Greenpeace is warning that the Fast Track Approvals bill will continue to be resisted when it becomes law after passing its third reading in parliament yesterday.

Greenpeace seabed mining campaigner Juressa Lee says: "Twenty thousand people marched against the Fast Track bill in Auckland showing the strength of opposition to this shoddy law.

"The Fast Track will destroy existing protections for freshwater, forests, oceans and wildlife. It ignores the concerns of local communities, and will allow zombie projects which have been previously rejected to come back to life."

Those zombie projects include Trans-Tasman Resources’ planned seabed mining project in the South Taranaki Bight.

Juressa Lee says: "Time and again TTR failed to provide adequate evidence that seabed mining would not devastate rare and precious marine life in the South Taranaki Bight. Instead, TTR is trying to get its failed project via a law which is anti-democratic, non-transparent and not subject to the usual environmental checks and balances. .

"For more than 10 years, Greenpeace, local iwi and the Taranaki community have opposed TTR. That resistance continues as demonstrated by the recent occupation of mining lobbyist Straterra’s Wellington offices, and the shutting down of the Manuka Resources annual general meeting in Sydney a few weeks ago."

TTR is not the only so-called ‘zombie project’ on the fast-track list. Large scale irrigation projects, including the highly controversial Ruataniwha and Klondyke dams, have also been included.

Greenpeace campaigner Amanda Larsson says: "Everybody has the right to clean drinking water and swimmable rivers, which is why local communities have successfully resisted large irrigation projects to date.

"With this fast-track law, Luxon’s Government is trying to overrule community and court decisions in order to ram through dairy expansion, which will inevitably lead to more polluted rivers and drinking water, including in rural schools.

"Nobody wants their kids drinking polluted water. Any company who thinks they’ll get an easy ride with the fast-track is underestimating what people will do to protect their kids’ health."

More than 21,000 people have signed on to an open letter promising to resist fast-tracked projects if the companies go ahead with using the process, and Greenpeace is warning that this resistance will continue.

"No one wants this bill to go ahead," says Lee. "Companies planning to use the fast-track process should think again."

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