About Bill McCredie
Bill is a member of our Projects group, specialising in environmental, town planning and valuation/resumption law.
Recognised as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global, 2011 Edition, Bill is described as 'client-oriented, supportive and responsive'. Bill has also been recognised in the ALB Guide: Environment Law 2009 as a Leading Lawyer in the field and 'knowledgeable and aware of current issues ...well-versed in science and... the law's practicality'. Bill is also recognised in Chambers Asia Pacific 2011-2020 for Environment & Planning.
Bill's practice involves a broad range of advisory and litigious work for clients in the property development industry, and the water, energy and resources sectors, with a particular focus on the operations and project approvals area, including:
- environmental impact assessment and planning approvals;
- environmental licensing, compliance and contamination of land and remediation programs;
- mining and extractive industry approvals;
- water licensing, entitlements and resource planning;
- greenhouse gas emission reporting requirements, renewable energy schemes and climate change issues;
- valuation, compensation and compulsory acquisition of land by governmental authorities; and
- heritage, indigenous cultural heritage and native title issues.
His specialisation in environment and planning law builds upon his university qualification in environmental science, giving him a strong grasp of policy concerns and technical issues. Bill is experienced in working with multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, engineers, planners and valuers on project teams.
Bill's recent experience includes:
- acting for Seqwater before the Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Floods 2010/2011;
- advising numerous proponents of significant projects in Queensland on the environmental approvals and impact assessment regime under Commonwealth and Queensland law, for example, Queensland Water Infrastructure for the Wyaralong dam, Xstrata Coal Queensland on the Wandoan Coal Mine, Rio Tinto Alcan on the South of the Embley bauxite project;
- advising on environmental and planning approval issues in relation to acquisitions in the CSG and LNG sector, including Total SA on its acquisition of a 20 per cent interest in the Santos/ Petronas project, and ConocoPhillips on its acquisition of a 50 per cent interest in the Australia Pacific LNG project;
- advice to various businesses affected by land resumptions for toll roads, road widening and tunnels by various Queensland and New South Wales government agencies; and advice to resuming authorities for transmission line easements and water supply infrastructure;
- advice to mining and heavy industry businesses subject to compliance notices, environmental protection orders and warning notices from the Department of Environment and Resource Management, including advising a client in relation to an investigation and subsequent prosecution by DERM for causing serious environmental harm;
- undertaking environmental compliance reviews for various smelters and refineries in Queensland; and
- acting for Burnett Water in defence of Federal Court proceedings brought under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 by a conservation group alleging non-compliance with a condition of the Commonwealth environmental approval.
Bill has been trained formally in Legal Project Management, most recently attending a full-day LPM workshop delivered by US legal project management expert Susan Raridon Lambreth. Bill's LPM expertise drives efficient legal and business outcomes for his clients.