Sharna Burn

• In her current role as a Senior Environmental Scientist with Cowie Environmental Services, Sharna has assisted in addressing comments provided by the Office of the Coordinator General on an Initial Advice Statement (IAS) for a proposed silica sand mine as part of a coordinated project application process.
• Sharna is currently (since March 2024) undertaking a full-time secondment to a Petroleum and Gas company with tenements in QLD, NSW and South Australia
• In this role Sharna undertook the following tasks:
• Undertook environmental compliance assessments of proposed well sites to assess environmental factors, permits and approval requirements.
• Preparation of underground water impact reporting (UWIRS)
• Preparation of Estimated Rehabilitation Cost calculation applications including spatial data using QGIS.
• Preparation of Plan of Operation reporting.
• Used and applied spatial mapping including QGIS and other web mapping programs.

• Previous to working at Cowie Environmental Services, Sharna worked as an Environmental Officer for Brisbane City Council’s City Projects Office
• This role included managing projects from the planning and design phase, through permitting and approvals, and into construction
• Projects included stormwater infrastructure, park upgrades, road upgrades, building works and creek restoration programs

Tasks undertaken within this role included:

• Environmental due diligence assessments, auditing and reporting under Federal, State and local legislation.
• Writing and reviewing environmental management plans, erosion and sediment control plans, MRTS annexures and arboricultural impact assessments.
• Obtaining relevant environmental permits and approvals.
• Procurement of external consultants and review of specialist environmental reports (European heritage, ecology, Aboriginal cultural heritage, acid sulfate soil technical reports etc.).
• Training and mentoring new team members.
• Delivering a range of environmental products in a fast paced and dynamic environment ensuring the management of time, cost and quality to enable customer focused deliverables.

• Sharna’s first professional role was working as an environmental officer for Envirocom Australia
• This role included undertaking waste auditing, preparation of technical waste research reports, development of JSEA’s, delivery of community and school based environmental waste education, organization and management of rural waste education programs

Tasks undertaken within this role included:

• Administration, development & delivery of waste education programs for state & local government clients
• Co-ordinating the planning & delivery of technical waste research projects
• Database management
• Technical report writing
• Assisting new staff members in the development of technical skills & site-based operations
• Development of JSEAs for various projects
• Delivery of technical waste research projects; including in-field data collection, data analysis & report writing
• Waste composition assessments for various local governments
• In-field data recording
• Working safely on large, active sites
• On-site communications & problem solving.