An Environmentally Relevant Activity (ERA) is an activity that has potential to damage or pollute the environment (air, land, water and noise).  The activity requires approval from either Council or State Government. Local councils regulate activities with only localised pollution potential.

The Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act) places a general environmental duty on all persons to protect Queensland's environment while allowing for ecologically sustainable development. It also requires Council to monitor the standard of operations in devolved ERAs.

A business that conducts any of the following activities requires an Operators Registration from Council:

• ERA 4 Poultry Farming (more than 1000 birds)
• ERA 6  Asphalt Manufacturing
• ERA 8  Chemical Storage (between 10m3 to 500m3)
• ERA 12  Plastic Product Manufacturing (50t or more of plastic products/yr; or 5t or more of foam, composite plastics or rigid fibre-reinforced plastics/yr)
• ERA 17 Abrasive Blasting - Pollution Solutions
• ERA 18  Boiler making or engineering (200t to 10000t/yr)
• ERA 19  Metal Forming (10000t or more/yr)
• ERA 20  Metal Recovery (less than 100t/day; or more than 100t/day or 10000t/yr)
• ERA 21 Motor Vehicle Workshop Operation - Pollution Solutions
• ERA 37  Printing (200t or more/yr) - Pollution Solutions
• ERA 38 Surface Coating (1t or more/year)
• ERA 43  Concrete Batching (200t or more/yr) - Pollution Solutions
• ERA 48 Wooden and Laminated Product Manufacturing (100t or more of wooden product/yr)
• ERA 49 Boat Maintenance or Repair
• ERA 61 Waste Incineration and Thermal Treatment

A full list of ERAs, including those that require approval by State Government, can be found in Schedule 2 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2008.