In a letter released by Waimate District Mayor Craig Rowley yesterday, the council expressed its ‘‘collective opposition’’ to South Island Resource Recovery Ltd’s (SIRRL) Glenavy project being among the projects chosen for the yet-to-be-finalised Fast-track Approvals Bill.
‘‘Waimate District Council and the wider community holds significant concerns regarding the environmental, health and economic implications of this proposal,’’ Mr Rowley wrote.
‘‘WDC is concerned that the assessment of environmental effects is inadequate given the scale and significance of the effects on the environment.’’
Mr Rowley told the Otago Daily Times he was ‘‘optimistically hopeful’’ the government ‘‘will take some notice’’.
‘‘I think there’s a lot of unanswered questions in relation to the proposed waste-to-energy plant.
‘‘The biggest one is the lack of local input.
‘‘That’s the difficult part at this stage and it’s particularly frustrating when they said at the outset they wanted a publicly notified consent — with public input,’’ Mr Rowley said.
Mr Rowley said the district’s residents’ opposition to the plant was clear.
Among the questions was the logistical choice of the Glenavy site. It was apparently chosen due to its proximity to rail for bulk transport.
Yet the proposal now appeared to be predicated on heavy truck movements to the site, with an anticipated 10% heavy traffic increase on to local roads which would ‘‘exert significant stress’’.
‘‘The roads are packing up fast enough now — we don’t need another 100 truck movements a day,’’ Mr Rowley said.
The main concern was what was proposed had not been tested in this country, or assessed in the context of the environment, particularly for discharges to air.
The Waimate letter details specific environmental, health and economic concerns.
They include air and water pollution, the health impact on residents and other industry at Glenavy from emissions and the perceived ‘‘limited economic benefit’’ to the district with little employment.
Mr Rowley noted the council and Environment Canterbury (ECan) had previously asked the Environmental Protection Authority to ‘‘call in’’ the consent proposal for Project Kea, given their concerns.
It was subsequently ‘‘called in’’ by the former environment minister David Parker given it was so unique.
The coalition government then added it to the fast-track approvals list.
Mr Rowley said that did not help the community, which needed more information and reassurance.
In a written statement yesterday , SIRRL director Paul Taylor said it was important to note SIRRL’s original applications were accepted for processing by both the Waimate District Council and ECan.
‘‘Since the ‘call-in’ of the application by the previous minister for the environment, and the coalition government’s decision to have Project Kea proceed to the next step of the Fast Track Consent process, we have been preparing further material for consideration.
‘‘We will be back in touch with the Waimate District Council, the local community, and others as soon as there is more information to share,’’ Mr Taylor said.
