In November 2016, the former Department of the Environment and Energy received an allegation that herbicide had been applied to grasslands on a property at Corrowong, in southern New South Wales, in contravention of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
The department’s investigation found that a critically endangered ecological community, the Natural Temperate Grassland of the South Eastern Highlands, was significantly impacted by the application of herbicide.
It is a breach of a civil penalty provision of Part 3 of the Act to take an action that significantly impacts a critically endangered ecological community without an approval under the Act.
In responding to the contravention of the Act, the Delegate to the Minister for the Environment made a remediation determination on 28 April 2020, requiring Jam Land Pty Ltd as the landholder to mitigate the damage by managing and enhancing the natural ecological values of 103 hectares of native grasslands on the property.
A remediation determination is a penalty that addresses the environmental impact caused by a contravention of Part 3 of the Act by requiring a person to take action to repair or mitigate that damage.
This compliance outcome is consistent with the department’s published Compliance Policy.
The remediation determination is available here.