Revised guidelines near

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 4

Revised guidelines near

PA Wellington Revised guidelines for adults of environmental impact audits should be released ■before the General Election, said the Minister for the Environment (Dr Shearer) yesterday. Both he and the Commissioner for the Environment had been out of Wellington and so it had not been possible to set a definite date, he said, but it certainly was not “too far away. Environmental protection and enhancement .procedures, first published in 1973 and endorsed by the Cabinet

in 1978, have been under review for more than a year. Twice during that time Government officials have recommended tighter controls of Commission for the Environment audits of big projects impacts. Last week a leaked Cabinet office document suggested that future commission audits should focus on detailing various means for reducing emissions from big projects at specific sites without judging between the pollution control options; This followed Cabinet economic committee concern

that the commission was damaging investments in New Zealand. It also recommended that developers should not have to describe alternative technologies if decisions had already been made on the technology to be used. Last year in a report after the commission’s audit of the CSR-Baigent pulp mill planned for near Nelson, officials said policy and economic questions raised in the audit were outside the commissioner’s terms of reference.