€    Vector confirms $US275m debt issue
The New Zealand Herald 22/07/2004. Electricity lines company Vector Ltd has raised US$275 million ($434m) through a private placement of long-term debt to US institutional investors, the company said today. The issue was a mix of 8, 12 and 15 year senior, unsubordinated notes, and will be completed in September after investor due diligence and documentation. Vector Chief Financial Officer Peter Fredricson said the placement was more than three times oversubscribed, and was accepted by investors on favourable terms. More… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3579777&thesection=business&thesubsection=energy&thesecondsubsection=electricity

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

€    CNG vehicles at risk of running out of fuel
The Waikato Times 21/07/2004. Walter Crookes has driven his CNG-run 1968 Ford Falcon every day for the past 21 years. He says the engine always fires first time. However, after all these years his problem is not the car, it is the fuel – there is nowhere to fill up. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2978736a30,00.html

CONSERVATION

€    Legal threat stalls marine reserve
The Dominion Post 22/07/2004. A marine reserve on Wellington’s south coast – already approved by the conservation minister – has been held up for two years by the threat of legal action. A proposal for a 969-hectare reserve  covering the coast from Owhiro Bay to Te Raekaihau Point between Houghton and Lyall bays, was opened for public submissions in October 2000.   
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2979022a7693,00.html

€    South Westland wetlands project mooted
The Press 19/07/2004. A sequence of lagoons and wetlands in South Westland is being assessed for possible international recognition. The Department of Conservation (DOC) has linked the Saltwater, Okarito, Three Mile and Five Mile lagoons and the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve into a potential Ramsar Convention Site. Worldwide, 1368 wetlands totalling 120 million hectares are registered with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international treaty that provides for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.         More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2976526a7693,00.html

€    NZ researchers refute whaling claims
NZPA 22/07/2004. New Zealand researchers have hit back at Japanese claims that the world’s whale population has increased enough to start whaling again. Japan is arguing at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Italy that the ban can now be lifted because whale numbers have recovered. It is offering massive financial aid to small countries in return for critical votes to sway the numbers in favour of whaling. But work by Auckland University’s Professor Scott Baker suggests that whale numbers are nowhere near the level needed enough to sustain whaling. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2978958a7693,00.html

€    Predators found asleep in kea nests
The Press 26/07/2004. Kea numbers are likely to decrease owing to stoats and possums, according to Department of Conservation (DOC) research. DOC estimates between 1000 and 5000 kea live in mountainous country in the South Island. DOC scientist Graeme Elliott said possums were still making inroads into popular kea habitat like Milford Sound and other areas within the Fiordland National Park. “In places where possums haven’t reached their key density, kea numbers could decrease,” he said. More…   
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2982330a7693,00.html

BIO-TECHNOLOGY

€    When forestry’s in the blood
The Dominion Post 22/07/2004. The forestry industry is moving beyond logs and sawn timber. Hi-tech is the word and bio-materials are the coming thing. Roeland van den Bergh talks to the industry’s new leader. Imagine a world where a coffee mug, cars, high-rise buildings and even jet aircraft are made of wood. A leap back to before the iron age? Not according to the Forest Industry Council’s new chairman, Lees Seymour, who believes wood-based products are destined to replace steel and plastic as the next marvel materials. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2979801a1864,00.html

KYOTO PROTOCOL

€    UN Breathes New Life Into Kyoto
American Daily 22/07/2004. If one door closes, another always opens – that’s the creed that seems to guide the United Nations, anyway, as a recent report lays the groundwork for a new avenue of attack against carbon dioxide  emissions. Evidently unhappy with America’s decision against ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, a UN measure that would damage our nation’s economy by forcing CO2 and greenhouse gas emission regulations upon our energy, industrial and agricultural producers, and ostensibly dissatisfied with the chances for immediate passage of S. 139, the Kyoto-like Climate Stewardship Act advanced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman and John McCain, the United Nations has uncovered a new means for enacting its agenda. More… http://www.americandaily.com/article/4409    

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACT

€    Business Needs To Speak Out – Lough
Scoop.co.nz 22/07/2004. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise chairman Phil Lough says companies calling for amendments to the Resource Management Act should “speak up and speak now.” Mr Lough said today the current review of the 1991 Act by the Ministry for the Environment provided an opportunity to effect changes around its operation. “But the deadline for submissions is close. Those calling for change need to move quickly.” More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0407/S00265.htm

€    Farmers hit out at ‘creeping regulatory environment’
The Press 21/07/2004. Farmers have hit out at the “creeping” burden of red tape being foisted on producers by the Government. Unless the Labour coalition eased up on introducing new rules and regulations, farming growth would be eroded, Federated Farmers president Tom Lambie told delegates at the organisation’s national conference in Christchurch today. Mr Lambie praised the Government for its “unwavering commitment” to breaking down trade barriers, providing flood assistance and in its bio-security strategy, but was critical of its performance in introducing monopoly charges and new taxes.
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2977833a13,00.html

POLLUTION

€    Greens welcome legal move over Kawakawa sewage
Scoop.co.nz 22/07/2004. Northland-based Green MP Sue Bradford is welcoming the Northland Regional Council’s decision to take the Far North District Council to task legally over the Kawakawa sewage scandal, although she says it is a case of better late than never. The NRC today served an abatement notice requiring the FNDC to produce an action plan to stop the sewage discharges from the troubled Kawakawa sewage plant. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0407/S00373.htm

RURAL ISSUES

€    Lifestyle blocks under fire
The Wairarapa Times-Age  20/07/2004. Wairarapa rural subdivisions are putting the region’s future and economy at risk, say three Greytown men who have launched a campaign to change the rules. Peter Thompson, Doug Fairbrother and Barry Kempton have lodged oppositions to several resource consent applications to the South Wairarapa District Council for the subdivision of rural properties for the development of lifestyle blocks. The trio have lodged a total of six objections over the past three years out of concern for what they say is unchecked rural subdivision. More…
http://times-age.co.nz/news2004/040720a.html

€    Food lobbyists say pesticides on too many NZ fruit and veggies
NZPA 23/07/2004. Healthy food campaigners say the first tests in the Government’s total diet survey on pesticide residues in grapes have shown 13 different pesticides. And Green Party food safety spokeswoman, Sue Kedgley said yesterday that analysis of data in the 2003-2004 survey – for which third-quarter results were released last week – showed 24 out of 25 fruit and vegetables sampled contained pesticide residues. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2980471a7144,00.html

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