Palmer calls for time limit on EPA Cath Hart | February 09, 2009...

Palmer calls for time limit on EPA Cath Hart | February 09, 2009
Article from: The Australian
BILLIONAIRE businessman Clive Palmer has called for strict time limits to be imposed on the West Australian environmental approvals process as part of a state government review.

"The whole EPA process needs to be reviewed -- the act needs to be thrown out. A new act needs to be enacted which gives a time frame for the various stages of environmental approval," Mr Palmer said.

Mr Palmer, who owns iron ore assets in WA's Pilbara region said WA EPA staff had all the worst attributes found in people born in the Chinese year of the Ox.

"Oxen can be stubborn and angry people as well and they can be very nasty -- they're often found in the WA Department of Environmental Protection," Mr Palmer told The Australian.

"The core of the problem for the West Australian EPA is that there is no time limit on what they can do and they respond a year or two after events happen and that's not keeping up with a competitive economy.

"What we want is an efficient operation in government and in business and if we say to public servants that there is no requirement to answer letters in any time frame, then we're not helping them develop as efficient people even to be further employed in industry."

Mr Palmer said delays in processing approvals for projects controlled by him or his associates diminished employment prospects at a time when miners were being sacked.

"I don't mean that we don't want thorough environmental assessment. It means that we want the same things to happen but we want them to happen in a reasonable time," he said.

"What's been happening in the past is it's just been sitting on shelves and Australia has lost jobs."

The WA Government is reviewing the approvals process in the state, in a bid to better streamline applications from companies hoping to develop projects there.

Despite his frustration with resources bureaucracy, Mr Palmer said he was on the acquisition trail at the moment and had quietly built up a portfolio of oil and gas assets.

"We see this as a time of great opportunity because a lot of companies are distressed and haven't got much money, and we haven't got any debt and we've got plenty of money in the bank, so we think it's fantastic," he said.

"We're looking at some acquisitions if we need them. We're interested in different commodities. The only problem area we would have would be in the nickel sector."

Mr Palmer said he had also built up "quite a big" portfolio of oil and gas assets.

"We're just in the process of drilling a $50 million hole called Zeus on the North West Shelf this month, looking for gas," he said.

"We also have oil properties in Canning Basin which we're drilling at the moment where we've discovered oil.

"We've been building quite a big portfolio in oil and gas as well separately, but we do it quietly. We don't need a lot of media because we're not raising money. We're using our own money, so if we lose it, no one cares."

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