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Resource Management Act changes favour national benefits

More reaction to help big bad projects

10 June 2004

The government plans to include a national interest clause in the Resource Management Act (RMA) to favour big projects.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen told a business group that national benefits of projects should be weighed against local costs.  He hopes to introduce a bill in Parliament in September to amend the Act.

He said "There is no need for the act to be silent on such matters, and I am confident we can find a way of expressing some straightforward principles in this regard".  This is Labour's answer to helping big projects that receive widespread public opposition, without gutting the RMA, as National and Act want.

The Greens Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the national interest clauses could be a big threat to the environment and public participation.  "It means Project Aquas rather than 10 wind plants spread around the country serving the same purpose ... it means we will get bigger motorways carved through cities, rather than better public transport" she said.

Resource Management Act public objection is threatened

Reaction to scrapping Project Aqua

9 April 2004

When Project Aqua, the proposed $1.2 billion hydroelectric canal diversion of the Waitaki River in North Otago, was scrapped by Meridian Energy, several reasons were cited for its failure, including problems with water rights, property acquisition, and anticipated difficulty with obtaining Resource Management Act consent.

With disregard to the many problems that Project Aqua was facing, business groups and opposition government have jumped on the opportunity to blame the RMA process for large projects not getting approved.

The RMA comes under fire from every direction - development interests complain it is too costly, takes too long, and is vulnerable to frivolous objection - environmental groups claim it is too oriented towards mitigating differences to avoid disapproval.  In the case of Project Aqua, the threat of extensive RMA submissions apparently served opposition groups well.

Criticism of the RMA comes again after changes to the Act last year, designed to speed up the process.  And now again, the Associate Minister for the Environment, David Benson-Pope, is reviewing the process.

Limited notification was introduced last year for projects with limited effects.  Now, business groups are calling for objectors to be limited to only those who are directly impacted.  Proponents of uncontrolled development see no reason why someone in Auckland or Waikikamookau should be able to object to a project in Waitaki, unless they have a direct commercial or property ownership interest.

All citizens must retain the right to object to a significant development project.

There is such a broad range of development applications under the RMA, it is impractical to apply a blanket rule that defines who is directly affected.  The difference between the impact of a garage construction is obviously vastly different than a power station.

The determination of "limited notification" is already a contentious issue, especially considering the inconsistency and the ability of some local councils managing the RMA process.

State-owned Solid Energy's proposed Huntly coal mine was fast-tracked last year, immediately after a limited notification amendment to the RMA was enacted. This is by no means a project with limited impact - a hole covering 225ha and 100 metres deep will be dug, with expected impact from contaminated runoff into the Waikato River. Only Fish and Game, Department of Conservation, 17 adjoining landowners, and Tainui iwi were notified by Environment Waikato.  The only submission was from Tainui.

Emissions from a coal-burning power plant impact more than commercial and property interests in the vicinity.  It directly affects every New Zealander, if not every world citizen, because of its impact on air quality and global warming.

It can also be argued that every citizen of New Zealand has an interest in property that is in the public domain, such as a river or Crown Land.  Every New Zealander deserved to have a say in the diversion of 72 percent of the Waitaki River's flow along a 60 km canal, since it is the country's largest braided river, eighth longest river, and the South Island's fifth largest.  The river is after all a 209 km strip of public property.