South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts (1) For the purposes
of this Act, "environmental harm" is any harm, or potential harm, to the
environment (of whatever degree or duration) and includes—
(a) an
environmental nuisance; and
(b)
anything declared by regulation (after consultation under section 5A) or
by an environment protection policy to be environmental harm.
(2) For the purposes
of this Act, "potential harm" includes risk of harm and future harm.
(3) For the purposes
of this Act, the following provisions are to be
applied in determining whether environmental harm is "material environmental
harm" or "serious environmental harm :
(a)
environmental harm is to be treated as material environmental harm if—
(i)
it consists of an environmental nuisance of a high impact
or on a wide scale; or
(ii)
it involves actual or potential harm to the health or
safety of human beings that is not trivial, or other actual or potential
environmental harm (not being merely an environmental nuisance) that is not
trivial; or
(iii)
it results in actual or potential loss or property damage
of an amount, or amounts in aggregate, exceeding $5 000;
(b)
environmental harm is to be treated as serious environmental harm if—
(i)
it involves actual or potential harm to the health or
safety of human beings that is of a high impact or on a wide scale, or other
actual or potential environmental harm (not being merely an
environmental nuisance) that is of a high impact or on a wide scale; or
(ii)
it results in actual or potential loss or property damage
of an amount, or amounts in aggregate, exceeding $50 000.
(4) For the purposes
of subsection (3), "loss" includes the reasonable costs and expenses that
would be incurred in taking all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent
or mitigate the environmental harm and to make good resulting environmental
damage.
(5) For the purposes
of this Act, environmental harm is caused by pollution—
(a)
whether the harm is a direct or indirect result of the pollution; and
(b)
whether the harm results from the pollution alone or from the combined effects
of the pollution and other factors.