Petition gains 3000 signatures
A petition calling on the Government to take all means possible to remove a hazardous substance from Mataura is now on its way to Wellington.
The petition has gained more than 3200 signatures since being launched by NZ First list MP Mark Patterson in Mataura three weeks ago.
Yesterday, the Sort Out The Dross action group, which had been circulating the petition, handed it over to Patterson, who will present it to the Environment Select Committee.
Action group spokesperson Laurel Turnbull said that she was pleased to have so many signatures on the petition.
‘‘We could have got a lot more signatures if we’d had more collectors, but considering everything else that is going on at the moment we are happy with what we have.’’
Collectors had gone door to door in Mataura and signatures had been collected in Gore, Wyndham and Edendale, as well as online.
Turnbull said the group would hold off holding another public meeting in Mataura until it had more news to share.
Patterson said he would present the petition to Environment Minister David Parker on the steps of Parliament, and then present it to the committee.
‘‘The petition was always a strategy to keep pressure on and let the people of the district have their say, but plan A is to keep the pressure on Rio Tinto to remove the substance from Mataura,’’ Patterson said.
The ouvea premix was left in the Mataura paper mill building when Taha Asia Pacific went into receivership in 2016.
About 9500 tonnes of premix, which produces ammonia gas if it gets wet, is stored inside the building.
At the height of the flooding in parts of eastern Southland this year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said a longterm solution needed to be found for the residents of Mataura, regarding the quick removal of the premix.
There had been fears the flood water might have entered the old mill building where the premix is stored. The old mill building is right beside the Mataura River.