Local Government New Zealand says a suggestion that there be government appointees on local bodies to tackle water pollution would require a major law change, and much less drastic action would be preferable.

The comments follow a report from the office of the Auditor-General that says regional councils are not doing enough to prevent the degradation of fresh water by dairy farms, and councillors are getting in the way of prosecutions taking place.

Environment Minister Nick Smith says the Government will consider a suggestion by the Land and Water Forum to appoint goverment representatives. (Read on …)

Environmental objections to fossil fuel extraction are mounting, with the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society and Greenpeace separately lodging appeals against coal-mining and oil exploration consents.

The Forest & Bird appeal against resource consents issued to the first opencast coal mine in Bathurst Resources’s Buller Coal Project was widely anticipated, and brings to three the number of appeals now received against the Escarpment mine project.

Unexpected was the announcement by Greenpeace that it will seek a judicial review of the oil exploration licences granted to the Brazilian oil and gas giant, Petrobras, to seek hydrocarbons in the Raukumara Basin in waters off East Cape, beyond the 12 mile nautical limit in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone. (Read on …)

Nearly 100 Otago resource consents involving effluent and odour discharge and water takes have been found to be non-compliant, with potential effects on the environment.

The Otago Regional Council’s compliance team carried out 810 audits of 718 activities and reviewed 2335 consent conditions for performance monitoring relating to 697 consents in the 12 months to June.

The audits revealed two areas of concern – water meter installation and discharge and water takes.

Environmental services manager Martin King said in a report to the council’s regulatory committee the level of compliance found with discharge and water take consents was “of concern”.

Of the 358 consents monitored, only 38.3% fully complied with their consent conditions. (Read on …)

The NSW government insists mining will be banned beneath a new 6000-hectare national park on the fringe of south-western Sydney, putting it on a collision course with BHP Billiton, which said it still plans to extract billions of dollars worth of black coal from the area.

Negotiations are continuing between the government and BHP Billiton subsidiary Illawarra Coal, which holds one of several mining leases that cover the area to become Dharawal National Park, near Campbelltown. (Read on …)