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2013 AusIMM NZ Branch Annual Conference
Mineral Resources, Environment & Society – Forum
EPA Chair Kerry Prendergast
Topic: How can we better sustain New Zealand mining together with
environmental responsibility and social benefits?
This question, to my mind, encapsulates the challenge and the opportunity that my
organisation has in front of it, in particular as we embark on administering the new
legislation and regulations that manage the impacts of mining activities in the
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Mining in our EEZ in a way that balances the environmental impact and the benefit of
the resource to the economy is something that the EPA will soon need to make
decisions on. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the EPA and its role in
relation to the EEZ, we have responsibility under the new EEZ Act, for considering
marine consent applications from companies looking to mine resources from the
seabed and/or to drill beneath it. Our decision making on such applications for
marine consent comes with the responsibility for striking a healthy balance between
protecting our natural environment and ensuring New Zealanders can derive
economic benefit from our natural resources.
But before I cover that in more detail it’s worth noting the scale of that piece of water
and its possibilities.
Our EEZ is the 4th largest EEZ in the world, covering a massive 3.8 million km 2 with a
maritime jurisdiction of up to 24 times the size of our land area. This accounts for
96% of our territory, is all under water, and the extent and location of resources in
the ocean and on the seabed are poorly understood.
In my role with the EPA I am very aware New Zealand depends on the quality of its
natural environment and we are justly proud of it. Equally much of the economic
growth we have enjoyed, and stand to enjoy, has and will come from using our
natural resources. In fact, as the Chair of Tourism New Zealand I am intimately
aware of the value of our natural environment to the tourism sector alone.
As New Zealanders we are proud of our unspoiled landscapes and we have an
affinity for nature and our green environment. Our ability to look at it, play in it,
access it and have those from other parts of the world study it and marvel at it, is
absolutely integral to who we are as Kiwis. These unspoiled landscapes attracted 2.6
million visitors to our shores in the 12 months from April 2012 to March 2013.
But equally, mining in the EEZ has the potential to make an important contribution to
our economy.
Today land-based mining for minerals including coal, gold, silver and iron sand
contributes to several sectors of the economy including construction, energy,
transport, agriculture and manufacturing.
According to Statistics New Zealand our mining industry (including oil and gas)
contributed $4.2 billion to GDP in 2009 and employed more than 6000 staff
(including oil and gas).
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Mining provides us with economic opportunities and helps reduce our reliance on
imported materials. Yet we need to remember that while mining will help build New
Zealand’s economy and provide local jobs, we and certainly the EPA has a
responsibility to ensure that those activities do not cause irreparable damage to the
environment and leave a lasting legacy for future generations. We are all familiar
with examples of mining that have not been sustainable such as the Tui mine which,
even until recently, 35 years after its closure, it still threatened to pollute waterways
with the heavy metals that were unearthed and left behind.
The government committed $21.5 million to the clean-up and, together with money
from the Waikato Regional Council and Matamata-Piako District Council, raised
$22.5 million in total. The clean-up project lasted 5 years and was announced as
complete earlier this year.
Nevertheless, I do think that mining can be better sustained and we can have both
the economic and social benefits it offers and a healthy and managed environment.
I think the future of sustainable mining in the EEZ and on land rests largely in the
possibilities offered by innovative new technologies and not in the mistakes of the
past.
I expect that those of you involved in industry here and globally, will lead the
innovation that helps New Zealand derive social and economic benefit from mining
while protecting the environment. And I believe that the continued development of
sophisticated technologies will assist us in gaining the real value from our minerals
sector.
Innovative new technologies designed to minimise environmental impacts need to go
hand in hand with our highly consultative regulatory regime to provide a level of
comfort for all of us that in NZ we can better sustain mining together with
environmental responsibility and social benefits.
And so to the work that my organisation does in this area in the quest to achieve this
balance of “better” sustaining mining together with environmental responsibility and
social and economic benefits.
The EEZ Act and regulations contain criteria that we must use to reach decisions
that reflect a healthy balance. This means we will have to consider the environmental
effects of mining the seabed and take into account the economic and social benefits.
To get our decisions to the best possible outcomes our role is in a very real sense as
a facilitator of dialogue between parties whose business is mining in the EEZ, those
who have interests in the EEZ, and those opposed to mining there altogether.
When we at the EPA have talked to those who have and will make applications for
consents to mine and to drill in the EEZ, we have emphasised the importance of
talking and listening.
We urge applicants to come to us before lodging applications – to talk informally with
us about their intentions, the potential impacts on the environment and about those
with existing interests in the areas affected such as Iwi, the fishing and shipping
industries and recreational groups.
