Northland farmer Reuben Paul Hayes has been fined $20,000 in a case described by a judge as the most serious he had seen of persistent dairy effluent pollution.

(Read on …)

Waharoa dairy processor Open Country Cheese was yesterday fined a total of $55,000 in the Hamilton District Court after pleading guilty to 11 charges laid by Environment Waikato.

In 2003, the regional council had granted resource consent to Open Country to discharge up to 500 cubic metres per day of treated cheese factory wastewater to land, and to discharge associated contaminants, including odour, into the air. The wastewater was allowed to be sprayed on to pasture at a dairy farm at Waharoa by a traveling irrigator device.

(Read on …)

The largest singular fine in the history of the RMA to the end of December 2005 was an $80,000 fine for breaches of a resource consent for air discharge. This surpassed the previous highest singular fine of $55,000 in 2003.

Commenting on the record $80,000 fine for an offence of this nature, the chairman of Environment Waikato’s Regulatory Committee said the fine sends a clear message that breaches of consent conditions are viewed very seriously by the courts.