Major developments have the potential to generate significant economic benefit and substantial environmental damage – and major political controversies as local, State and federal governments become involved. Process can fracture all too easily as governments come under fierce and competing pressures.

This book is concerned with whether environmental impact assessment is an effective vehicle for protecting the Australian environment when major projects are in play. It scrutinises a major development in each State and territory and shows what happened and why things happened, which processes worked and which didn’t, and the roles of the different layers of government

The case studies include the headline projects such as the Gunns Mill in the Tamar Valley, Queensland’s Traveston Dam, the dredging of Port Phillip Bay, the expansion of the McArthur River mine and the Gorgon Gas development of Barrow Island. The authors are leading academics and practitioners from around Australia.