‘Activism’ fears raised by firm behind proposal
A decision on a $200m Te Awamutu waste-to-energy plant is of “national significance” and shouldn’t be made by local councils, according to the Environmental Protection Authority.
The proposal should instead be sent to a board of inquiry or the Environment Court, according to advice to Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds.
The proposed project involves trucking about 480 tonnes of rubbish a day to Racecourse Road, incinerating it and generating electricity from the steam.
There’s been vocal opposition and Global Contracting Solutions (GCS), the company behind the plan, is concerned about “the influence of publicity or activism”.
A 40-page advice document from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to Simmonds said the proposal “may affect or be relevant to any international obligations that New Zealand has to the global environment”.
It also notes “high interest to mana whenua” and “Treaty related issues”, referring to to obligations under the RMA to take into Treaty principles into account.
“The Te Awamutu site is on the northern bank of the Mangapiko Stream, which is a tributary of the Waipā and Waikato Rivers,” the report said.
The document also outlines how the proposed site would accept approximately 166,525 tonnes annually of refuse from Waikato and other regions.
“For a sense of scale, 308,885 tonnes of class 1 landfill waste was disposed of in the Waikato region in 2020, compared with the 166,525 tonnes of refuse that will enter the site annually.”
The EPA also advisedthat Transpower claimed electricity use in Waikato is set to grow by approximately 32% over the next 15 years, “and that the proposed facility would help defer the timing of future transmission grid upgrades”.
The EPA did not recommend a preference for the matter to go before a board of inquiry or the Environment Court, but noted iwi, Waikato Regional Council and Waipā District Council preferred the former.
“The Iwi interests have a strong preference that the matters be referred to a Board of Iniqury as their Treaty settlements enable them to nominate one board member (in the case of a three-person board) or two members (in the case of a five-person board).”
Letters from Te Arataura Te Whakakitenga O Waikato chair Tukoroirangi Morgan and Te Nehenehenui chief executive Samuel Mikaere, included in the advice document, also back the board route.
The company behind the plans, Global Contracting Solutions, favours the Environment Court, however.
“It is difficult to gauge whether there has actually been widespread public concern or widespread interest about the actual or likely effects on the environment, when there has been a highly publicised campaign to make statements about the proposal and to generate responses,” it said.
Some submissions came from people “very remote” from Te Awamutu, GCS said, and the company had seen a Waikato Regional Council report that presented “a negative view on energy from waste plants generally”, raising questions of objectivity.