Now for the tricky choices
In the months ahead, it may seem to the Government that dealing with the health side of Covid-19 was the easy bit. As it seeks to stimulate the economy to keep unemployment under 10 per cent, it will have to negotiate the minefield of political survival, job creation, climate change and environmental protection. Same old, same old, except that much more is now at stake as the country tries to recover from the pandemic.
It will face many calls like the rather forlorn letter from seven West Coast leaders this week seeking support for projects like the Te Kuha coal mine and the Waitaha hydro scheme. These projects, on conservation land, don’t stand a chance, but others in similarly hard-hit areas will create more difficult dilemmas.
Various groups are already worried about government plans to fast-track selected projects by allowing them to bypass the Resource Management Act. Under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Bill, approved projects will be referred to an expert panel, headed by an Environment Court judge, to receive consent. Applicants provide less information than in a typical RMA process and won’t need to notify the public. The environment minister can direct that certain groups such as iwi and environment organisations be consulted, although the timing is tight.
Organisations such as Forest & Bird worry that the legislation contains no environmental bottom lines, fails to provide for decision-making transparency, and gives ministers extraordinary powers. The Climate Change Commission is concerned fast-tracking could damage the country’s emissions-reduction goals.
To be fair, the Government has made some moves to promote green jobs. Through initiatives specifically in response to Covid-19, $1.1 billion will go to create 11,000 jobs focused on the environment. The largest chunk will see $433 million for regional environmental projects expected to create 4000 jobs over five years.
At the same time the Government has refused to delay new regulations designed to clean up the country’s waterways and wetlands. The primary sector will get a $700m boost to ease the way. The measures include stock exclusion from waterways, mandatory farm plans, and all new intensive farming operations requiring a resource consent. However, it decided not to implement a national bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen and reduced a proposed five-metre setback from waterways to three.
Many of the initiatives to create jobs will take place outside the main cities, where unemployment will be worse. Climate-friendly stimulus measures such as worker retraining, clean energy and electric vehicles look good on paper but don’t have the job-rich appeal of shovel-ready projects. There might be potential to align economic growth with the push towards net zero emissions, but potential is the operative word.
With the Government’s environmental credentials still intact, albeit a little frayed, some tough decisions lie ahead. Climate Change Commission chairman Rod Carr warns that if the country loses sight of climate change, ‘‘we may end up compounding today’s crisis with a future one’’.
He could have added that Covid-19 has already handed coming generations a big financial bill and, in the tricky times ahead, the Government will have to be careful to avoid giving them an environmental bill as well.
It may be that the country can have it both ways, growth at no detriment to the environment. But usually it’s a trade-off and there’s little sign of that changing yet.
Climate-friendly stimulus measures ... don’t have the jobrich appeal of shovelready projects.