19 referred to in paragraph (a); 20 formation has the meaning given in the section 13 21 approval; 22 Gorgon CO2 means CO2 recovered during processing 23 of gas or other petroleum from the Title Areas or, in 24 accordance with clause 18 of the Gorgon Agreement, 25 from the Greater Gorgon Area, the Barrow Island 26 Lease or other areas and includes flue gas from the 27 treatment plant constructed and operated by the Joint 28 Venturers as part of the Project; 29 Greater Gorgon Area has the meaning given in 30 clause 1 of the Agreement; 31 holding company has the meaning given in the 32 Corporations Act 2001 (Commonwealth) section 9; page 4 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 4 1 independent third party means a natural person or 2 entity who is not -- 3 (a) the State or the Commonwealth; or 4 (b) any of the Joint Venturers; or 5 (c) a related entity of any of the Joint Venturers; 6 Joint Venturers has the meaning given in the 7 Agreement and includes each of the former Joint 8 Venturers; 9 leakage means the physical leakage of CO2 from the 10 formation into the atmosphere, biosphere or 11 hydrosphere, other than as predicted in the 12 section 13 approval; 13 liability assumption date means the day declared by 14 the BI Act Minister as the liability assumption date by 15 notice under section 14C(1); 16 Project has the meaning given in clause 1 of the 17 Agreement; 18 related entity means -- 19 (a) a holding company; or 20 (b) a subsidiary; or 21 (c) a subsidiary of a holding company; or 22 (d) an Associated Entity (as defined in clause 1 of 23 the Agreement); 24 section 13 approval means the document dated 25 14 September 2009 setting out the conditions and 26 restrictions of the BI Act Minister's approval granted 27 to the then Joint Venturers (Chevron (TAPL) Pty Ltd 28 (ABN 18 081 647 047), Mobil Australia Resources 29 Company Pty Limited (ABN 38 000 113 217) and 30 Shell Development (Australia) Proprietary Limited 31 (ABN 14 009 663 576)) under section 13 to inject CO2 32 into the formation as varied, added to or substituted for 33 in accordance with condition 19 of that document and, page 5 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 4 1 for the avoidance of doubt, includes the collateral deed 2 and the CO2 disposal management plan; 3 subsidiary has the meaning given in the Corporations 4 Act 2001 (Commonwealth) section 9; 5 Title Areas has the meaning given in clause 1 of the 6 Agreement. 7 14B. Notice that Commonwealth representative is 8 satisfied of certain matters 9 (1) The BI Act Minister may, after the expiration of the 10 15 year period beginning on the CO2 injection 11 cessation date, request the Commonwealth 12 representative to give the BI Act Minister notice that 13 the Commonwealth representative is satisfied in 14 respect of the matters listed in subsection (2). 15 (2) The matters in respect of which the Commonwealth 16 representative must be satisfied are as follows -- 17 (a) the Gorgon CO2 injected into the formation is 18 behaving as predicted in the modelling of the 19 plume provided by the Joint Venturers to the BI 20 Act Minister either -- 21 (i) as part of the application under 22 section 13 that resulted in the grant of 23 the section 13 approval; or 24 (ii) in subsequent refinements of that 25 modelling accepted by the BI Act 26 Minister in accordance with the 27 section 13 approval, 28 and there is no significant risk of leakage; 29 (b) there is no significant risk that the CO2 in the 30 formation will have a significant adverse 31 impact on the geotechnical integrity of the 32 whole or a part of a geological formation or a 33 geological structure; page 6 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 4 1 (c) there is no significant risk that the CO2 in the 2 formation will have a significant adverse 3 impact on the environment, or other geological 4 resources, including groundwater; 5 (d) there is no significant risk that the CO2 in the 6 formation will have a significant adverse 7 impact on human health or safety; 8 (e) for at least 15 years since the CO2 injection 9 cessation date there have not been any 10 operations to inject CO2 into the formation; 11 (f) for at least 15 years since the CO2 injection 12 cessation date there have not been any 13 operations to inject any other substances into 14 the formation other than where that was 15 necessary for legitimate and appropriate plume 16 monitoring and management activities; 17 (g) the BI Act Minister has advised that he or she 18 has issued or is intending to issue a CO2 19 injection site closure notice in accordance with 20 the section 13 approval. 21 14C. Declaration of liability assumption date 22 (1) The BI Act Minister must, by notice published in the 23 Gazette, declare a particular day as the liability 24 assumption date if -- 25 (a) the Commonwealth representative has given the 26 notice requested under section 14B(1); and 27 (b) the BI Act Minister has issued a CO2 injection 28 site closure notice. 29 (2) The liability assumption date must not be earlier than 30 the day on which the notice under subsection (1) is 31 published. page 7 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 4 1 14D. State to indemnify 2 The State will indemnify the Joint Venturers for their 3 common law liability to independent third parties 4 arising after the liability assumption date for loss or 5 damage caused by the injection of Gorgon CO2 in the 6 formation where that loss or damage is attributable to 7 an act done, or omitted to be done, in the carrying out 8 of CO2 injection operations under the authority of the 9 section 13 approval. 10 14E. Payment under indemnity and appropriation 11 The payment of any money under the indemnity in 12 section 14D is to be made by the Treasurer and charged 13 to the Consolidated Account, which this section 14 appropriates to the necessary extent. 15 14F. Disclosure of information to Commonwealth 16 representative 17 (1) The BI Act Minister may, at any time, disclose to the 18 Commonwealth representative information or any 19 document that -- 20 (a) relates to CO2 injection operations or to a 21 proposal by the Joint Venturers that relates to 22 CO2 injection operations; or 23 (b) is relevant to -- 24 (i) a matter listed in section 14B(2); or 25 (ii) the existence (or otherwise) or extent of 26 liability mentioned in section 14D. 27 (2) Subsection (1) applies to information or documents 28 whether given to the BI Act Minister by the Joint 29 Venturers, produced by or on behalf of the BI Act 30 Minister or otherwise obtained by the BI Act Minister. 31 page 8 Barrow Island Amendment Bill 2015 s. 5 1 5. Section 17A inserted 2 After section 16 insert: 3 4 17A. Protection from liability for wrongdoing 5 (1) An action in tort does not lie against a person for 6 anything that the person has done, in good faith, in the 7 performance or purported performance of a function 8 under this Act. 9 (2) The protection given by subsection (1) applies even 10 though the thing done as described in that subsection 11 may have been capable of being done whether or not 12 this Act had been enacted. 13 (3) Despite subsection (1), the State is not relieved of any 14 liability that it might have for another person having 15 done anything as described in that subsection. 16 (4) In this section a reference to the doing of anything 17 includes a reference to the omission to do anything. 18 19
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