NEW ZEALAND ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT DIGEST   October 13, 2004             


KYOTO PROTOCOL

€    Kyoto’s effects are coming to an emitter near you
The Dominion Post 07/10/2004. For something designed to save the planet you could be excused at times for thinking that the Kyoto protocol was the biggest threat to life on earth as we know it. In fact it is neither. Costs to business should, at least in the early stages, be small. And the effect on overall greenhouse gas levels will be minimal, though it is a crucially important model for future moves to cut emissions. It does open new challenges and opportunities for businesses.  More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3057284a1865,00.html

€    Exxon’s greenhouse gas levels rise as profits
The Guardian (UK) 08/10/2004. The world’s biggest oil company, ExxonMobil, has been increasing its greenhouse gas emissions after supporting President George Bush’s refusal to sign the Kyoto treaty. The Texan oil firm, which is facing a consumer boycott in Europe over its stance on climate change, is now producing more than twice the carbon dioxide pollution of a country such as Norway. Meanwhile, BP has announced a potentially massive new oil and gas find off Sakhalin Island in Russia’s far east, but the success has alarmed environmentalists.
More… http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/07/1097089494733.html

US ENVIRONMENT

€    Environment clearly divides Bush and Kerry
The San Francisco Chronicle 07/10/2004. The gulf between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry on environmental issues looms as wide as the Grand Canyon. Bush supports many voluntary measures for U.S. industry, saying that forging partnerships and offering incentives go further toward cleaning up the environment than adversarial relationships between government and business.
More… http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/10/07/MNG31950V01.DTL

WASTE MANAGEMENT

€    Landfills: Little interest from privateers
The Northern News 06/10/2004. The Far North District Council’s invitation to the private sector to establish a commercial landfill in the district has failed to attract suitable responses. In July, the council asked private companies to register an expression of interest (EOI) in establishing a commercial landfill in the district  
More … http://www.stuff.co.nz/northland/0,2106,3056263a1927,00.html

NUCLEAR WASTE

€    Bomb-grade plutonium driven across France
Reuters 08/10/2004. A heavily-guarded convoy of vehicles transporting US weapons-grade plutonium has left a plant in northern France to be driven nearly 1000km to a southeastern factory for recycling. Environmental activists are worried about the safety of the shipment which arrived in the port of Cherbourg on Wednesday after a more than two-week journey from Charleston in the United States. They fear it is vulnerable to terrorist attack.
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3057505a7693,00.html

WATER POLLUTION

€    Marae in stink over stream effluent
The Waikato Times 08/10/2004. A Waikato stream used as a source of food and drinking water, and for bathing, by hundreds of Ngati Paoa Maori is being polluted daily by dairy effluent, Maori claim.  The pollution of the stream, which borders Waiti Marae, 25km north of Morrinsville, had been ongoing for a decade, marae spokesman Tingi Manga said. It was noticed when noxious plants began growing around the banks of the Waiti Stream, he said.
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3058618a7693,00.html

AIR POLLUTION

€    Toxic burning banned to prevent dioxins
Scoop.co.nz 09/10/2004. Nationwide bans on toxic burning that releases dioxins into the air come into effect today (Oct 8), Environment Minister Marian Hobbs said. The bans have been introduced under the Resource Management Act as national environmental standards, aimed at preventing the release of dioxins and other toxics into the air. They prohibit the open burning of tyres, coated wire and oil; road seal burning (bitumen burn-off), and any landfill fires.
More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0410/S00147.htm

PLANNING ISSUES

€    Expert doubts Cape Kidnappers lodge objections
The Dominion Post 07/10/2004. Cape Kidnappers land earmarked for a luxury lodge and chalets could never be described as a dense, rich or outstanding archaeological landscape, the Environment Court has has been told.  Archaeologist Rodney Clough, who has worked in the field for 30 years, appeared as a witness for American billionaire Julian Robertson in Napier yesterday. The court is hearing evidence after three appeals lodged over Hastings District Council’s resource consent for Mr Robertson’s plans for a lodge and 24 chalets at Cape Kidnappers Station. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3057275a7693,00.html

ENERGY INDUSTRY

€    Vector: $1.3b NGC bid tipped
The New Zealand Herald 11/10/2004. Publicly owned Auckland powerlines company Vector is today expected to reveal a plan to bid as much as $1.33 billion for gas pipelines group NGC. Vector is thought to have tied up a deal over the weekend to buy a 66 per cent cornerstone shareholding from Australia’s AGL. Speculation is that it has agreed to pay $2.90 to $3.00 a share. This is less than Friday’s close of $3.06. Under stock exchange rules it will have to make the same offer to all other shareholders. More…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3599267&thesection=business&thesubsection=energy&thesecondsubsection=electricity&thetickercode=NGC

