Members "informed" after agreement signed
Horowhenua's ratepayers and residents association was criticised for calling a public meeting after signing a controversial Levin landfill agreement with Horowhenua District Council.
Long time ratepayer association member Bryan Ten Have said, "I feel blindsided. I take exception to being told after the event, as I can't do anything about it. Why are you now doing deals with the Council? You know Council are not to be trusted yet you signed a gagging order and in our name. I feel like I've been sold out."
At the public meeting on 17 March organised by Horowhenua District Ratepayers and Residents Association Inc (HDRRAI) Mr Ten Have was referring to gagging clauses in the agreement that prevent the five parties who have signed the agreement from speaking publicly about the landfill.
The five parties who have signed include HDRRAI, three parties to an Environment Court appeal against leachate and odour concerns at the landfill Horowhenua Environmental Kaitiaki Alliance (HEKA), Ngati Raukawa hapu Ngati Pareraukawa, Peter Everton of Everton Farm Ltd and Lakeview Farm Ltd, and appeal respondent Horowhenua District Council.
HDRRAI chair Christine Moriarty who fronted the meeting said people could not speak about landfill matters as members of the ratepayers association but could speak as individuals.
Conflict of interest questions were raised after the meeting as Ms Moriarty has a dual role as HDRRAI chair and she is also one of three lead negotiators for HEKA. Ms Moriarty is also standing as a candidate in this year’s local body elections.
HEKA's lead kaitiaki negotiator Vivienne Taueki spoke and abruptly announced her resignation from HEKA and HDRRAI.
"I have been treated as absolute crap. You,” she said referring directly to Ms Moriarty, “used to be passionate about ensuring rights. It's shameful because we are talking about the legal rights of private property owners. We thought we had someone who would have our backs," she said before walking out because she was so upset.
Ms Taueki said she was side-lined from negotiations even though she was the lead Kaitiaki negotiator representing MuaUpoko interests as the owners of the bed of Lake Horowhenua and Hokio Stream which is affected by Levin landfill.
Billy Paki of Pareraukawa said Ms Moriarty made a submission to the Manawatu-Whanganui Regional Council (MWRC) in 2016 saying the tip should close immediately which differed with her position now.
"I always listen to my grandmother and she talked to me about Lake Horowhena. She said as long as man has a rotten heart the lake will be rotten. If not pure of heart the lake and waterways will always stay rotten."
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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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