Opposition to South Taranaki seabed mining proposal triples in two years - Stuff.co.nz

TTR

The 66 square kilometres off the South Taranaki coast where Trans Tasman Resources have applied to mine iron ore.

Opposition against proposed seabed mining in South Taranaki has more than tripled in just two years, a campaign group says.

The last time Trans Tasman Resources applied to mine 50 million tonnes of iron-laden sand per year from the seabed off the coast of Patea, in 2013, more than 4,680 people opposed them.

Now, after the Environmental Protection Authority's (EPA) submission period ended on Monday, Greenpeace and Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) say they have have collected more than 17,000 submissions against the mining going ahead.

MONIQUE FORD / Fairfax NZ

The application for seabed mining in Taranaki has proved controversial.

KASM chairman Phil McCabe said it was likely a record number of submissions and proved opposition had grown exponentially.

"Last time Trans Tasman Resources tried – and failed – to gain approval for a similar proposal, the EPA received more than 4,600 submissions against it – which was a record at that time," he said.

Jonathan Cameron

Kasm Chairman Phil McCabe said the 17,000 submissions was likely a record response.

"We have blown that record out of the water, proving that opposition to seabed mining has grown exponentially."

McCabe said the focus now would be on the preparing for the EPA hearing into the application - which is due to be scheduled sometime in January.

"We cannot let this proposal go ahead, as it would create a precedent for other mining proposals, not only on the North Island's West Coast, but also a proposal off Waihi Beach," he said.

GRANT MATTHEW/Fairfax NZ

Ngati Ruanui's general manager Debbie Ngarewa-Packer slammed the EPA's submission process.

Trans Tasman Resources applied to mine the same area in 2013, but was rejected by the EPA on the basis it had not done enough consultation with the community and the environmental effects of the mining were unknown.

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In the first application, just 11 people submitted in favour of the proposal.

This time around the submission period was extended twice, first due to affected iwi Ngati Ruanui objecting to the company's cultural impact assessment process.

Trans Tasman Resources/YouTube

TTR's project overview video, explaining how the mining will work.

The second extension came after KASM, Ngati Ruanui and Talley's Fisheries took the EPA to the Environment Court over a decision to allow certain sections of Trans Tasman's application to stay blacked-out.

The authority lost the battle, meaning it had to release the redacted (physically blacked-out) information and extend the submission period by another month.

Ngati Ruanui's general manager Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the fact the submission needed to be extended several times was "indicative of the total incompetence of the whole process".

"The total number of submissions against them doesn't matter, what I think is important is that there has been massive engagement," she said.

"It validates the fact that kiwis as a community are extremely concerned about this kind of activity."

Ngarewa-Packer said they were not challenging the application for "the sake of challenging".

"When they came back a second time and kept pushing it became obvious we would need to be more active and more informed," she said.

"This time around we've put a lot of man hours into understanding this application and breaking it down into understandable chunks."

A spokesperson for the EPA said it would take some time to process the submissions and "therefore cannot at this stage give any indication of submission numbers".

- Taranaki Daily News

Opposition to South Taranaki seabed mining proposal triples in two years - Stuff.co.nz

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