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A South Taranaki iwi goes before an Environmental Protection Authority hearing at Pariroa Marae in Patea today to voice its opposition to Trans Tasman Resources getting a consent to mine for iron sand in coastal waters.
Te Runanga o Ngati Ruanui Trust chair Haimona Maruera Jnr says the Australian firm wants to turn the seafloor off Patea into a giant quarry.
He says new and untested technology that has never operated in New Zealand waters will be used.
He says the firm has been unable to give evidence the tribe’s fisheries and reefs will be unaffected.
Chief executive Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says Ngati Ruanui has developed considerable expertise in environmental management because of the role the oils and gas industry and the dairy industry play in its rohe, and it has a unique insight into unintended consequences.
She says Trans Tasman has over-promised and under-delivered to the iwi, and they have failed to show they have the financial resources to deal with any long term environmental damage.
Copyright © 2014, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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