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A leading environmentalist says the Environmental Protection Agency is using inaccurate statements to justify its decision to allow an Australian company to dredge for iron sand off the south Taranaki Coast.
Cindy Baxter from Kiwis Against Seabed Mining says EPA chair Alan Freeth is now saying that after being turned down three years ago the company had presented more scientific evidence in a transparent fashion.
She says the only new evidence was some modelling based on sketchy data, which submitters had to go to the Environment Court to have released.
The company also failed to research what was living on the seabed which could be affected by mining.
"We have no idea scientifically, no data, on what is down there. If you don't have a baseline you can't start monitoring anything because you don 't know what has changed. They still hadn't done that by the time they put their (second) application in. So now the EPA has said 'It's okay, we'll give you the go-ahead and you can spend the first two years getting the data, which just doesn't make any sense at all," Ms Baxter says.
She says there has been an outpouring of shock and rage among KASM members and the group is preparing its appeal.
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