Undermining NZ’s clean, green image
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 4:17 pm – Posted by Mandy | 22 Comments
Blogger: Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell
Stockton Mine on the West Coast, Photo: Peter Lusk
Energy and Resources Minster Gerry Brownlee has his eyes on our stunning forests – those precious parts of our land that inspire the 100% Pure New Zealand tourism success story.
And Mr Brownlee is not looking to join the millions of overseas tourists and proud Kiwis who walk, kayak, fish, raft, swim, photograph and simply relax in our national parks and other conservation areas every year.
No, he is eyeing them for open-cast mines.
Walkers on the sunny shores of Abel Tasman National Park should watch out for a glimpse of house-dwarfing mining trucks between the beech trees. There’s limestone and marble to be found under these forests.
And divers at the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve could be sharing the pristine waters with barges vacuuming up the seafloor in the search for minerals.
These conservation areas are where New Zealand’s unique – and often endangered – wildlife and plants are protected for future generations.
Even if you forget about the natural values of the conservation estate, its economic value is colossal. Our biggest industry – tourism – generates more than $20 billion a year. And 1.3 million overseas tourists visited New Zealand’s main national parks in 2008, according to Ministry of Tourism figures.
Mr Brownlee has asked staff to look at the mining potential of core conservation land currently protected by Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act 1991. This land is 40 per cent of the conservation estate, and amounts to 13 per cent of New Zealand’s total land area.
Contrast the billions from tourism’s ongoing income with Mr Brownlee’s estimates of what miners will get out of the whole of New Zealand – $100 billion from low-grade, high-polluting lignite brown coal and $40 billion from other minerals. Only a small proportion of these minerals are in the 13 per cent of the country’s land areas presently protected by Schedule 4.
Landscape-scarring, open-cast mines would be needed to extract the minerals Mr Brownlee believes might be there because they would be found in such tiny concentrations.
Mr Brownlee holds up Solid Energy’s West Coast Stockton Mine as a shining example of environmentally friendly mining. Giant native land snails were moved from the site before mining started but scientists are finding that the translocated snails are not doing so well as in their natural home. Their original mountain top has been completely removed and is now a bleak moonscape, drained by polluted rivers.
Nature lovers set their sights a lot higher than Mr Brownlee, and Forest & Bird will be working hard to keep our conservation land 100% Pure.
Members should write to their local MPs and voice concerns about Brownlee’s plans, would be one of the more effective things we could all do, I imagine. I seem to remember that staff have given directions about making submissions before somewhere - can anyone help me out where we might be able to find these instructions? And a general idea about the more influential ministers to target aside from local MPs (eg ministers of mining, conservation, environment and tourism).
Makes you worry about what more bright ideas they will come up with next. John Key was saying today that mining these days gets the stuff out with “surgical precision” - yeah right!
Maybe so. But even giving him the absolute benefit of that doubt that mining itself can be done with keyhole surgery and accuracy, what about all the infrastructure? The roads to and from the mine, the trucks or rail to transport the stuff, the tailings from mine-excavation, hell, even parking and buildings for the mine-workers and whatever they get up to….that sort of stuff. Unbelievably naive!!
There is no need for hysteria and untruths to support your case. There will be no house sized trucks amongst the beech trees of coastal Nelson, or suction dredging of the sea bed around the Poor Knights. Because there are no mineral deposits in these locations, or on Ulva Island.
Brownlee is proposing an inventory to see where the might be minerals that could be mined without unduly disturbing precious environments.
Please show a little knowledge about mineral exploration and mining, otherwise your case is weakened.
The order of environmental destruction is: 1. Farming; 2. Forestry; 3. Mining.
Farming lays almost total ecologic waste to much of NZ. In forestry, at least the native understory regrows periodically. Mining creates huge value from very small areas of land that can be rehabilitated.
So much for “world heritage areas” and “reserves”. Is nothing safe from these men?
I have e-mailed Gerry Brownlee suggesting he leaves the city and gets out of his car (or taxi), e-mailed Mr Groser suggesting he gets a job doing something he knows about and has a passion for, and Mr Key suggesting a cabinet re-shuffle to put competant people into these key positions.
How can they put forward that there is such a thing as no impact mining.
I also e-mailed the Maori party to ask Pita Sharples why they haven’t come out and said something about the mining proposal. I asked them not to sell out to the almighty dollar.
Somebody needs to do a bit of homework on the economic contribution mining makes (or doesn’t) to the New Zealand economy (Maximum royalty 5% on profits or 1% of sales revenue, no GST on exports, overall tax losses, etc etc). Information should be in the public domain or discoverable under the OIA. If mining is so good, the West Coast would be the wealthiest region in the country and Waihi the wealthiest town.
