Illegal resolution passed by Horizons to "prevent blood on the streets" says councillor
Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council has been asked to confirm how many resource consents have been issued illegally in Horowhenua including to Horowhenua District Council.
The request was made by Lake Horowhenua owner and representative of the Tamarangi hapu of MuaUpoko Vivienne Taueki in response to a 21 March 2017 Environment Court decision against the regional council.
The Environment Court case won by Fish and Game Council and the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) determined the Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council [MWRC] was not giving legal effect to its own One Plan rules on intensive farming activities, the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and the Resource Management Act (RMA).
Ms Taueki, who was awarded a Horowhenua District Council mayoral civic award in November 2018 for her work maintaining ancestral lands and waterways, has also asked for a meeting with MWRC staff and councillors to discuss the adverse effects on "Muaupoko taonga such as Lake Horowhenua and the Hokio stream."
Muaupoko hold mana whenua over Lake Horowhenua and the Hokio Stream.
She wants confirmation about what resource consents have been granted to Horowhenua District Council [HDC] by MWRC using a resolution ruled by the Environment Court as, "unlawful, invalid and in contravention of the RMA."
She asked specifically for confirmation about resource consents granted to HDC for the Levin Waste Water Treatment Plant (LWWTP), Levin Landfill and the construction of a silt trap - a Lake Accord project.
The illegal resolution passed by MWRC on 25 June 2013 was rescinded almost four years later on 28 February 2017 but Environment Minister David Parker has become involved because MWRC is still not applying its own One Plan rules on discharges to land meaning hundreds of resource consents granted by MWRC are still illegal.
In a response to Ms Taueki from regional councillor John Barrow he described the appeals taken by Fish and Game Council and the EDS to the Environment Court as, "arguably destructive."
Cr Barrow said Horizons passed the "technically" illegal resolution to, "in effect, prevent the literal blood on the street that would have eventuated if council tried to force farmers into receivership."
He urged Ms Taueki and her brother Philip Taueki, also a Lake Horowhenua kaitiaki and owner, "to carefully consider your options."
A full transcript of Cr Barrows response to Ms Taueki is available as an attached document
Email March 8, 2019 from MWRC councillor John Barrow.docx Download View
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SLASH BESIDE THE TRACK UP TO TRIG
I question the wisdom and the morality of an industry which creates so much waste, waste which is also a cause of widespread and devastating damage. So, I searched the internet for potential uses of slash. It was easy to find.
I recommend a visit to nzbioforestry.co.nz. I quote from the website:
OUR SOLUTION:
NZ Bio Forestry proposes to develop a sustainable renewable forestry model that increases the economic value of the NZ- Aotearoa forestry sector, simply by integrating bio-technologies augmenting the forestry, wood manufacturing, and petrochemistry industries into one model.
Specifically, our strategy is to utilise the whole tree and convert the tree’s sugars into bioenergy, biomaterials, and biochemicals. This means using slash, off cuts, pruning, and wood waste to produce biofuel via bio pellets and biochemicals. It means optimising logs through the whole process….logging, manufacturing freighting, and refining process to serve the many Asia-Pacific markets with high-value products….not just exporting raw logs to one or two large dominant markets! (End of quote)
NZ Bio Forestry then contrasts the financial return from the present exports of raw logs with the potential return from utilising the WHOLE TREE.
In US dollars, the return from exporting logs is between $50 - $140 per log.
Using the whole tree including the slash and other waste for wood processing would return $200 - $800 per tree, and,
Using the bio-refinery process to convert the wood waste into fossil-free biochemicals would return $2,500 - $11,200 per tree.
I can’t help but conclude that our current focus on exporting logs is a pitiful failure of industry and government policy compared with the potential benefits of processing THE WHOLE TREE. And to complete the argument, this not just theory. In Scandinavia, SCA, which owns Europe’s largest private forest with 2.7 million hectares, has built a well-invested value chain that maximises the value of each individual tree and all of the forestry’s resources.
A SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS:
Wood Pellets and Chips: Slash can be collected, dried, and processed into hog fuel or wood pellets for use in industrial boilers, as a replacement for coal, to generate heat and electricity.
Biofuel Production: Research is underway to convert forest residues into marine biofuel to help decarbonize the shipping sector.
Gasification: Advanced, small-scale, on-site processing plants can turn slash into renewable energy products like bio-oil, ethanol, and hydrogen.
Biochemicals: Specialized refineries can convert woody waste into sustainable alternatives to plastics, chemicals, and industrial products.
WAKE UP Aotearoa, New Zealand!!!
🧩😏 Riddle me this, Neighbours…
I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?
Do you think you know the answer?
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