AVL news, page-249

No, appeals are not made public. Only the proponent and the regulator have visibility on the process (and sometimes not even the proponent).

Note that the company would not need to respond to the appeal itself and the ground for appeal need to be around the process / legislation. Ie, the appeals convener can only decide an appeal is valid if he or she concludes that the EPA did not follow their own processes or abide by the legislation. So I can;t appeal an EPA decision based on the fact that I don't like the environmental impacts of a project (that's what the public review period is for). BUT - that does not stop people appealing on those grounds and it all adds to the processing time. The company can assist the appeals convenor by providing information on where things are addressed.

So for example, I can appeal on the basis that the EPA did not consider impacts to the spotted barn owl which is required by the spotted barn owl recovery plan. The company can provide information to the appeals convener on where they addressed the issue in the documentation and where in the EPA report its covered. The appeals convener then decides if process was followed and if it was, dismisses the appeal. Once the appeals are cleared, it goes to the minister for sign off which generally only takes a week or two.

I am currently working on a project where we are in our third year of the appeals process with no end in sight. A very different project though, so not saying this one will take that long.