Government doesn't want 'toxic waste site' when smelter shuts down

Friday, 11 December 2020

Deputy prime minister Grant Robertson says the Government doesn’t want a “toxic waste site” when Rio Tinto closes its aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point in Southland.

Robertson and energy minister Megan Woods were in Invercargill on Friday updating Southland stakeholders on discussions relating to the future of the smelter.

Smelter owner Rio Tinto announced in July that it would close the plant in August 2021 because of its high energy costs and the challenges it faced in the aluminium industry.

But Southland leaders have been pushing for the smelter to remain open for another three to five years, so the region’s economy has time to transition to new industries.

The Government is negotiating with Rio to see if this can happen, but no decision has yet been reached.

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**

Speaking to Stuff on Friday, Robertson said each party in the negotiations had things they wanted to achieve.

The electricity transmission costs were very important to Rio, while the remediation of the site was very important to the Government, he said.

“It’s the coming together of that, that will be the agreement.'

The Government wanted commitments around remediation, he said.

'For us we have to think about the future generations of Southlanders. We do not want a toxic waste site here, and I know the Ngai Tahu view is … they want to know how the site is going to be remediated.”

Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks said a lot of “toxic stuff” had come from the product developed at Tiwai over 50 years, and it was critical there was a good understanding of what that looked like.

“No one knows, I don’t think Rio know … and getting an understanding of what that means is quite critical so when Tiwai eventually finishes, Southland and Southlanders are not left with a big bill to clean up the site.”

It was accepted there was a lack of understanding of what remediation would require, he said.

Rio had said it would do the right thing by remediation, and he had no reason to doubt it, he added.

Robertson said the talks between the Government and Rio were ongoing and he was optimistic the smelter would stay open for three to five more years.

'With good will on all sides I believe we can.'

He was “hopeful” a decision on the plant’s future would be made before Christmas, which is what Rio has always said it wants to achieve.

An abrupt smelter exit was in no-one's interest, with planning needed for what came after the smelter closed and what the power and the site would be used for.

Woods said the Government officials were talking to the people in Southland about what came next.

There were many exciting opportunities and the Government was gathering the ideas together.

Hicks said the meeting with Robertson and Woods was constructive and he was reassured to hear they were committed to getting a result.

The Southland mayoral forum’s focus had not changed. They wanted the Tiwai exit to be managed so a transition plan could be put in place, they wanted a remediation arrangement locked in, and decisions needed to be made on the future use of the power currently used by Tiwai.

A Rio Tinto spokeswoman said there was no update to give at this time.