Environmentalist counters criticism

Press, 3 September 1980, Page 5

Environmentalist counters criticism

Environmentalists do not “merely obstruct all progress” for the. sake of it, but are concerned with the implications of each new" planned project, according to Ms H. E. Crabb, a -spokeswoman, for the Canterbury Environment Centre.

Ms Crabb was replying to 'comments by the president of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, Mr W. G. Beaven, in “The Press” ,of August 9, that . environmentalists were blocking, the development of the best resources in the South Island.

She; said that points of economics and logistics, which had not been properly, considered, . were brought up e by environmentalists, and it was these arid not negative protests which halted development. “We try to find sensible, safe, and economic alternatives to the plans we reject, but usually these alternatives are not even considered,” Ms Crabb said. Decisions made on the use of resources should include consideration of more factors than pure economics, and should ensure that renewable resources, such as forests, were not depleted to a

less than sustainable level. Special care should be taken with non-renewabie resources, such as coal, to ensure they were used in the most efficient and effective manner. Carelui planning and the ability to consider all options were necessd'y before anyone could decide what the best use was for resources, she said. Ms Crabb replied to Mr Beaven’s specific ’ arguments agatast environmentalists on the South Island pulp mill, the Maruia Declaration, t second aluminium smelter ana liquefied petroleum gas. She said that In 1971 it was proposed to use the beech forests on the West Coast for pulp production, and a groap called the Beech Forests Action Council was set up specifically to counter this proposal. ... By thoroughly investigating the proposal, and examining the conditions of the beech forests, these people and others proved that the Government’s scheme was uneconomic, and that the slopes on which the beech were growing would be subject to erosion before they could be replanted in exotics, Ms Crabb said.

The Maruia Declaration was designed to introduce constraints to logging so that New Zealand’s heritage could: be preserved without causing any significant harm to the forest industry. More than 400,000 people signed the petition, but the Government decided to ignore it completely. In reply to Mr Beaven’s statement that Otago needed “a major industry to provide long-term confidence and employment in Dunedin,” Ms Crabb said there was serious doubt that a second aluminium smelter would fill this role.

A smelter would provide about 800- full-time jobs, but many of these were highly skilled and labour would have to be recruited overseas. Ms Crabb said it was doubtful that the risk of even one L.P.G. explosion was worth the cost of the many lives that could be lost through such an accident. Since a safe and viable alternative was available in the South Island — electricity — the cost of bringing L.P.G. to Christchurch did not seem justifiable, and electricity was a more obvious solution, she said.