Delay in removing hazardous substance
A delay in removing a hazardous substance from a Mataura warehouse is because of ‘‘logistical problems’’, Gore District Council chief executive Steve Parry says.
About 10,000 tonnes of ouvea premix, a byproduct of aluminium smelting, was being stored in the former paper mill building in Mataura when its owner, Taha Asia Pacific, went into liquidation in 2016.
The building is next to the Mataura River, and the substance was threatened by floodwaters in February last year. It gives off ammonia gas if it gets wet.
Earlier this month, it was reported that 2900 tonnes of premix had been removed from the mill building and transported to the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter at Tiwai Point.
Last week, Parry said he was unsure whether any had been removed since then.
‘‘There was a batch removed pretty early, but then it was stopped for logistical stuff,’’ he said.
The logistical issues were ‘‘something to do with container availability, I believe’’, he said.
Once those issues were sorted, 400 to 600 tonnes a week would be removed from the mill building.
‘‘There will be a lot of activity. It will be the end of May before it is all out of the building.’’
Environmental Defence Society (EDS) chief executive Gary Taylor said he was not aware of the delay in having the premix moved, but would be looking into it.
EDS spent $100,000 on legal costs to determine who was responsible for removing the ouvea premix stored in Mataura to the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter site at Tiwai Point, and to secure an agreement to get the removal of the substance fasttracked. An agreement had previously been negotiated to have the premix removed from the mill at the rate of one truckload a week, but EDS became involved after the building was threatened by floodwaters in February last year.
Taylor said it took six months of wrangling via 12 judicial settlement conferences, together with changes of the chairman and chief executive of Rio Tinto, to get an Environment Court judgment that the premix be moved to Tiwai Point.
He said the organisation was pleased that a pragmatic outcome was achieved.
‘‘The people of Mataura will be able to rest easier the next time the river floods.’’
Costs of the removal will be shared jointly between the Government and New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd.