Mining - a changing landscape in 2010

On 22 March 2010 the government released a discussion paper containing proposals to remove 7,058 hectares of land listed under Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act 1991, which is currently protected from being accessed for mining purposes.  The paper also contains a proposal to set up a conservation fund, with the intended purpose of using the royalties from mining licences granted over Crown land to fund identified conservation projects.  The government has suggested that this will mitigate the effects of mining by creating environmental benefits elsewhere in the country.  Other proposals include the investment of approximately NZ$4m to gather information on non-Schedule 4 areas and changes to applications for access arrangements to conservation and other Crown land for mining activities.

The government also proposes changes to the consideration of mineral-related access arrangement applications, so that now the joint approval of the Minister of Energy and Resources and the land-holding Minister (here the Minister of Conservation) will be required – rather than just the land-holding Minister, as is presently the case.  This is to “take full account of the potential national significance and economic benefits of a proposal to explore or mine Crown-owned minerals”.

Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye issued a media statement on 23 March 2010 following the release of the discussion paper stating that mining on the Great Barrier Island does not stack up environmentally or economically in her opinion.  Her opposition is supported by Auckland City Mayor, John Banks.

Prime Minister John Key has stated that no open cast mining will occur on Great Barrier Island or in the Coromandel.  It remains to be seen whether mining in these areas is viable within that constraint.

Public feedback is being sought, with the submission period closing on 4 May 2010.  The public submissions will inform government on decisions to be made later in the year and we will provide further updates as this process continues.  The discussion paper can be found here.

Resource Management Act 1991 Phase II reforms - technical advisory groups

Further to our last update, the Minister for the Environment, Hon Nick Smith, has confirmed that work on Phase II of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) reforms is currently underway on the infrastructure and urban planning work streams.

Due to the complexity of the issues involving infrastructure and urban development, Cabinet has appointed urban and infrastructure technical advisory groups to work with the Ministry for the Environment and report on these issues later this year.

The Infrastructure Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) has been appointed to provide independent advice on reforming the infrastructure provisions in the RMA and related legislation.  The scope of ITAG’s work covers the review of the role and mechanism of designations, investigation of alternatives to designations on network infrastructure, and the streamlining and integrating of processes for acquisition and compensation processes under the Public Works Act 1981 and other legislation.

The Urban Technical Advisory Group (UTAG) has been appointed to provide independent advice on reforms to the urban planning and design mechanisms in the RMA and related legislation.  The UTAG will review the current tools for implementing urban planning and design, including: 

• Housing affordability / section pricing mechanisms
• Urban design panels
• Metropolitan urban limits
• Financing and funding mechanisms for infrastructure
• Spatial and structure plans.

The UTAG will also work on integrating and aligning planning statutes and mechanisms, in particular the RMA, Local Government Act 2002 and Land Transport Management Act 2003.

To ensure balanced considerations and careful deliberations, both the ITAG and the UTAG will include a panel of independent experts and representatives from key stakeholders.

Key dates are:

• ITAG report is due 31 March 2010
• UTAG report is due on 30 June 2010.

Other items of interest

Super City update

The Auckland Transition Agency (ATA) has recently released discussion documents on the proposed role of Local Boards and the proposed structure for Council Controlled Organisations.  The ATA has appointed Doug McKay as Auckland Council’s new CEO.  The Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill, which is the third bill that sets up the Auckland Council, is currently before the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee.  The Committee is due to report back to the House on 4 May 2010. 

Environment Canterbury update

On 30 March 2010 the Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, and Local Government Minister Rodney Hide announced that commissioners will be appointed to replace Environment Canterbury and will be given additional powers under proposed special legislation to address urgent problems with water management in Canterbury.  The government introduced the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill under urgency in Parliament soon after the announcement, and it is anticipated that the Bill will be passed shortly.  Dame Margaret Bazley is to be appointed as Commission Chair Designate and will be joined by a further 3 to 6 commissioners to be appointed within the next month.  The full text of the Bill can be found here.

High speed broadband for rural areas finalised

Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce stated that “the government’s rural broadband initiative will help deliver fibre connections to 97% of schools across the country and 99.7% of students”.  The initiative is expected to cost around NZ$300m, $48m of which will be funded by a direct government grant, and an additional NZ$252m will be provided from a new telecommunications development levy being set up as a part of the accompanying telecommunications service obligations reforms.

Fines for slow consents

Consultation on the penalties regime is now underway, for implementation on 1 July 2010.  To “get councils focused on providing a timely service”, the Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, proposed that local bodies failing to process resource consent applications on time should provide a discount of 25% for a consent one week late, with an additional 5% per week up to a maximum discount of 80%.

New national standards for soil contamination

A draft National Environmental Standard (NES) on assessing and managing contaminants in soil was publicly notified on 6 February 2010.  The proposed standard provides rules that restrict the way that contaminated land may be used or developed in the future.  The NES will require resource consents for some activities on contaminated or potentially contaminated land.  The public submission period closes on 19 April 2010.  The draft NES can be found here.

More information

This article is provided for general information purposes only and not as legal advice.  If you would like more specific advice on any aspect of Phase II of the RMA reforms, mining, the establishment of the new Auckland Council, or other developments discussed above, please contact a member of the Buddle Findlay team - Paul Beverley, Patrick Mulligan, Kerry Smith, Rachel Dunningham, David Allen, David Randal, Andrew Braggins, Vanessa Evitt or Cedric Carranceja.