Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

These regulations are being made in England and Wales to transpose the permitting and compliance requirements of Directive 2006/21/EC, known as the Mining Waste Directive. Its key objective is to prevent or reduce as far as possible any adverse effects on the environment and human health as a result of the management of waste from the extractive industries. This essentially means the waste from the extraction and treatment of mineral resources and the working of quarries. A series of pollution incidents, including serious incidents in Spain in 1998 and in Romania in 2000, led the European Commission to consider the need for a specific measure on the management of extractive waste. After extensive negotiations on a Commission proposal, the outcome was the adoption in May 2006 of the Mining Waste Directive. The due date for transposition of the directive by member states was 1 May 2008 and the European Commission has recently confirmed that 17 out of 27 member states have formally notified their transposing legislation. The regulations we are debating today will enable the Government to do so in relation to England and Wales, with the agreement of the Welsh Assembly. Separate regulations will be made by the devolved Administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Government established close and regular contact with the extractive industries during the negotiation of the directive and have maintained that contact since its adoption. It is the Government’s policy not to "gold plate" directives by going beyond their minimum requirements and to make full use of available derogations. Our aim has been to fulfil both objectives in the transposition of the Mining Waste Directive. In addition to our continuing engagement with the industries, the Government carried out a three-month public consultation on the options for transposing the directive. We consulted on three transposition options and assessed the cost of each in an impact assessment. After consideration of all the responses, the Government concluded that the most effective and cost-efficient means of fulfilling the directive’s objectives is by using the environmental permitting system with the Environment Agency as the regulatory authority. The environmental permitting system came into force in April 2008 and already implements 12 other EU directives. It is part of a better regulation initiative by the Government to cut red tape and to reduce regulatory costs for industry, while continuing to protect the environment and human health. As I have said, the key objective of the Mining Waste Directive is to prevent or reduce as far as possible any adverse effects on the environment and human health as a result of the management of extractive waste. Parliament has already given the Environment Agency responsibility for the management of waste from other sectors of industry in England and Wales. The Government have concluded that the Environment Agency is also best placed, and should have the responsibility, for dealing with waste from the extractive industries. The operators of most extractive waste facilities already hold an environmental permit to meet the requirements of other EU directives. Transposition of the Mining Waste Directive by means of the environmental permitting system ensures, therefore, that the administrative and regulatory burdens arising from the directive are kept to a minimum. The regulations before the Committee will ensure that the directive’s requirements are implemented in a proportionate, risk-based and cost-effective way. In the Government’s view, transposition of the directive by means of the environmental permitting system, with the Environment Agency as the regulatory authority, will be of benefit to the industry, the environment and human health. I beg to move.