Waitaha river bend. Credit Neil Silverwood
Parliament’s Environment Committee must delay reporting back on the Fast-track Approvals Bill until it has time to properly consider the proposed projects, says Forest & Bird.
The list of projects for automatic fast tracking through Schedule 2 of the bill was only released today, months after public consultation closed.
“It’s a dark day for New Zealand democracy when the select committee tasked with assessing a law doesn’t actually get to see the whole law,” says Richard Capie General Manager of Advocacy for Forest & Bird.
Forest & Bird is sending an open letter to the Environment Committee asking that it not report back to Parliament until it has had the opportunity to receive and consider public submissions on the proposal additions to the bill.
“The missing schedule includes developments with serious and complex environmental consequences – coal mining in pristine kiwi habitat, getting rid of forest with high conservation values, and damaging ocean that is home to critically endangered blue whales and Māui dolphins,” says Mr Capie.
Some on the list are developments that Forest & Bird has spent years successfully opposing in court, essentially ‘zombie projects’. This includes the Ruataniwha dam in Hawke’s Bay and Trans-Tasman Resources’ proposal for seabed mining off the Taranaki coast. More information as well as pictures and video footage of these and other areas are available below.
“Because developments referred to or on the schedule are almost certain to go ahead, it’s absolutely critical that proper scrutiny happens now so that people can understand the ways existing environmental protections are being breached and the harm that will be caused,” says Mr Capie.
“Communities around New Zealand should be able to have a say on projects that could pollute their swimming holes, destroy the precious bush they love, or drive a native species locally extinct.
“Even with further consultation, this bill is such is a major departure from sound public policy, or reasonable environmental and conservation decision making, that ultimately Christopher Luxon just needs to put it in the bin.”
Under the bill, developments would be able to avoid community consultation, much expert scrutiny, and environmental safeguards under existing laws.
“The Fast-track Approvals Bill is the most extreme attack on nature in decades. New Zealand already has the highest proportion of threatened species in the world, and we’re in the midst of a climate and biodiversity crisis. It is the time to work towards bringing back birdsong, not starting a war on nature.”
Note
Forest & Bird was among the tens of thousands of submitters against the bill. Interest was so high that a ballot had to be used to allocate hearings by the Environment Committee. In June, widespread public opposition to the bill saw more than 20,000 people March for Nature down Auckland’s Queen Street in protest.
Specific projects on Schedule 2
Trans-Tasman Resources seabed mining:
In 2021, the Supreme Court overturned consents to mine 65 square kilometres of seabed in Taranaki, after a seven-year fight by iwi, fisheries companies and environmental groups. The area is home to 30 species of marine mammals, including some that are critically endangered, including blue whales and Māui’s dolphins. It is an important migratory corridor for humpback whales. Little blue penguins use the area, the Patea Shoals are an important natural area closer to shore, and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) found an unexpected number of reefs full of marine life alongside the targeted mining area. The mining company boss admitted the giant crawler would destroy the seabed.
The Supreme Court sent the project back to the Environmental Protection Authority, after ruling there were not enough conditions to protect the environment. But in 2024, after the Fast-track Approvals Bill was announced, Trans-Tasman Resources announced it was pulling out of the Environmental Protection Authority’s reconsideration of its application. (More information and images).
Ruataniwha:
This proposed dam would flood 22 hectares of Ruahine Forest Park, where there are rare wetlands as well as habitat for threatened species such as pekapeka long-tailed bats and kārearea NZ falcon. The proposal involved downgrading specially protected conservation land so that it could be swapped. Forest & Bird prevented the dam from going ahead in 2016, after winning a case in the Supreme Court which showed that the Conservation Act prevents ministers from revoking the protected status of conservation land, where the intrinsic values still warrant protection. The Fast-track Approvals Bill would allow any conservation land to be exchanged, including for money.
Waitaha hydro scheme (Westpower):
One of New Zealand’s last remaining wild rivers, the West Coast’s Waitaha River is threatened by a proposed hydro scheme which would use a weir to divert water through a tunnel. An outstanding and scenic area on pristine public conservation land, the area is home to 25 native bird species including kea, kākā and kārearea, plus long-tailed bats, and forest and green geckos. Forest & Bird were among the thousands of submissions against the concession application by the company, which was rejected in 2019 under the Conservation Act because of the significant impacts on the natural character of the area, the intrinsic value of the area and people's enjoyment of it. Pictures and video of the area are available here.
Oceana Gold:
OceanaGold, a multi-national mining company based in Canada and Australia, hopes to develop an underground mine under public conservation land at Wharekirauponga, north of Waihī. Conservation experts fear vibrations from the drilling will impact Archey’s frogs – one of the world's rarest and most endangered amphibians. There is also concern about the risk of subsidence and the impact of dewatering on the Wharekirauponga and Otahu rivers.
Barrytown Flats (TiGa):
The Coast Road Resilience Group and Forest & Bird gained some changes to conditions for a recent mineral sand mining consent for the Barrytown Flats on the West Coast. But TiGa's mining operation is still a significant concern for the Westland petrel, which breeds only above the Barrytown Flats. Industrial activity with nighttime lighting risks birds being distracted and crash landing. Longterm mining could have a severe cumulative impact on this very vulnerable species. The fast-track application is for a much larger 635ha area.
Bendigo-Ophir gold mine (Santana Minerals):
An enormous new hard rock gold mine is proposed in the Bendigo-Ophir region of central Otago. Santana Minerals want to mine an area that is under a post Tenure Review conservation covenant to protect landscape, biodiversity and historic values. The area, with Rock Tors, is home to rare plants, with lots of lizards and invertebrates. Full-scale mining would also involve a large tailings dam, with the risk of arsenic contamination to waterways.