business.gov.au

Environmental authority - Brisbane City Council - Queensland

Description

You will need an environmental authority (EA) to undertake an environmentally relevant activity (ERA). ERA's are activities that have potential environmental risks. The EA will licence you to operate the ERA.

The 3 categories of ERA are:

  • prescribed ERAs including industrial or some intensive agricultural activities
  • resource activities including mining, petroleum, geothermal or greenhouse gas storage activities
  • agricultural ERAs including cattle grazing, horticulture or cultivation of another crop carried out in the Great Barrier Reef catchment.

Who you need to apply to will be determined by your ERA. More information on who your administering authority will be based on your activity is available here.

Service type

Licence

A licence defines the need to obtain recognition / certification and registration to undertake a certain business activity.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for an EA, you must:

  • be registered as a suitable operator
  • if an ERA standard is applicable, meet the standard conditions and eligibility criteria prescribed to your specific ERA.

You will also need a development approval if you are conducting the following activities:

  • changing the type of activity
  • re-establishing an ERA activity that was abandoned
  • changing the scale or intensity of activity
  • carrying out building work
  • carrying out plumbing or drainage work.

The council is required to monitor the operational standards of your ERA through routine inspections. The expected frequency of these inspections will depend on the type of ERA and its level of compliance.

Duration

As specified

Fees

Fees Details for this service in table format.

Task Type Business Structure Amount Description
Apply Application All $768.40

New environmental authority. Fees for 2026-27
Apply Application All $1143.90

Transitional environmental program. Fees for 2026-27
Apply Licence All $920.60

ERA 6 - asphalt manufacturing (manufacturing more than 1000 tonnes of asphalt in a year). Fees for 2026-27
Apply Licence All $920.60

ERA 12 - plastic product manufacturing:

  • manufacturing more than 50 tonnes per year of plastic product, other than foam, composite plastics or rigid fibre-reinforced plastics
  • manufacturing a total of 5 tonnes or more of foam, composite plastics or rigid fibre-reinforced plastics in a year

Fees for 2026-27
Apply Licence All $920.60

ERA 19 - metal forming (hot forming a total of 10,000 tonnes or more of metal in a year). Fees for 2026-27
Apply Licence All $920.60

ERA 38 - surface coating (anodising, electroplating, enamelling or galvanising using 1 to 100 tonnes of surface coating materials in a year). Fees for 2026-27
Apply Licence All $920.60

ERA 49 - boat maintenance or repair facility (maintaining or repairing hulls, superstructure or mechanical components of boats and seaplanes). Fees for 2026-27
Transfer Transfer All $156.35

Fees for 2026-27
Vary Application All $392.10

Application fee to:

  • change (other than minor change) an environmental authority
  • change an amendment application for an environmental authority 
  • or submit an amalgamation application

Fees for 2026-27
Vary Variation All $378.85

Fees for 2026-27

Transfer process

Transfer

You can apply to transfer an environmental authority for a prescribed activity but you cannot transfer an EA for a resource activity. You can only transfer an EA to a suitable operator.

Administering agency

Brisbane City Council

Contact details

Contact Email, Phone and Address Details for this service in simple two column table format, header then data.