‘Activism’ fears raised by firm behind Te Awamutu waste-to-energy plant plans

Tuesday, 7 May 2024

Councils may not be the ones to decide if the waste to energy plant proposed for Te Awamutu, inset, goes ahead. It’s proposed for the Racecourse Road area.

A decision on a $200m Te Awamutu waste-to-energy plant is of “national significance” and shouldn’t be made by local councils, according to the Environmental Protection Authority.

The proposal should instead be sent to a board of inquiry or the Environment Court, according to advice to Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds.

The proposed project involves trucking about 480 tonnes of rubbish a day to Racecourse Road, incinerating it and generating electricity from the steam.

There’s been vocal opposition and Global Contracting Solutions (GCS), the company behind the plan, is concerned about “the influence of publicity or activism”.

A 40-page advice document from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to Simmonds said the proposal “may affect or be relevant to any international obligations that New Zealand has to the global environment”.

It also notes “high interest to mana whenua” and “Treaty related issues”, referring to to obligations under the RMA to take into Treaty principles into account.

A diagram of how the proposed waste-to-energy plant would operate.

“The Te Awamutu site is on the northern bank of the Mangapiko Stream, which is a tributary of the Waipā and Waikato Rivers,” the report said.

“Accordingly, the proposal is likely to be significant in the context of Treaty settlements and Te Ture Whaimana given that it involves land uses and discharges of contaminants to air and water in proximity to a tributary of the Waipā and Waikato rivers.”

The document also outlines how the proposed site would accept approximately 166,525 tonnes annually of refuse from Waikato and others regions containing 45-50% municipal solid waste, 20% plastic, 20% tyres and 10% car flock - material used in car glove boxes, head linings and door trim.

“For a sense of scale, 308,885 tonnes of class 1 landfill waste was disposed of in the Waikato region in 2020, compared with the 166,525 tonnes of refuse that will enter the site annually.”

Adam Fletcher, project director Global Contracting Services. GCS said they favoured the Environment Court but noted a board of inquiry would also be less likely to see ‘activism’ influence decision making.

The EPA also advisedthat Transpower claimed electricity use in Waikato is set to grow by approximately 32% over the next 15 years, “and that the proposed facility would help defer the timing of future transmission grid upgrades”.

The EPA did not recommend a preference for the matter to go before a board of inquiry or the Environment Court, but noted iwi, Waikato Regional Council and Waipā District Council preferred the former.

“The Iwi interests have a strong preference that the matters be referred to a Board of Iniqury as their Treaty settlements enable them to nominate one board member (in the case of a three-person board) or two members (in the case of a five-person board).”

Letters from Te Arataura Te Whakakitenga O Waikato chair Tukoroirangi Morgan and Te Nehenehenui chief executive Samuel Mikaere, included in the advice document, also back the board route.

Te Arataura Te Whakakitenga O Waikato chair Tukoroirangi Morgan said a board of inquiry would be a ‘more user friendly forum for submitter participation’.

“Referral to a BOI provides for appointment of decision makers that have a grounding in the River Settlements and River Settlements Act, to properly inform those decision making factors,” said Morgan.

“It also provides a more user friendly forum for submitter participation at first instance than the Environment Court, where legal representation is more common.”

The company behind the plans, Global Contracting Solutions, favours the Environment Court, however.

“It is difficult to gauge whether there has actually been widespread public concern or widespread interest about the actual or likely effects on the environment, when there has been a highly publicised campaign to make statements about the proposal and to generate responses,” it said.

Some submissions came from people “very remote” from Te Awamutu, GCS said, and the company had seen a Waikato Regional Council report that presented “a negative view on energy from waste plants generally”, raising questions of objectivity.

GCS preferred to have the Environment Court decide but said a board of inquiry would also be appropriate “as the influence of publicity or activism is less likely to be a prominent factor in the decision making”.

There’s no set timeframe for the minister’s decision, Waipā District Council said.