NEW ZEALAND ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT DIGEST   September 22, 2004             
COAL INDUSTRY

€    Coverup by Solid Energy alleged
The Southland Times 20/09/2004. Solid Energy’s claim it wanted to get out of the domestic coal market for environmental reasons was a smokescreen to hide a mining mistake, coal mining sources said yesterday. The State-owned enterprise announced this month it planned to stop supplying its premium Ohai coal to New Zealand households within five years. James Neylon, who worked in Western Southland mines for 40 years, said yesterday he believed the coal seam at Solid Energy’s new Ohai open-cast mine was too deep. “It’s such a balls-up,” Mr Neylon said.”“The cost of getting the coal out is too dear.” More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3038573a13,00.html

WIND ENERGY

€    More turbines in the wind
The Manawatu Evening Standard 18/09/2004. Another 104 wind turbines are planned for the Manawatu skyline.  A resource consent application has been lodged for region’s third electricity wind farm. Christchurch-based New Zealand Windfarms proposes the Te Rere Hau windfarm, consisting of 104 turbines of its own (Windflow Technologies), will jointly produce 52 megawatts (MW) of power. It is planned to erect them on land to the south of TrustPower’s existing Tararua Windfarm and accessed from North Range Road, off the Pahiatua Track.  More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/manawatustandard/0,2106,3038178a6003,00.html 

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

€    Fonterra finds whey to run car
The Waikato Times 16/09/2004. While oil companies busily prospect off both sides of the North Island, dairy giant Fonterra’s search for fuel is going a different way. Or should that be – whey? Fonterra is running a car partly on ethanol produced from whey left behind during the manufacture of casein. The experiment began after it struck a deal with petrol company Gull Petroleum to produce E10 – a fuel containing 10 per cent ethanol. More…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3035992a11,00.html

ENERGY INDUSTRY

€    Judge gets sides in Vector row talking
The New Zealand Herald 20/09/2004. A judge mediating in a bitter dispute over a proposal to privatise the Auckland power lines company Vector appears to have got the two factions talking.  The Auckland Energy Consumer Trust met at the weekend. Chairman Warren Kyd would not reveal the outcome, saying it was commercially confidential and subject to a court suppression order. But Kyd, who supports privatising Vector, said all trustees attended and the meeting was “amiable.”   More… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3592667&thesection=business&thesubsection=energy&thesecondsubsection=electricity&thetickercode=

€    Contact Energy admits misleading customers - Commission
NZPA  14/09/2004. Contact Energy is to make a $30,000 donation to Citizens’ Advice Bureaux after admitting it
misled customers about the reason for electricity price changes earlier this year, the Commerce Commission said today.  Between February and May 2004, Contact and its wholly-owned subsidiary Empower had sent out more than 250,000 notifications to its customers explaining price changes that would affect their electricity bills. An investigation had established that about 8250 customers had been advised that changes in their electricity bills were due wholly or in part to increases in the network charges for use of electricity lines when in fact the lines charges had decreased, the commission said in a statement today. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3033881a10,00.html

€    Origin bids in low for Contact
The Melbourne Herald Sun  14/09/2004. Origin Energy has bid for the remainder of New Zealand’s Contact Energy, but at far below the market price. In July Origin, which is Australia’s second ranking energy retailer, won an international tender to buy Edison Mission Energy’s 51.2% interest in Contact, which is NZ’s biggest publicly owned utility. The price was $NZ1.675 billion or $NZ5.67 a share which compared with Contact’s closing price on July 20 of $5.94. At the time, Origin said that once it had received NZ regulatory approval for the deal it would, in accordance with the NZ Takeovers Code, bid for the remaining issued share capital of Contact at the same price it paid to Edison. More… http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10761381%5E462,00.html

MINING

€    Candidates asked to sign mining pledge
The Hauraki Herald 14/09/2004. Potential Thames Coromandel district councillors are being urged to pledge to ban mining from the Coromandel. The Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki has written to each council and mayoral candidate to gauge their views on mining ahead of voting. It says it wants candidates to pledge to support a reversal of the change in council policy on the mining classification in the Proposed District Plan. Candidates are also asked to support TCDC’s appeal against the Environment Court decision and the classification of mining as a prohibited activity. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3033701a7693,00.html

POLLUTION

€    Move to clean streams complete
The Dominion Post 16/09/2004. Dairy farms once responsible for adding to Wairarapa’s waterway pollution have stopped dumping waste into the region’s streams. The last dairy farm discharging effluent into a stream in the area stopped doing so last month. Ten years ago, 66 dairy farms had resource consent to discharge treated effluent into waterways, but pressure mounted for practices to change. Greater Wellington regional council encouraged farmers to change to land-based waste-dumping systems as each consent came up for renewal. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3035956a3600,00.html

