A board of inquiry has been set up to decide whether to allow vital consents requested by companies looking to set up large factory dairy farming operations in the South Island's Mackenzie Country.
Environmental groups, which haveraised concerns about Animal welfare issues and the fact it would involve visual degradation and huge effluent discharges in what is considered a pristine environment. have praised the decision.
The three companies want to set up 16 dairy farms, which would involve thousands of cows being housed in huge sheds permanently during winter months and temporarily during summer.
Environment Minister Nick Smith today called in three effluent discharge consents being sought by the companies.
"I have called in these discharge consents as they are nationally significant due to their scale, the fragile and iconic nature of the Mackenzie Basin environment, the importance of freshwater quality to the Government and the high level of public interest," Dr Smith said.
Effluent from the intensive farms, which could hold at capacity nearly 18,000 cows, would be equivalent to a city of 250,000 people, he said.
Dr Smith said the process had been complicated by the fact that it has had to be considered without the recent amendments to the Resource Management Act.
Animal welfare issues fell outside the jurisdiction of the RMA and the associated water take consents could not be called in as they dated back to 2004.
The board of inquiry will be chaired by Environment Court Judge Jane Borthwick and includes members Michael Bowden (water engineer), Dr Jim Cooke (scientist), Edward Ellison (Ngai Tahu) and Professor David Hamilton (lake ecologist, Waikato University).
The consent applications are from Southdown Holdings Ltd, Williamson Holdings Ltd, and Five Rivers Ltd.
Green Party environment and water quality spokesman Russell Norman said the decision was a win for environmentalists the length of the country who were opposed to the plan. "It's a great victory for all the people who have been campaigning on it," he told NZPA.
Dr Norman said locals were appalled when a land use consent relating to the proposal was processed through the Waitaki District Council without public notification. Environment Canterbury has been handling the other consents.
In terms of discharge concerns, Dr Norman said if the proposals went ahead effluent would be spread on to large tracts of land previously covered in tussock, and would seep through thin and stony soils and find its way into lakes and rivers.
Environmental Defence Society chairman Gary Taylor said he had seen some massive land use changes taking place in the Mackenzie Country, and the scale and intensity of the applications in question was a step too far.
He echoed calls by Dr Norman and the Green Party that the companies abandon their proposals and re-think the whole issue.
Mr Taylor said there needed to be a proper strategy for the Mackenzie Basin that could charter a long term future compatible with protecting the environment.
Dr Norman said he was pleased with the calibre of the board of inquiry, which will be chaired by Environment Court Judge Jane Borthwick and includes members Michael Bowden (water engineer), Dr Jim Cooke (scientist), Edward Ellison (Ngai Tahu) and Professor David Hamilton (lake ecologist, Waikato University).
The board will oversee a nation-wide submission process after the proposal is re-advertised.
