The Supreme Court has found the Environmental Protection Authority erred in law when it granted consents to seabed mining company Trans-Tasman Resources in 2017.
It said the matter should go back to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for fresh consideration – with one of the five justices saying the application could have been declined outright on the information provided.
The lengthy and complex judgment released on Thursday is the culmination of a court battle that began in 2017, when the EPA’s decision-making committee narrowly gave consent to Trans-Tasman Resources’ proposal to mine iron sand from 66 sq km of seabed offshore from Patea in South Taranaki in water depths of 22m to 36m.
The decision was fought through the High and Appeal courts by fisheries interests, South Taranaki iwi and environmental groups.
The EPA declined the application the first time it was made. In 2017 the consents were gained only on the deciding vote of the committee’s chairman.
The case concerns many points of law and will set a precedent.
The Supreme Court justices said if the seabed mining caused environmental damage, as it may from a sediment plume, decision-makers have to weigh up whether this could be avoided, reduced or remedied.
Economic considerations should be taken into account “only at the margins” or not at all.
The EPA committee failed to take the precautionary principle into account, the justices found.
And they took a “broad and generous” interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi clauses in the Exclusive Economic Zone Act which governs activity offshore, saying tikanga should be taken into account as well as “other applicable law”.
South Taranaki iwi Ngati Ruanui and Nga Rauru have spent seven years fighting the mining proposal.
Ngati Ruanui “couldn’t be more stoked” with the court decision, former kairarataki, and now Maori Party co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said.
She is now calling on Government to ban seabed mining in Aotearoa and already has a bill to prohibit seabed mining in New Zealand in the ballot box.
The court’s decision was very significant, Te Kaahui o Rauru tumu whakarae Mike Neho said.
“This is the first time that kaitiakitanga and tikanga have been tested at this level of law and this will be a game changer for recognition of iwi interests and decisions about the environment going forward.”
Trans-Tasman Resources executive chairman Alan Eggers has said in the past that the mining proposal was an opportunity for a new $1 billion export industry.
He has said it would have minimal impact on the environment and help meet the demand for the strategic metals, vanadium and titanium, required as the world moves to a low-carbon energy economy.
Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) chairwoman Cindy Baxter is excited by the highest court in the land’s “fantastic” decision.
She said there’s was nothing to stop the Government from banning seabed mining now.
Trans-Tasman Resources has been approached for comment following the release to the Supreme Court decision.
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