The companies behind the $100 million The Rees Hotel and Luxury Apartments have been ordered to pay more than $19,000 to the Queenstown Lakes District Council for allowing workers and contractors to park off site during construction of the development.

In a decision by Judge Jon Jackson dated November 11, SMG Properties Ltd and Beech Cove Properties Ltd were ordered to pay $19,505.54 to the council in two sets of related proceedings for “flagrantly” disregarding the terms of their consent relating to the properties owned by Beech Cove at 275-395 Frankton Rd. (Read on …)

THE company responsible for one of Australia’s worst oil spills could lose its offshore drilling licences if measures to shore up safety standards are not up to scratch, the government says.

The Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, has decided to review the Thai-owned gas and oil giant PTTEP’s licence to operate in Australia, after a damning report into last year’s Montara oil disaster, released yesterday, found the company failed ”basic oilfield practice 101”, resulting in a 74-day spill, spewing 29,600 barrels of oil into the Timor Sea.

The report into the disaster found a cement barrier in the Montara wellhead failed due to shoddy installation by PTTEP. (Read on …)

Environmentalists say tougher regulation is needed after recent figures showing a nationwide increase in non-compliance from dairy farmers.

The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord 2008-09 snapshot report released yesterday revealed a 60 per cent rate of compliance for dairy effluent consents nationwide, down from 64 per cent for 2007-08.

In the Canterbury region, the compliance rate was 43 per cent – down from 46 per cent the previous year.

The accord was an agreement signed between Fonterra, Ministry for the Environment, Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry and Local Government New Zealand in 2003. It set goals for dairy farmers for excluding cattle from streams, developing nutrient budgets and fencing of wetlands. It also set a target for 100 per cent compliance. (Read on …)

A Rangiora company, Cresslands Farms Ltd, has been fined $7000 after pleading guilty to discharging dairy shed effluent onto land which may have entered water. The case was heard in the Christchurch District Court on September 1, 2010.

Environment Canterbury brought the charge against the company after an inspection of the farm found that effluent irrigated onto saturated ground had entered a nearby depression before entering a drain. Water samples taken from the drain confirmed the presence of contaminants. Environment Canterbury’s concern was the effect on groundwater and surface water quality caused by such contaminants leaching through the soil.  (Read on …)