Managing contaminated land
General environmental duty
All persons have a general environmental duty (GED) under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act) to not carry out any activity that causes, or is likely to cause, environmental harm unless the person has an authority to do so, or has taken all reasonably practicable measures to prevent or minimise the harm. It is an offence to fail to comply with the general environmental duty and this failure causes, or is likely to cause, serious or material environmental harm.
Essentially a duty of care, the GED applies to all persons undertaking activities (including notifiable activities) in Queensland or outside Queensland that may affect Queensland's environment.
When dealing with land that is, or may be contaminated, you must meet the general environmental duty (GED) and also obtain any permits that may be required to carry out development on the land or to remove contaminated soil.
Land includes the airspace above land, land that is, or is at any time, covered by waters, and waters.
Landowners and occupiers of land must ensure that they meet their GED when using the land to ensure that any risks to human health and the environment are known and managed when there is:
- land suspected of being contaminated; or
- land which is listed on the EMR or CLR.
Where the nature and extent of the contamination and associated risks to human health and the environment are not reasonably well known, meeting your GED would include actively seeking information to understand risks and implement measures to prevent or minimise environmental harm. For example, by engaging a suitably qualified person to investigate the site, prior to commencing an activity that may disturb contaminants.
If written notice is required to be given to the occupiers or registered owners of affected land, the person responsible for giving that written notice can use the Duty to notify form as a guide for what information to give, or alternatively use the form to provide to the owners/occupiers of the affected land.
Find more detailed information about GED – Meeting environmental obligations and duties.
There may also be a requirement or duty to notify of an activity or matter that may threaten or have caused environmental harm. See Duty to notify.
In the event that an incident contaminates the environment causing unlawful environmental harm, the duty to restore may apply. See Duty to Restore.
In this guide:
- General environmental duty
- Duty to notify
- Duty to restore
- Removals and changes to land registers
- Reconfiguring land
- Buying and selling contaminated land