Social problems from coal mining predicted

Press, 5 October 1984, Page 21

Social problems from coal mining predicted

PA Hamilton The environment and local residents will suffer unless more attention is paid to the impact of mining the proposed Weavers open-cast expansion at Huntly, according to the Commission for the Environment.

In its audit of the Ministry of Energy’s environmental impact report on the coalmine, the commission said problems included the cultural and social impacts on local people, the treatment of mine water discharges, the effect of past and future mining activities on Lake Waahi, rehabilitating the site when mining stopped, and the statutory planning process and the opportunity for public participation. The commission made 42 recommendations in the audit, the majority directed to the Ministry of Energy. The Ministry has proposed taking about 2.3 million tonnes of coal from the Weavers expansion in nine years to the end of 1993.

Peak production of 500,000 tonnes a year is expected from next year to 1988. Current annual production is about 150,000 tonnes which is almost all supplied to New Zealand Steel.

The Ministry’s environmental impact report said the Weaver expansion was intended to supply the coal demand of the Glenbrook steel mill in the years until the proposed Ohinewai open-cast mine begins pro-

duction. That was expected to be 1988.

The report said the Maramarua coalfield was intended to supply Glenbrook in the intervening years but the coal from that mine was unsuitable for the steel milling process used at Glenbrook. The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Ken Piddington, said the Weavers expansion would be a test case for the Ministry of Energy as other expansions and new mines were proposed in the Waikato. The Weavers expansion proposal encompassed many of the issues which would be raised by the larger, environmentally more significant mining proposals planned for Waikato coalfields, he said.

The expansion of New Zealand Steel’s Glenbrook mill, authorised by the National Government in 1981, and the proposal for another thermal power station had necessitated a five-fold increase in coal production from Waikato fields before 1993, he said. To meet the target, large open-cast mines were proposed for Ohinewai and Maramarua and expansions at Rotowaro and Weavers open-cast mines.

“As far as the coalmining industry is concerned there is no doubt that environmental requirements are changing,” said Mr Piddington.

“There are three reasons for this. Society’s expectations (for safeguarding

against environmental and social impacts) are higher, the technical possibilities (of mining) are far greater and the scope of development in the Waikato is on a different scale than previously,” he said. “That makes the environmental aspect more demanding on the industry,” he said.

Social issues, including the special relationship the Tainui Maori has with the land, and the impacts on water were singled out by Mr Piddington as of most concern to Waikato people. “The domains of mana, vital to the self-respect of Tainui, are easily compromised by development. For example, interference with the integrity of Lake Waahi in a manner similar to Lake Kimihia (which was partially drained, mined, used as a settlement pond, reshaped, then allowed to refill) would have considerable cultural and spiritual implications for the Tainui people,” he said The Tainui population of 120,000 is almost 25 per cent of the Maori population.

The commission recommended the Tainui Trust Board be involved in planning for all the Ministry’s projects in the region and that appropriate funding be made available.

It also recommended that the Ministry of Energy encourage • recruitment of local labour to lessen pressure on local accommodation, services, and employment opportunities.