The Government has no plans to change restrictions on considering climate change during off-shore consent hearings, despite a frustrating hearing for Dunedin submitters last week.
The three-day Environmental Protection Authority hearing related to Austrian company OMV's intention to drill an oil and gas exploration well in the Great South Basin this summer.
Submitters became frustrated as the decision-making committee was barred by the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act from considering climate change in relation to the consent.
Environment Minister David Parker said climate change was on the table as part of its review of the Resource Management Act, which is the law relating to consents on land and within 12 nautical miles of New Zealand's coast.
For the EEZ, which had jurisdiction beyond that, there were no plans for review at this stage, he said.