The Minister of Conservation should be renamed the “Associate Minister of Economic Development.”
In my opinion, this is mainly about lignite; a sizable chunk of which is under the Waituna wetlands - a Ramsar site, so included in Schedule 2 of the Crown Minerals Act.
Let me know if you need a hand - I have some background in this field.
Rather upset to see New Zealand under the knife, just for mesly pennies to line cabnet ministers’ pocket. Perhaps if they spent some time connecting with nature and see the value of New Zealand’s native diversity, then they’d feel different, but no, show them the money and they’ll do anything for a quick buck.
My heart sank when I heard Gerry Brownley’s comments on the radio. More damage irreparable to our very precious environment. How long till our Government wakes up to the issues of our environment. More water pollution , damaging once again the most precious resource we have, as well as destroying our history and our land.
I thought conservation land was the public domain for all nz citizens to enjoy. After all DOC administers these areas on our behalf! Thus, if there are proposals to mine these areas surely the public will have to be consulted before it goes ahead. Maybe we should all turn up to Mr Brownlees’ residence with pick , spade & tractor & start “prospecting”. Of course he will have no problem with this as mining or even prospecting for that matter is not damaging to the environment, (even if it carried out with the ” Surgical Precision)” Mr Key claims. In fact lets rape nz of all its resources whilst we can & in the process wipe out a few species no one cares about. Who cares, money is far more important than retaining endemic species. Mr Gerry Brownlee you are my god!!!!
I am so disappointed with our ministers and government, I have been for a long time. All they seem to think about is money, or they might think about the environment for a minute, but then money business takes over - and takes over and damages our environment and us … but do they care?????
I am presently living over in the U.K and loving it - the place is beautiful. They put so much effort towards trying to help the environment - including other parts of Europe, and it shows. It makes me feel so ashamed, when people talk to me about N.Z been such a beautiful place - it isn’t - there is so much dirty work been done behind our backs, and more and more of it is showing every year.
What are those creatures in the Beehive purpose to be doing - did they take in much while at school, or were they the sort of kids that daydreamed a lot, because they don’t seem to be taking much realization of whats happening to our environment which we are part of, and a BIG pest of.
What a joke, finally F&B are on the correct page, they even managed to find the right book. All well and good now to try and save New Zealands “clean, green” image. What about all the damage they have already done to it by their support for the obliteration of our native species by the continued use of aerial 1080 poison???? F&B and DOC both need a reality check there are much more serious issues at hand. I am totally against the mining of our natural resources in our national parks, but this is a new issue, if its anything like the 1080 issue we will be discussing it 20 years down the track
Hi Travis. I’m glad you’ve raised this because you might be able to help me understand something that has been puzzeling me. I’ve long been curious about the common claims that DoC is destroying the environment, killing birds etc through its application of 1080. Please can you help me understand why you think DoC would knowingly do such a thing - and why would Forest and Bird support it? I simply can’t think of any reason they would have to want to kill native wildlife and damage the environment. What would their motive be?
Um, is that getting a bit off topic Karen?
Colin with your expertise maybe you could respond to John’s comments that mining has relatively low environemntal impact - it would be useful to have more information about what the impacts of mining would be.
We think that this is a stupid idea that will harm the environment. We will lose alot of our marine life and New Zealand’s clean green and natural image. Our whole class is writing to the government to persaude them to NOT go ahead with the mining and we encourage others to do the same!!!! Once they start they WONT stop!!!
Dumb idea! silly sill boy
Great idea Sarah and Zoe - hope you get a better response than that class who wrote to Michael Laws!
I went to the Green’s website and printed off a petition. I will not lie down until they come out and say “we made a huge mistake” And until they make greater protection against mining on public conservation land!
Brownlee is one of the most incompetent ministers this country has ever had to suffer. His ignorance of most things is evident evry time he opens his mouth. His latest blunder will cause years of gross environmental damage to our cherished native bush areas, some of which are unique to Aotearoa. Please don’t have a short memory when Brownlee offers himself for re-election.
Look at today’s news off the Green Room …
Looks like they’re also going to carve up Fiordland National Park, a place that attracts over half a million visitors a year….Outrageous
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/2930185/Oil-drives-plans-to-mine-Fiordland
Plans about applications to explore absolutely huge areas off the west coast of the North Island have recently come to light.
The worry is that it might affect recently formed marine protected areas for Mauis dolphin.