Supreme Court decision another blow for proposed West Coast coal mine
The Supreme Court decision has hammered another nail in the coffin for a proposed coal mine on the West Coast.
However, the mining company is vowing to fight on by lodging a new application to the Buller District Council and Department of Conservation.
The Buller District Council had granted resource consent in 2017 for Rangitira Developments to develop a coal mine on the top of Te Kuha, near Westport. The proposed mine included 104 hectares of council reserve land, 12ha of public conservation land and the rest would be on private land.
Forest and Bird challenged the decision and the council rescinded access, but the mining company sought clarification of the law in the High Court.
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The High Court sided with the company, but in October 2018 the Court of Appeal upheld Forest and Bird's view that the Reserves Act took precedence over the Crown Mineral Act to protect Te Kuha's special features. The mining company then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has now ruled in favour of Forest and Bird, saying the council was required to administer the reserve for water conservation and no other purpose.
It must also protect the biological and natural features of the reserve, and maintain the value of the reserve as a soil, water and forest conservation area.
Rangitira Developments spokeswoman Anne Brewster said she was very disappointed with the Supreme Court decision.
“Armed with this novel case law, Rangitira will now prepare an application seeking access to 130ha of the reserve from the Buller District Council.
”We invite Forest and Bird to settle its appeal by negotiating with us on detailed resource consent conditions, so we can get on with providing jobs, earning export dollars, and achieving a net environmental gain with extensive, offsite pest control in the district proposed as a condition.”
The resource consents granted in November 2017 by the Buller District Council and the West Coast Regional Council are under appeal by Forest and Bird to the Environment Court. A hearing date has not yet been set.
Brewster said the mine would produce 250,000 tonnes of coking coal per year for steel making, employ 58 people over 16 years and boost the West Coast economy by $33.6 million.
It had support from Buller mayor Jamie Cleine and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae, she said.
Forest and Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said the ruling had implications for the whole of New Zealand by making reserves safer from mining and was “absolutely wonderful news for nature”.
The proposed mine site was home to numerous plants and animals at risk or threatened with extinction, such as roroa/great spotted kiwi, South Island fernbird, geckos, the forest ringlet butterfly and 17 plant species including native eyebright.
“This is a pristine area – you couldn’t dig it into an opencast pit while maintaining the reserve’s natural features,” he said.
”Even if New Zealand needed new coal mines right now, the last place you should put one is kiwi habitat in an outstanding natural landscape, within view of the iconic Buller gorge.
“The mining company has suffered legal failure after legal failure – we’re calling on them to withdraw this ill-thought out and climate-damaging mine proposal once and for all.”
Earlier this month, High Court Justice Karen Clark dismissed an application for a judicial review into the Government’s decision to reject a new mine on conservation land on the West Coast.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage previously said she was "delighted" the High Court dismissed Rangitira Development’s application for a judicial review.
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