October 18, 2016
Black out hinders iwi response to sea mining
A south Taranaki iwi is welcoming an extension to the time it has to lodge submissions against iron sand mining off its coast.
Debbie Ngarewa Packer from Ngati Ruanui says they originally had just 20 days to respond to the application from Trans Tasman Resources, but the Environment Protection Agency just doubled that.
She says there are thousands of pages to read through, and the Australian company has refused to share any scientific detail about how it plans to extract millions of tons of waste and what impact the spoil and sediment will have on the marine and coastal environment
"As it got closer and closer to the date we got to realise actually it's never going to come. We are never going to fully consult or understand this process and to be honest, our fears were confirmed when the application came out and there were hundreds of pages that were completely blacked out," she says.
Debbie Ngarewa Packer says Ngati Ruanui is a reasonable iwi, and it has worked in the past with the oil and dairy industries to ensure development can happen without destroying to environment.
DEBBIE NGAREWA PACKER INTERVIEW
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