The Department of Conservation is appealing the decision granting resource consent for Meridian’s hydro project on the Mokihinui River.

DOC filed papers with the Environment Court today, saying the decision did not adequately address the department’s concerns over the 80m-high hydro dam to be built on the West Coast river. (Read on …)

In brief:

• In November 2009, the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management released its Annual Compliance Plan.
• The Plan nominates mine water management and financial assurances as two key areas of focus.
• Coupled with prosecution proceedings that have recently commenced against five Queensland mines, this shows that the mining industry has entered a period of increased regulatory scrutiny.

The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) recently released its Annual Compliance Plan 2009-2010. The Plan identifies priority compliance activities that will be targeted over its 12-month implementation period. (Read on …)

A Westland farming company has been hit with one of the largest fines in New Zealand for dirty dairying.

Potae and van der Poel Ltd was stung $120,000 on Tuesday for dairy effluent discharges, as a result of a West Coast Regional Council prosecution in court in Christchurch.

It is the largest fine given to a West Coast farmer. (Read on …)

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, says the public could face more costly cleanups in the future.

At present, there are 111 mining licences granted before the Resource Management Act and changes to the Crown Minerals Act. Dr Wright said they had not been subject to the stringent environmental conditions that would be applied today.

At present, 30 per cent of the land covered by mining licences or permits fell into that category of licences issued before 1991. (Read on …)

Cleaning up the abandoned Tui mine in Waikato will cost taxpayers $17.4 million – almost double the initial budget – amid fears cyanide is buried at the site.

The project’s leader says the risk of the mine’s dam giving way and Te Aroha township being flooded with dangerous waste have increased.

The Tui mine at Mt Te Aroha was abandoned in 1973 when the market for its ore dried up because of its high mercury content.

Heavy metals are leaching from the tailings dam into the Tui and Tunakohoia streams, and the dam could collapse – leaving an estimated 100,000 cubic metres of contaminated waste threatening Te Aroha. (Read on …)

18 Mar 2010 – One of New Zealand’s largest forestry management consultancies, PF Olsen Limited, was this week fined $80,000 in the Tauranga District Court, for two offences under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). This is the largest fine awarded for any prosecution undertaken by Environment Bay of Plenty for RMA breaches.

Both charges relate to the same event: the collapse of several piles of logging debris in the Waiōtahe Forest near Ōpōtiki, following three days of heavy rain in April 2008. The collapse of these piles released larges amount of sediment and logging debris into nearby valleys and streams, causing significant effects to several waterways. (Read on …)