Statement by KASM Chairperson, Cindy Baxter "The government's fast-track bill is about to make a mockery of EPA hearings set to start next
week to reconsider Trans Tasman Resources' bid to dig up 50 million tonnes of the South Taranaki Bight seabed per year, for over 30 years, and dump 95% back into the sea.Â
The consent to seabed mine in the South Taranaki Bight has been quashed three times, including by the Supreme Court, which sent it back to the EPA. Under its instructions, the company must now prove no material harm, otherwise it won't be given consent. TTR has done very little new scientific analysis since its first application in 2013, instead putting its efforts into lobbying and litigation.
It's not just the coastal communities we represent who would be shocked if the government were to fast-track this project, it's also iwi, and some of the country's biggest fishing companies who have spent the past ten years opposing this destructive industry.Â
On top of that, TTR is now wholly-owned by an Australian company, so there would be very little profit from this industry coming back into the country.
We'd be giving a green light to trashing the South Taranaki Bight, home to blue whales, maui and hector's dolphins, little penguins and corals, to hand cash over to a foreign-owned company." Â
A pygmy blue whale feeding in the South Taranaki Bight, which has its own distinct population of blue whales.