(1) If:
(a) an application for a site closing certificate has been made under section 386; and
(b) either:
(i) the responsible Commonwealth Minister is satisfied that operations for the injection of a greenhouse gas substance into the identified greenhouse gas storage formation concerned have ceased; or
(ii) the responsible Commonwealth Minister is satisfied that there have not been any operations for the injection of a greenhouse gas substance into the identified greenhouse gas storage formation concerned;
the responsible Commonwealth Minister may give the applicant a written notice (called a pre - certificate notice ) telling the applicant that the responsible Commonwealth Minister is prepared to issue to the applicant a site closing certificate in relation to the identified greenhouse gas storage formation.
Note: See also section 391.
Responsible Commonwealth Minister must have regard to certain matters
(2) If the responsible Commonwealth Minister is satisfied that there is a significant risk that a greenhouse gas substance injected into the identified greenhouse gas storage formation will have a significant adverse impact on:
(a) navigation; or
(b) fishing; or
(c) any activities being lawfully carried on, or that could be lawfully carried on, by way of the construction or operation of a pipeline; or
(d) the enjoyment of native title rights (within the meaning of the Native Title Act 1993 );
then, in deciding whether to give the applicant a pre - certificate notice, the responsible Commonwealth Minister must have regard to that significant risk.
(3) Subsection (2) does not limit the matters to which the responsible Commonwealth Minister may have regard.
Circumstances in which a pre - certificate notice may be refused
(4) The responsible Commonwealth Minister may refuse to give the applicant a pre - certificate notice in relation to the identified greenhouse gas storage formation if:
(a) the responsible Commonwealth Minister is not satisfied that the greenhouse gas substance injected into the identified greenhouse gas storage formation is behaving as predicted in Part A of the approved site plan for the identified greenhouse gas storage formation; or
(b) the responsible Commonwealth Minister is satisfied that there is a significant risk that a greenhouse gas substance injected into the identified greenhouse gas storage formation will have a significant adverse impact on:
(i) the conservation or exploitation of natural resources (whether in an offshore area or elsewhere); or
(ii) the geotechnical integrity of the whole or a part of a geological formation or geological structure; or
(iii) the environment; or
(iv) human health or safety.
(5) Subsection (4) does not limit the matters to which the responsible Commonwealth Minister may have regard in deciding whether to refuse to give the applicant a pre - certificate notice.
Circumstances in which a pre - certificate notice must not be given
(6) The responsible Commonwealth Minister must not give the applicant a pre - certificate notice in relation to the identified greenhouse gas storage formation unless the responsible Commonwealth Minister is satisfied that:
(a) either:
(i) the relevant statutory requirements have been complied with; or
(ii) any of the relevant statutory requirements have not been complied with, but there are sufficient grounds to warrant the issue of the site closing certificate; or
(b) if any conditions are specified in the regulations--those conditions have been satisfied.
(7) For the purposes of paragraph (6)(a), each of the following is a relevant statutory requirement :
(a) the conditions to which the greenhouse gas injection licence is, or has from time to time been, subject;
(b) the provisions of this Chapter, Chapter 5, Chapter 5A, Chapter 6 and Part 8.1;
(c) the provisions of the regulations.
Decision must be made within 5 years
(8) If an application for a site closing certificate has been made under section 386, the responsible Commonwealth Minister must make a decision on the application within 5 years after the application was made.