Waste-to-energy plant fuels call
Residents want public hearing on proposal for town
Horizons understands there are some concerns about the application. Greg Bevin, council regulatory manager
Concerned residents from Feilding are urging the regional council to hold public hearings about a proposed wasteto-energy plant.
Horizons Regional Council, which covers the Manawatu¯Whanganui region, is assessing Bioplant's resource consent application for a pyrolysis operation near the town.
Using the pyrolysis method, Bioplant plans to set up plants in Feilding, Gisborne and Hokitika to burn rubbish from those centres and turn it into fuel.
Angela Baker was one of about a dozen people, some from the environmental group Zero Waste Network, who picketed the regional council office in Palmerston North last week with concerns about the Feilding plant.
Baker said she understood Horizons would soon make a decision about whether the resource consent would be publicly notified, which would mean holding hearings and giving people the chance to make submissions.
She said group members were “really concerned” about there not being public input in that decision or the whole process, “because we fear there's a danger that Horizons will make it a non-notified consent”. “That means that no one will have any input. It will be a done deal.”
If that happened, the Zero Waste Network would raise funds for a judicial review of the decision, Baker said.
Horizons said it was making a decision about whether public hearings and input were needed.
“Horizons understands there are some concerns about the application and are collecting all the information that we need to make an informed decision, which includes seeking advice from the district health board,” said Greg Bevin, the regional council's regulatory manager.
“We expect a decision on the notification in the next week or so.”
Baker said the proposed plant had gone under the radar and many Feilding residents did not know about it, despite it being on the town's doorstep on Kawakawa Rd, near the Manfeild motorsport complex.
She urged the council to hold a public meeting to inform people about the proposal.
Pyrolysis plants had a chequered record overseas and residents should not become guinea pigs, Baker said.
Massey University professor Robert McLachlan holds concerns about Bioplant's claims its plants would not produce greenhouse gases.
Information about how the plants would work should be in the public domain, he said.
“What happens with this particular consent decision is really of national importance.”
The Feilding consent could be “called in” by Environment Minister David Parker, meaning it would go straight to the Environment Court, which would hold public hearings.
Bioplant's office was contacted for comment.