Forest & Bird calls on the government to keep mining promise

Forest & Bird is calling on the government to honour the promise it made last year to let all New Zealanders have a say about plans to mine public conservation land - a promise that could help protect the West Coast's Denniston Plateau from an open-cast coal mine.

"So far, the government has failed to keep the promise made after it backed down on opening key conservation areas like national parks to mining," Forest & Bird Top of the South Field Officer Debs Martin says. "The government promised to give all New Zealanders a say in future plans to mine public land. But it looks like the government is breaking that promise, and will not give people the chance to have their say about the proposed 200-hectare open-cast mine on the Denniston Plateau."

When the government last year reversed its decision to open national parks to mining, it made a clear promise (* see quote below) that the public would get the right to comment on access agreements for all significant mine proposals on public land, including conservation land.

Forest & Bird has been asking Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson to keep National's word and allow public submissions on the mine that Australian-owned Bathurst Resources plans for the Denniston Plateau. So far, she has not agreed to invite public comments on the access arrangement.

The proposed mine would be the largest open-cast coal mine on public conservation land, and eventually would lead to a 50 per cent increase in New Zealand's coal production.

"If the open-cast coal mine goes ahead, many rare and threatened native plants and animals will be in serious danger, including our great spotted kiwi, South Island kaka and West Coast green gecko," Debs Martin says. "These native animals are struggling to survive, and the Denniston Plateau is a unique part of New Zealand where they are safe - for now.

"It's an anomaly that mining is the only activity on conservation land that doesn't require public notification, and the government promised to fix this last year. They should show good faith by keeping the promise made to the vast numbers of New Zealanders who last year said they wanted our most important conservation land protected from mining."

Forest & Bird has proposed a 5900-hectare reserve to protect Denniston Plateau's nature and heritage.

* From the media release by Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee and Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson announcing the mining U-turn on 20 July 2010: 11. What has the government agreed to, and why?

The government has agreed in principle that significant applications to mine on public land should be publicly notified - currently no notification is required. This proposal was not raised in the discussion paper as an issue for discussion, but the government has noted public feedback on this matter and is responding accordingly.

The proposal will ensure that mining-related applications are treated in the same way as other applications for access to conservation land. The change will provide an opportunity for affected people and businesses to have their views taken into account when decisions are made about mining applications of significance.

The technical details:

To develop the open-cast coal mine, Australian-owned Bathurst Resources must

* Gain resource consent for the mine and coal-processing plant. It has received this, but Forest & Bird and others are appealing against the decision.

* Gain a concession from the Conservation Minister to build a coal-processing plant and roads. The Conservation Act covers the concession.

* Gain an access arrangement from the Conservation Minister to destroy conservation land to get access to the coal underneath. The Crown Minerals Act covers the access arrangement. The government does not need to change the Crown Minerals Act to let the public have a say in the access agreement.

© Scoop Media