GLOBAL WARMING

€    World Climate Forum launched to address the greatest threat to global community
CRSwire.com London 14/09/2004. Susten8, the global network leveraging innovation, entrepreneurship and investment for sustainability is inviting government, business, scientific and academic leaders to address and solve climate change issues at its inaugural World Climate Forum (WCF), to be launched in London on September 27th 2004 at ‘Climate Change Innovators’ event. Following extreme weather patterns, government, scientific and academic research reports, and rising interest from the business media , the World Climate Forum comes at a time when many people, across sectors and industries, see climate change as an opportunity for delivering economic prosperity, social responsibility and environmental sustainability. More … http://www.csrwire.com/article.cgi/3016.html

€    Hurricanes, global warming and scientists: A volatile stew
The National Business Review 17/09/2004. Pick two scientists, any two scientists with strong climatology credentials, and ask whether global warming has anything to do with the recent onslaught of hurricanes and typhoons. There’s no doubt which side the media is on – almost every story about global warming and hurricanes available in searches of Google News carries a headline making the link, even when the stories themselves contain contradictory evidence. But the scientists themselves tend to have polarised theories. In fact, while some groups suggest that warmer oceans are more likely to spawn hurricanes (or, at least, spawn stronger ones), others say exactly the opposite.  More… http://www.nbr.co.nz/default.asp

CONSERVATION

€    NZ greenshell mussels score tops with UU ocean conservationists
   Scoop.co.nz 17/09/2004. The US based Blue Ocean Institute has listed New Zealand Greenshell mussels at the top of their ocean friendly seafood guide this month. Greenshell mussels, gained a score of 3.45 out of 4.0 following a rigorous evaluation by the institute’s leading environmental scientists. Five key criteria were used such as operational risks, ecological “footprint” of feed, pollution, risk to other species and effects on sensitive coastal habitats. This rating is the highest rating for any seafood listed in their guide. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0409/S00205.htm

€    Conservation concessions to be sped up for businesses
Beehive.govt.nz 20/09/2004. The Department of Conservation is aiming to halve the processing times for concessions to operate low impact business activities on public conservation land, Conservation Minister Chris Carter announced today. “Over the past 18 months, the Department of Conservation (DOC) has been reviewing how it plans for the allocation of concessions, how it processes applications for concessions, and how it monitors them,” Mr Carter said. More... http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.cfm?DocumentID=20965
 
GENETIC ENGINEERING

€    Greens launch GE-Free card campaign
Scoop.co.nz 17/09/2004. The Green Party has launched the first three cards in a series designed to give the public the opportunity keep the ‘GE-Free’ pressure on the Government and other decision-makers. The cards are available both as printed postcards and as e-cards to send electronically from the Greens’ website - www.greens.org.nz/ge. The first questions why MON863, a GE corn variety shown to cause abnormalities in rats and turned down for approval by a French scientific committee, has been cleared for human consumption in New Zealand. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0409/S00364.htm

WASTE

€    New home creates up to six tonnes of waste - study
NZPA 18/09/2004. Up to six tonnes of waste is generated during the building of an average three-bedroom home, a study of construction practices in Tauranga has found. The study, commissioned by the Tauranga City Council and Environment Bay of Plenty, has raised concerns with environmental groups about the amount of waste created by the construction industry. Paula Inglis, of the Environmental Education for Resource Sustainability Trust (EERST), said the findings highlighted just how much waste could be saved through the building process. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3037236a11,00.html

WATER MANAGEMENT

€    Hint of water change
The Press 20/09/2004. The Government has given its
clearest indication yet that it may soon move to change the “first come, first served” principle for water allocation in Canterbury. Speaking to the Living Rivers seminar held by Fish and Game in Timaru at the weekend, Agriculture and Trade Minister Jim Sutton said with increasing competition for water, a system was required that balanced demand. “What is required is a water allocation system that takes account of not only adverse impacts on the environment, but includes a framework that manages for the whole range of values that are important. For me, that includes some mechanism other than that of `first come, first served’.”  
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/0,2106,3038492a6530,00.html

BIOSECURITY

€    Alan Oxley: Biosafety pact threatens future of food exports
The New Zealand Herald 20/09/2004. It’s dangerous in the Antipodes. We are so far from anywhere that we face the risk of dropping out of the global mainstream and, even worse, deluding ourselves to think that it is a plus to do so. Wellington has just reminded us of this hazard by announcing it will ratify the Cartegena Biosafety Protocol. What does this achieve? The agreement is a protocol to the Convention on Biodiversity. It requires parties to report to a central repository when the export is planned of a product which is a “living modified organism.”
More…  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=3592637&reportID=962596

WATER

€    High nitrates around Tinwald confirmed
IRN News 18/09/2004. There is confirmation of earlier warnings of high nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the Tinwald area near Ashburton. Environment Canterbury has written to around 300 homes in the area updating them on its water sampling. Director or Regulation Dr Mike Freeman says it means warnings issued in April for at-risk groups remain in force.  More… http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/default.asp?id=43253 

 
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