140Exception to prohibition on burning native forest bio-material to generate electricity

140 Exception to prohibition on burning native forest bio-material to generate electricity

140 Exception to prohibition on burning native forest bio-material to generate electricity

(1) An occupier of premises who causes or allows native forest bio-material to be burned in electricity generating work in or on the premises is not guilty of an offence under section 139 if—

(a) a licence authorises the carrying out of scheduled activities in or on the premises, and

(b) the premises are nominated by the EPA, by notice published in the Gazette, for the purposes of this section, and

(c) the native forest bio-material was obtained from—

(i) trees cleared from land in accordance with—

(A) a development consent or other approval under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, or

(B) an authority or other approval issued by another State or Territory that corresponds or is similar to a development consent or other approval under that Act, or

(ii) the clearing of trees that is declared to be exempt development, within the meaning of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, or

(iii) trees or other vegetation removed or lopped by a roads authority in accordance with the Roads Act 1993, section 88, or

(iv) land lawfully cleared as part of recovery or clean-up works in an area declared to be a natural disaster area for the purposes of disaster recovery funding arrangements administered jointly by the Commonwealth and the States and Territories, and

(d) the native forest bio-material does not comprise timber suitable for milling or other higher value use.

(2) The EPA may, by notice published in the Gazette, vary or revoke a nomination referred to in subsection (1)(b).

(3) In this section—

higher value use includes the use of timber as mulch or wood chips for the purposes of—

(a) erosion and sediment control, or

(b) landscaping the land from which the timber was obtained.