Talley’s discharge permits cut
Seafood giant Talley’s has been given only three-year consents for water and air discharges at its Port Motueka factory.
After a four-day hearing and site visit in May and June this year, commissioners Sharon McGarry, Jayne Metcalfe and Dr Jim Cooke ruled on Talley’s resource consent applications for its seafood processing complex at the port. The commissioners said they wanted to send a ‘‘strong signal’’ for the company to reduce the plant’s environmental impact.
Talley’s had pushed for a 35-year consent term on a suite of permits to continue its longrunning operations at the site, where it has been based since the 1930s.
However, in a decision last week the panel granted only threeyear consents for the discharge of contaminants to the air from Talley’s fishmeal plant and from the factory wastewater into coastal waterways. Three other consents – covering discharge of truck wash water, storage of hazardous materials and occupying the coastal marine area – were granted for between 15 and 35 years.
The commissioners cited a lack of information from Talley’s regarding environmental effects, as well as the lack of an assessment on the effects on cultural values as being key reasons for their decision.
This included uncertainty over the effect of proposed plant upgrades and inadequate consideration of alternative discharge methods
‘‘We have seriously considered refusing the consent to discharge contaminants to air...however, we decided instead to grant consent for a limited term of three years,’’ the report read.
‘‘We hope that this decision will provide a strong signal to the applicant that they need to take odour effects and the duty to avoid, remedy and mitigate effects much more seriously, if they intend to continue operating the fishmeal plant in the current location.’’
Talley’s Group director Andrew Talley said the company’s main concern with the decision was the three-year term consents imposed.
‘‘We are still reviewing it but [at] first glance the conditions imposed and the plant upgrades are largely consistent with what we proposed and appear workable.
‘‘We would have preferred longer terms on the consents. The concerns about the outcome of those upgrades or even newer technology that emerges in time could have been dealt with by way of review conditions during the term.’’
Talley said the shorter term consents contemplated a faster timeline for those upgrades to occur which would include new evaporation technology, additional screening and the installation of a subtidal diffuser.
‘‘That’s not a technical issue, the technology available in this area gets better all the time and all of the upgrades at Port Motueka are either under way or will be implemented well before consent expiry.’’
Talley said the company would look closer at the decisions in the next few weeks before deciding whether to lodge an appeal in the New Year.
Retired environmental scientist Dr Mike Patrick expected Talley’s to appeal the panel’s decision but said the appropriate consent terms had been granted following a ‘‘rational, well-thought out’’ hearing process.
‘‘The panel brought a lot of good technical knowledge to the process and when you look at the submitters there was a good mix of environmental, iwi and those living at places like Jackett Island...in the end it came out as a very coherent package,’’ he said.
‘‘A few of the submitters did not want them to grant consents to discharge into the air or water at all – that was never going to happen, but what it has done is given Talley’s three years to go over how they do things.’’
In his hearing submission, Patrick acknowledged Talley’s had undertaken some wastewater treatment upgrades but suggested these required further upgrades.
The report noted that wastewater discharges were contributing approximately 41 per cent of the estimated nitrogen load to the estuary.
Jackett Island resident Gail Jewell said she was pleased with the decision. ‘‘The stuff that goes into the water out there is pretty rank at times and it’s a shame because most of the time it’s this beautiful pristine clear water and that’s really the way it should be – so anything that controls that to keep it that way and make it better can only be a positive thing.’’