Environmental Protection Authority Loses Court Case to Keep Documents a Secret

Te Runanga o Ngati Ruanui Trust (Ngati Ruanui) welcomes the Environment Court’s decision to release environmental information which had previously been withheld by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) relating to the Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) application to mine for iron sands off the coast of Patea.

In a landmark case in front of the Environment Court this week Ngati Ruanui along with the organisation “Kiwis Against Seabed Mining” and “Talley’s Fisheries Group” successfully argued that the EPA had got it wrong in withholding information from the public.

The EPA had said that they were protecting TTRs Trade Secret however the Environment Court has concluded that the EPA had been wrong on every count in restricting publication and the public interest outweighed any grounds for non release by a wide margin. The information was deemed important in explaining the environmental impact of the potential sediment plume that would be created within a large area of the ocean off the coast of Taranaki.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Kaiarataki of Ngati Ruanui, said, “this decision proves that we were always right in requesting this information be released and the people in the community had a right to know what might happen when sediments are released in our ocean”.

“This decision also undermines our confidence in the advice and decisions being made by the EPA and brings the whole process about this application of TTR into disrepute” said Debbie.

Debbie said, “our own official information request has revealed that TTR and EPA had a very close relationship which has undermined the neutral position that a Government Ministry is expected to take in such matters as this. The EPA have been captured by TTR and just agreed with them rather than considering the law they are meant to enact”. The Environment Court has proved us right and the EPA wrong!

Ngati Ruanui is shocked by the actions to date of the EPA and is urgently requesting that the whole application by TTR be put on hold until Ngati Ruanui and the public at large can have confidence the EPA knows what it is doing and is not a biased organisation.

Ngati Ruanui intends to seek an urgent meeting with the EPA and asks that they explain themselves to the people of Ngati Ruanui.

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