Seabed mining opponents quick to savage fast-track decision

Monday, 7 October 2024

Close to 300 people protested the proposed seabed mining project in Pātea last week.

Opponents of a plan to establish a seabed mining operation in South Taranaki have been quick to condemn the Government for including the project on a list of those for fast-track consent.

The list of 149 projects to be included in the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill, which will go to Parliament's environment select committee and be reported back by mid-October, was released on Sunday.

While protesters at last week’s hīkoi against seabed mining in Pātea had repeatedly said they were expecting the project to be included in the list, the announcement still drew sharp criticism.

“It is staggering that this Government’s first foray into the untested, muddy waters of the fast-track process is to pick a project no-one here wants,” Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui Trust kaiw’aka’aere Rachel Arnott said in a statement.

The bill would allow Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) to take 50 million tonnes of iron sands each year as part of a seabed mining operation.

Backers of the project say the project will bring billions in benefits to the New Zealand economy and provide the mineral resources required to transition to low-emissions technology.

“For over a decade we have watched this company, with no genuine experience, come into New Zealand, promise the world, and literally fall down at every hurdle,” Arnott said.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui Trust kaiw’aka’aere Rachel Arnott has vowed to keep fighting against the project.

“Yet, political lobbying by TTR now threatens to turn our vibrant, thriving South Taranaki Bight into an oceanic wasteland. Do not get swept away by the hype – this proposed project will be devastating to our coastline and seabed.”

The trust’s Graham Young said the time frames given to respond to the project’s inclusion significantly curtailed the ability of iwi to engage meaningfully when it mattered the most.

“Less than four working days in which to provide a response on this complex issue is farcical and, quite frankly, insulting,” he said.

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, which has spent almost the past decade opposing the project, also slammed the Government’s decision.

Te Pati Maori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, left, and Cindy Baxter, of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, led the protest in Patea.

“It’s a sad day for Aotearoa New Zealand when an experimental industry that has been examined in detail and ultimately failed by this country’s Supreme Court gets to be rushed through with limited consideration,” the group’s chairperson, Cindy Baxter, said.

She vowed to continue the fight against the proposed project and believed they had the support of people up and down the country.

Meanwhile, the Government also included three other Taranaki projects on its fast-track list, including the Stratford Park motorsport facility.

The joint venture between the Taranaki Motorsport Facility Trust and the Stratford A&P Association will eventually cover 99 hectares and will include circuit racing, a drag strip, a car museum, gravel sprints and driver training, on land adjacent to the existing showgrounds and speedway.

It was part of the estimated $75 million Stratford Park plan that would also involve the development of equestrian facilities, along with the showgrounds and an education and concert venue, over the next decades.

The two remaining projects listed for Taranaki were Maia Properties, a 119-section housing and land development on Mangorei Rd, and the proposed Huirangi Solar Farm.