Forestry giant fined $80,000 plus costs

Forestry giant fined $80,000 plus costs

One of New Zealand’s largest forestry management consultancies, PF Olsen Limited, was this week fined $80,000 in the Tauranga District Court, for two offences under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). This is the largest fine awarded for any prosecution undertaken by Environment Bay of Plenty for RMA breaches.

Both charges relate to the same event: the collapse of several piles of logging debris in the Waiōtahe Forest near Ōpōtiki, following three days of heavy rain in April 2008. The collapse of these piles released larges amount of sediment and logging debris into nearby valleys and streams, causing significant effects to several waterways.

In sentencing, Judge Jeff Smith said it was a “very serious matter”.

“I have come to the clear conclusion that there was wilful failure by PF Olsen Limited to heed numerous warnings from the regional council about the instability of the logging debris. I am not prepared to accept it was bad luck,” he said.

Judge Smith said PF Olsen Limited was well aware of its responsibilities and obligations under the RMA and that its staff were working in an area that was “extremely fragile, deeply incised and that they were experienced enough to know that slips here were inevitable”.

“The slips caused significant damage to the environment at the time. I accept that it is relatively stable at the moment but there will be an intermittent impact on the environment over the next decade,” he said.

In determining the fine amounts, Judge Smith took into account the company’s guilty pleas and the $250,000 worth of remedial work that PF Olsen Limited had carried out since the breaches, and that it had also carried out a major review of its management processes when dealing with high risk sites, such as those present at Waiotahe. He did however note that through an enforcement order “this court would have required the remedial work to be carried out anyway”.

Environment Bay of Plenty Chairman John Cronin said the regional council does not take the decision to prosecute lightly. “In this case, we decided to take the path of prosecution against PF Olsen because of the seriousness of the offences,” he said.

“This was a serious issue and the fine amount appropriately reflects the seriousness of the crime. We hope that the prosecution and subsequent fines will act as a deterrent to other companies. When a company receives a resource consent then that is their contract with the community to care for our environment and mismanagement such as this case is not acceptable – it is pleasing to see that the court agrees with this view.”

Environment Bay of Plenty is continuing to work closely with forestry organisations to ensure they are aware of their responsibilities and take a proactive approach to addressing them. A technical liaison group has been established with forestry representatives to support this.

ENDS

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