Hon Gerry Brownlee
Minister of Energy and Resources

Correction and Clarification

Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee today moved to correct a statement he made yesterday in regard to mining permits on the Department of Conservation Estate issued under the previous Labour government.

“Data supplied to my office on Thursday March 25 listed mining permits issued on conservation land under Labour.

“That number was 218 permits. However, permits with only a small overlap onto conservation land, or which were directly adjacent to conservation land, were not culled out.

“The document was titled: Report showing all Granted Coal and Mining Permits from in Doc Land 1/1/1999 to 1/11/2008.

“It was on the basis of this information that I provided that number to the House and in a press statement.

“Officials have since done further work which has revealed that of the 218 permits issued under Labour, only 118 of those permits had more than a very small area on the conservation estate. The other 100 either only overlapped onto the conservation estate to a small degree or were directly adjacent to the conservation estate.

“To clarify, I have been provided with further work today which indicates 347 mining permits were issued under Labour between 1999 and 2008, of which 118 were on Department of Conservation land, 100 either overlapped onto the conservation estate to a small degree or were immediately adjacent to the conservation estate, and 129 were on other land,” Mr Brownlee said.

ENDS

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