Amy Adams18 APRIL, 2013
- Environment Minister Amy Adams has today
announced that a new law to enable the comprehensive
environmental management of activities in
New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
will come into force in June.
“The EEZ Act fills an
important gap in our environmental regime
and will provide more responsible management
of New Zealand’s oceans,” Ms Adams says.
“New Zealand has one
of the biggest exclusive economic zones
in the world. Together with our continental
shelf, it is an area of ocean that is 20
times the size of our land mass, and up
until now, there has been a lack of environmental
protection for it.”
Ms Adams today outlined the next steps for
the law to come into place.
The legislation will
be brought into force by making regulations
that permit lower impact activities, subject
to conditions and based on NIWA analysis
of their likely environmental impact.
Consultation on the
content of the regulations was undertaken
last year.
The draft regulations
will classify the following activities as
permitted:
Seismic surveying
Marine scientific research
Submarine cabling
Prospecting for petroleum and minerals
Exploration for minerals
Production mining activities for petroleum
and minerals will remain discretionary.
No activities are proposed to be prohibited.
The responsibility for
the regulation of certain discharge and
dumping activities in the EEZ is currently
being transferred from the Maritime Transport
Act 1994 to the EEZ Act through the Marine
Legislation Bill currently before the House.
The Government intends
to introduce a new non-notified discretionary
classification for the EEZ regime to mirror
the options currently available under the
Maritime Transport Act for discharge and
dumping activities. This change will be
proposed by way of a SOP to the Marine Legislation
Bill.
The new classification
will provide for an appropriate level of
oversight and discretion by the Environmental
Protection Authority, while reducing compliance
costs. It will also provide a further option
for the classification of activities in
the EEZ.
It is the Government’s
intention to shortly undertake formal consultation
on discharge and dumping and petroleum exploration
drilling being classified within the new
category. If confirmed, it is anticipated
that the regulations classifying these activities
will be in place in October this year.
“I am advised that petroleum
exploration drilling generally takes place
over a period of about six weeks, so a simplified
process that retains full regulatory discretion
appears to be an appropriate response.
“It is important to
ensure the process is proportionate to the
scale of activities. However, I do consider
that full regulator discretion is warranted
and therefore it is not appropriate to classify
activities of this nature as permitted,
as industry had sought.
“The Government has
sent a clear message to companies operating
in the EEZ that New Zealanders value their
oceans. While commercial activity is welcome,
it must be on the basis that appropriate
environmental safeguards are in place.
“Under the legislation,
the Government has ensured that substantial
penalties of up to $10 million will apply
to companies that do not comply with the
regime.”
+ More
Government allocates
$550,000 to clean up hazardous waste
Amy Adams24 APRIL, 2013
- Environment Minister Amy Adams has today
announced the Government will provide $550,000
to establish a nationwide programme to safely
dispose of hazardous material.
The money from the Waste
Minimisation Fund has been awarded to Transpacific
Technical Services to collect and dispose
of hazardous material found primarily in
old electrical equipment.
The hazardous material,
known as Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs),
was previously used in products such as
electrical transformers, ballasts and heat
transfer capacitors.
The potential harm of
PCBs was unknown when they were initially
used in products. Since 2004 the manufacture,
import or use of PCBs has been prohibited
in New Zealand, however there is legacy
waste that still needs to be collected and
disposed of in a safe way.
Ms Adams made the funding
announcement during a visit to Transpacific
in Auckland today.
“The material can be
harmful if it finds its way into the waste
stream, so it is important that any hazardous
material is dealt with in a safe and environmentally-sound
way,” Ms Adams says.
“We do not want to see
this material being buried. That does not
deal with the problem; it just increases
the potential for future environmental and
health risks.”
Transpacific, which
will collect 12 tonnes of PCBs over the
next two years, will launch a publicity
campaign advertising the free collection
and disposal service.
The campaign will include
particular promotion to the electrical industry,
as electricians often encounter PCBs during
lighting upgrades, and to rural landowners
to discourage on-farm dumping.
The waste collected
by Transpacific will be sent to a hazardous
waste facility in France, as there are currently
no suitable facilities in New Zealand.
Transpacific received
$330,000 from the Waste Minimisation Fund
in 2011 to run a similar service, collecting
and disposing of eight tonnes of PCBs.
The Government’s Waste
Minimisation Fund provides financial support
to projects which reduce harm to the environment
and provide environmental, social, economic
and cultural benefits.
Money for the fund comes
from a levy charged on waste disposed of
at landfills.
To date, the Government
has allocated $43.3 million in funding for
83 projects through the fund.
