Underwater Training Range

Overview

The Commonwealth Department of Defence proposes to establish two underwater training ranges (UTR) to facilitate ongoing training of Defence personnel in underwater demolition operations. The key activity during training is the detonation of small volumes (up to 5 kilograms) of explosives.

The location of the two proposed UTRs are in Western Australian State waters, currently used as military training exercise areas. One proposed UTR is adjacent to Campbell Barracks, approximately 10km west of Perth. The second UTR is adjacent to the Lancelin Defence Training Area, approximately 17 km north of Lancelin.

The Swanbourne development envelope is 1200 hectares (ha). The Lancelin development envelope is 4800 hectares. The footprint for each training exercise is 100m². Each footprint is located over sand and physical impacts to adjacent reefs are not expected.

Each training exercise is proposed to last up to two days, with up to ten days of training per year at each location.

Why your views matter

At this initial stage of the EIA process, comment is simply sought on whether or not the EPA should assess a proposal and, if so, what level of assessment is considered appropriate.

What happens next

Following the seven day public comment period and consideration of any comments received, the EPA will decide whether or not this proposal requires environmental impact assessment and, if so, what level of assessment will be applied.

The EPA's decisions on level of assessment are released each Monday on the EPA's website.