GAS INDUSTRY

€    $1 billion gasfield ‘all on’
The New Zealand Herald 09/10/2004. It’s “all on” for the $1 billion development of Taranaki’s Pohokura gas discovery. Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven yesterday announced the granting of a mining permit that allows the field’s owners to immediately enter into commercial contracts for the construction phase. Pohokura will be New Zealand’s most significant petroleum development since the now-declining Maui field came into production in 1979. More…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3598941&thesection=business&thesubsection=energy&thesecondsubsection=fossilfuels&thetickercode=

€    Open access to gas pipeline
The New Zealand Herald 06/10/2004. Operators of New Zealand’s primary gas field expect to start opening the pipeline, dedicated to carrying Maui gas, to other users by the end of this year. Maui Development has appointed gas distributor NGC to operate an open access system in the 313km pipeline between Taranaki and Huntly, site of a major power station. Limited early open access was expected by the end of this year. More…  
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3597758&thesection=business&thesubsection=energy&thesecondsubsection=fossilfuels&thetickercode=

FISHERIES

€    Mussel Industry Treated Like ‘Nuke Waste’
Scoop.co.nz 06/10/2004  The Aquaculture Reform Bill is effectively puts mussel farming in the same category as dumping radioactive waste and bans on nuclear ships, says New Zealand Mussel Industry Council Executive Officer, Rebecca Clarkson. “The Bill creates an underlying prohibition on mussel farming outside of restricted aquaculture areas that will be virtually set in concrete in regional coastal plans. The only other activity exposed to such wide scale restriction around New Zealand’s coastal area is the storage and dumping of radioactive waste.
More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0410/S00100.htm

COAL MINING

€    Pike River Coal gets go agreement from DOC
NZPA 09/10/2004. New Zealand Oil and Gas said a detailed access arrangement between Pike River Coal Company (PRCC) and the Department of Conservation had been signed yesterday for its planned West Coast coal mine. Following the conditional approval given by Conservation Minister Chris Carter on March 12, extensive discussion and negotiation on the terms and conditions of the company’s access arrangement had taken place between the Department and PRCC, NZOG said. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3058705a13,00.html

CONSERVATION

€    Concessions to carry out business on DOC land bring in $9.5m
NZPA 08/10/2004. The Department of Conservation (DOC) says it earned $9.5 million last year from concessions to operate private activities on public conservation land. DOC said in its annual report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, that the department managed about 4600 concessions. Conservation Minister Chris Carter last month said DOC was trying to halve processing times for concessions.  More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3057526a7693,00.html

€    Taupo airspace talks raise concerns for residents
NZPA  08/10/2004. A decision by the Government to try to strike a deal with Ngati Tuwharetoa to prevent the tribe charging for airspace over Lake Taupo has raised concern among Rotorua residents over a lakes deal with local tribe Te Arawa. The Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board will enter negotiations with the Government next week over its belief a 1992 settlement giving the tribe ownership of the Taupo lake bed entitles it to charge a licence fee to commercial operators using the water and airspace above it. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3058558a7693,00.html

€    Call of kokako grows louder at Mt Bruce
The Dominion Post  11/10/2004. The call of the kokako has just grown louder in the forest at Mt Bruce with another breeding pair freed into the wild. The growing population of once-endangered birds has also led to a big push by the Conservation Department and Mt Bruce Trust to drum up $100,000 a year to keep the forest area protected from predators.  More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3060217a7693,00.html

FORESTRY

€    Landcorp cuts down forests, gobbles Kyoto credits
The Independent  06/10/2004. CO2-absorbing trees good; belching farm beasts bad. That more or less was the message last year when Pete Hodgson, Convenor of the Ministerial Group on Climate Change, was promoting the contentious agricultural greenhouse gas research levy. Furious farm leaders dubbed it the “fart tax.” So how does this square with Landcorp’s purchase of 25,700 hectares of forest between Rotorua and Reparoa and its plans to convert them to farmland, mainly for dairying? More… http://www.theindependent.co.nz/story3.html

€    Weeds blamed for problems with growing native
NZPA  09/10/2004. Farm foresters wanting to plant woodlots of native trees for commercial production have been hampered by a lack of scientific information and a perception they are slow-growing, according to two Forest Research scientists working on creating commercial indigenous forests.  
More…http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3058676a7693,00.html

OIL

€    Oil ends above US$53 on supply worries
The New Zealand Herald 09/10/2004. Oil prices hit another record on Friday, trading as high as US$53.40 a barrel, on supply worries ahead of a planned oil worker strike in Nigeria and delays in post-Hurricane Ivan US output recovery efforts. US light crude settled at US$53.31 a barrel, up 64 cents, the fourth day in a row prices set all-time highs on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  More… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3599113&thesection=business&thesubsection=markets&thesecondsubsection=dailyenergy&thetickercode=

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