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We urge them to do as much as they can to talk with those with interests, to show
evidence of understanding the implications of their proposed activity and to draw well
supported conclusions.
We emphasise this engagement so that when business people such as many of you
here today lodge an application, we can move efficiently on with the rest of the
process – that is to public notification, consideration of submissions and making
decisions.
In consent applications, we ask operators to assess the impacts of their proposed
activity. These assessments are an integral part of the application and approval
process and must tell us about who is behind the proposal, the nature of the project
and its objectives, where it is to happen, the type of natural environment there, and
the likely impacts on that environment and on those with existing interests in that
area.
Operators also need to provide information about how they aim to avoid, remedy or
mitigate adverse effects.
All of this means a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the environment
before development commences including useful data on the nature and
characteristics of that area.
In many cases it will have meant looking at previously unidentified or poorly studied
environments. One of the key things about the EEZ for example is that we know very
little about a great deal of it – either from an environmental perspective, or in terms
of the mineral resources it contains.
NZ’s marine environment is particularly rich and complex due to its extension over
30 degrees latitude (from sub-tropical to sub-Antarctic). Our position in relation to
major water-masses and current systems also contributes to our unique
environment. According to DOC, we may have as many as 65,000 species in NZ
waters and our isolation mean that many of these species may not be found
elsewhere.
Currently, just 1 percent of NZ’s marine environment has ever been surveyed. So
exploration for minerals and resources has the potential to identify sensitive
environments which must be conserved (DOC source). And undeniably those
discoveries will challenge industry but nonetheless it is a potentially positive result of
the new regime.
Over time, the applications and consent process, as well as the operations that take
place in the EEZ, will offer opportunities to learn a great deal more about the marine
environment than we currently know. And the reality is that without industry wanting
to push into that frontier the area would remain undiscovered.
I certainly believe that the EPA’s role and the processes it runs have the potential to
improve the balance between mining impacts and social and economic benefits.
Our process is all about transparency and working together to make sure that things
are done in the best possible way.
Sharing publicly, the documentation that the consent applications process requires –
mainly through the EPA website – is a key demonstration of our commitment to
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ensuring access all of the important information for all of the people interested and
involved.
In an important sense it imposes a measure of accountability on all involved in the
process so that we can all understand perspectives and views constructively
expressed, and see the evidence presented to support differing positions.
The EPA is well versed in managing and deciding issues related to environmental
effects and risk through our RMA and HSNO functions and we are looking to bring
the best of our experience to our EEZ function. But we know that we will face
challenges with managing public expectations in respect of the decisions we might
make.
We believe an open and transparent process will be beneficial to all.
An inquisitional hearing process will maximise opportunities for public input. For
instance, the public will have the opportunity to have their concerns heard directly by
the Decision Makers and to test the information presented by an applicant in their
consent application. However, an applicant will also have the advantage of
addressing these concerns raised by the public with expert evidence and testimony.
That’s what our applications process is set up to do and I believe that with the willing
cooperation and constructive participation of all parties, we can succeed.
This is not to suggest that I think we will be popular as a government agency. Our
position and our role necessarily means that often times we will be disliked equally
on both sides of a given issue.
Such is the lot of those required to try and make balanced decisions that affect those
on both sides of controversial issues – especially seabed mining.
The EPA does of course have powers to monitor operations to make sure that any
conditions we might attach to consents are adhered to. This is a new area for the
EPA and we are looking carefully at how we exercise those powers.
The key to our credibility and therefore to the credibility of our decisions is that we
are perceived as an organisation with both the expertise and the integrity to maintain
a healthy balance between protecting the environment and ensuring New
Zealanders can derive economic benefit from this country’s natural resources.
Understanding the nature and implications of Maori interests affected by mining
proposals is particularly important and the EPA has an extensive resource in-house
to assist operators in properly satisfying those requirements.
Our credibility also depends on having processes that are both efficient and
manageable for business interests, but that afford interested parties every
opportunity to have information and to participate in discussion and debate about
proposals to mine.
We are making every effort to achieve that and will certainly improve and enhance
as we go. Of course we are always open to suggestions from all interested parties
about improvements.
So to conclude, at the EPA we answer an unequivocal yes to the question posed.
We believe that the regime applied to the EEZ and to mining there will lead to better
more sustainable environmental practice around operations that can bring economic
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benefit to New Zealand. That said we are yet to decide an application so watch this
space.
Together with yourselves and many other concerned and interested parties, we are
at the beginning of a potentially exciting new era.
Thanks so much for your time and I look forward to talking with you and listening to
your thoughts.