Chatham Rock Phospate invited to apply under the 'Fast-Track Approvals Bill'

[Michael Szabo]

Chatham Rock Phosphate, a company which intends to mine phosphate from the seabed near the Chatham Islands, has disclosed that it has been “invited to apply” by the government to go through the proposed Fast Track Approvals Bill.

The company’s original application was rejected by the Environmental Protection Authority in 2015, which said, “the mining would cause significant and permanent adverse effects on the seabed environment. The economic benefit to New Zealand of mining the area would be modest, at best.” At the time, Forest & Bird argued the proposal could threaten feeding grounds on the Chatham Rise for five threatened seabird species in the nationally critical category.

Forest & Bird say the new fast-track bill is not about speeding up consent approvals but that it is about wholesale removal of environmental protections, discarding democratic processes, and throwing the door wide open for development that will cause significant and lasting harm to our environment.

RMA Reform Minister, Chris Bishop, one of three ministers who will hold unprecedented power to approve any development project, has written to “over 200” organisations inviting them to apply - but he won’t tell New Zealanders what their names are or how they were selected. Forest & Bird say it is now clear that some of these are organisations that have had projects turned down previously because the evidence showed that they would cause massive harm to our environment.

You can make a submission on the bill now via this link:
https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/petiti ... for-nature