Boundary of Mapua site.
Flourishing grass now covers seaside land
at Mapua, near Nelson, which was previously
New Zealand’s worst contaminated site –
a legacy of decades of pesticide pollution
by its former owners, the Fruitgrowers Chemical
Company (FCC).
By the middle of 2009,
it is hoped the site auditor will have assessed
the site as fit for the proposed future
recreational, residential and commercial
uses by the Mapua community.
The Ministry for the
Environment helped fund an investigation
of the site – now owned by Tasman District
Council (TDC) – and the vast majority of
the $12 million clean-up project. Following
the withdrawal of the original project manager,
the Ministry took responsibility for making
sure the project did not stall. It took
over the clean-up resource consents, and
managed the project from 2004 through to
the last soil being cleaned in 2007.
The clean-up posed significant
challenges, including the sheer amount of
contamination, and the site’s location sandwiched
between a residential area and a sensitive
marine ecosystem.
Though the clean-up has
turned a highly toxic site into a real asset
for the Mapua community, the Ministry has
been criticised for aspects of its handling
of the project. Reports by the Department
of Labour and local medical officer of health
are pending. The Ministry acknowledges there
were hiccups along the way, but these must
be expected in contaminated site projects
of this scale.
After clean-up
During clean-upThe Ministry accepts it could
have done some things better as it cleaned
up the site. A review of the Ministry’s
handling of the project by expert Australian
environmental consultant Chris Bell has
identified valuable lessons for the Ministry,
and delivered recommendations for the future
of contaminated site clean-ups in New Zealand.
Chris Bell's Report
The Ministry is grateful
for the ongoing support of the Mapua community,
and looks forward to being able to report
back in mid-2009 when the independent site
auditor has completed their work. This process
is underway.
Because of its severity,
the legacy of FCC’s pollution will always
be present to some degree, and the site
will require ongoing management and monitoring.
But New Zealand’s worst contaminated site
is now unrecognisable from the toxic eyesore
it was five years ago.
Background to the project
(excerpt from the Bell Report)
FCC opened a pesticide formulation factory
at Mapua in 1932. In 1945 the manufacture
of organochlorine pesticides began, and
in 1958, organophosphorus formulation was
introduced. By the time the FCC operations
closed down in 1988, more than a hundred
chemicals had been used and formulated on
site. While this history resulted in a complex
and heterogeneous site, it is not unusual
for such sites remediated elsewhere in the
world.
During this period,
housing was developed on the peninsula south
of the site, including on properties on
the boundaries of the site. Commercial properties
were developed to the north of the site.
After clean-up The management
of a site with these characteristics, whether
by treatment and remediation, or by containment,
is inevitably associated with significant
but manageable risks.
Tasman District Council
is the local authority which has responsibilities
under the Resource Management Act.
In the mid-90s, site
investigations were conducted, leading to
the development of a resource consent application
for a containment strategy. In 1997 a resource
consent hearing granted a consent for this
purpose. The Royal Forest and Bird Protection
Society appealed this decision, in part
on the grounds that containment was not
the preferred response. The government also
expressed its view that the preferred strategy
was remediation, not containment. In 1999
the Government decided to assist TDC with
funding, research and advice, delivered
in part by the Ministry.
After a number of technology
assessments, and field trials on the subject
soil, TDC awarded the contract to Thiess,
using the remediation technology of Environmental
Decontamination Ltd in 2001.
Thiess carried out further
site characterisation and investigations,
leading to a resource consent application
in 2003 for remedial works. Greenpeace and
the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society
appealed the conditions, and the consent
was granted with amendments in November
2003. The amendments included the establishment
of a Peer Review Panel to oversee the ‘Proof
of Performance’ of the selected remediation
technology.
In August 2004, Thiess
Services withdrew from the project and the
Ministry became the consent holder, assuming
responsibility for the project.
The last batch of contaminated
soil was treated in July 2007, and in November
2007 the resource consents expired and the
site became the responsibility of TDC.
+ More
Minister releases independent
Mapua clean up report
Nick Smith10 December,
2008 - New Environment Minister Nick Smith
today released the independent report commissioned
by the Ministry for the Environment into
its handling of the Mapua contaminated site
clean-up near Nelson.
"This report confirms
failings in the ministry's handling of the
clean-up, but most importantly provides
a clear way forward for resolving the issues
and future site clean-ups."
The chief executive,
Dr Paul Reynolds, commissioned the independent
report by Australian environmental expert
Chris Bell in response to concerns raised
by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the
Environment and the Environment Select Committee
of Parliament.
"The ministry has
accepted that mistakes were made at Mapua
and is rectifying these. The chief executive
has advised me that he accepts the report
in full and will be implementing its recommendations.
"The ministry erred
in not having good project and financial
management systems, in not complying with
the resource consent around marine sediments,
and in failing to deal effectively with
conflicts of interest.
"While these failings
were disappointing, I recognise that this
was New Zealand's most contaminated site,
was adjacent to a sensitive estuary and
residential area, and that the site is far
safer for the community and the environment
than it was.
"This report also
points to problems in the Resource Management
Act, and the ministry's role that we will
be addressing with our RMA reforms and proposed
new Environmental Protection Authority.
"The next steps
in putting right the problems of Mapua are
the validation report due very soon, the
Public Health Service report in March, the
site audit report which should be completed
by June, and the Department of Labour report.
The Environment and Local Government Select
Committee will also report back on its findings.
"I am determined
that we put matters right with the people
of Mapua, complete these necessary reports,
and learn the lessons from this for future
site clean-ups."
The full report is available at: www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/hazardous/contaminated/mapua/remediation-mapua-report
+ More
Briefing highlights
need for RMA reform
Nick Smith9 December,
2008 - A strong consensus is building around
the need for significant reform of the Resource
Management Act according to Environment
Minister Nick Smith.
"This briefing
to incoming ministers from the natural resource
sector's ministries and departments usefully
highlights the critical natural resource
issues for New Zealand and reinforces the
need for the new government's programme
of RMA reform.
"It is very significant
that these ten agencies have recognised
that there are practical problems under
the current Act that are not meeting either
New Zealand's economic or environmental
needs.
"This is a significant
change from previous years when officials
vigorously defended the existing Act and
dismissed calls for change.
"We welcome this
constructive advice. We have similar views
about the extent of reform required, the
need for legislative as well as other policy
improvements, and the real need for greater
central government direction.
"The briefings
bode well for the RMA reform process. We
have an ambitious programme to translate
these sound sentiments into effective reform."
Dr Smith said the Government
would announce before the end of the week
the RMA Advisory Group provided for in the
National / Act confidence and supply agreement.
