Emma Jones, right, with residents, from left, Manea Ngātai and mokopuna TJ and AJ Ngātai, and Joel Ngātuere with Te Whei Ao and Te Otinga Harris. The tank farm would go behind the trees. Photo / George Novak
Emma Jones, right, with residents, from left, Manea Ngātai and mokopuna TJ and AJ Ngātai, and Joel Ngātuere with Te Whei Ao and Te Otinga Harris. The tank farm would go behind the trees. Photo / George Novak
Plans to build a jet fuel tank farm next to a marae and housing village have sparked outrage and calls to move heavy industry out of Mount Maunganui.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has decided not to let the public have a say on whether the tank farm shouldbe allowed, but pressure is mounting on Tauranga City Council to give the community a voice on the issue.
Timaru Oil Services Limited has applied to both councils for consents - some lasting 35 years - for four nearly 20m-high tanks to store A-1 jet fuel and diesel.
The industrial-zoned Totara St site, owned by the Port of Tauranga, is about 300m away from the Whareroa Marae, of Ngāi Te Rangi hapū Ngāti Kuku and Ngāi Tukairangi.
Between the site and marae are 14 private homes, five kaumatua flats, a kohanga reo and offices. About 80 people call the area home.
Over decades, heavy industry has built up around Whareroa. Air pollution worsened to the point the air above the industrial zone and marae was designated a polluted airshed in 2019.
In March, public health authorities called for immediate action on Mount Maunganui's air pollution problem, presenting evidence it was harming people's health.
Whareroa Marae environment spokesman Joel Ngātuere, who has lived in the village with his young family for three years, said he had seen the harm done to his community's physical and mental wellbeing and their way of life.
The marae and residents had "huge concerns" about the tank farm proposal because it would add to the existing industrial businesses in the area.
"Enough is enough," Ngātuere said.
"To sign off on a 35-year lease means everyone in the Mount and Tauranga are saying they are okay with having industry be in our spaces for the next two generations.
"It is not just affecting us, it's affecting everyone down in the Mount. We are just on the front line."
In his view, it should no longer be acceptable to "put heavy industry on top of heavy industry" next to residential areas.
There are about 100 existing storage tanks in the Mount Maunganui industrial area. Photo / File
"The monitoring, investigations and mitigations are not enough, we need action."
He believes the councils should give the public a say on the tank farm consent and lead a conversation about moving industry out of the Mount to somewhere else in the Western Bay, such as a rail-connected inland port.
"Its time for all of the Mount and Tauranga to decide what we want to be: a city for industry or a city for families."
His mother-in-law, Te Maumako August, 61, has lived at Whareroa - the place her tupuna (ancestor), Taiaho, built - for 22 years.
She said the tank farm was "insult to injury".
"I am offended when people say 'why live here'. You all came to the Mount but we have been here since the 1800s. We have been pushed into a corner."
Turi Ngatai and Charlie Tawhiao, senior leaders in Ngāi Te Rangi, said the iwi supported its hapū in this matter.
Timaru Oil Services managing director Phillippe Dubau said the company had met with marae representatives and wanted to take their concerns into account "as much as possible and reasonably".
"We understood from those discussions that there is a complex, old and conflictual background between Whareroa Marae and the Port of Tauranga that goes well beyond the scope of our project.
"The whānau have legitimate questions, particularly about air quality or conditions of water discharge from existing industries in the area that are outside the scope of our project but obviously deserve appropriate responses from those concerned."
He said the company had entered the New Zealand market with the goal of increasing competition and lowering prices. Its first depot in Timaru had just been commissioned and yesterday received its first oil tanker bunkering, he said.
A Port of Tauranga spokeswoman said the port was not involved in the consent application so could not comment.
The port valued its relationships with local iwi and hapū and was committed to ensuring its operations had the least possible impact on the environment.
Tangata whenua were not alone in opposing the tank farm.
Clear the Air Mount Maunganui, a group started by Mount mums concerned about dust and odours drifting from the industrial zone into Ōmanu and beyond, has been lobbying for public notification of the consents.
Group member Emma Jones told a Tauranga City Council meeting on Tuesday frustrations about industry impacts in the Mount were "starting to reach a boiling point".
"We believe this tank farm will be the last straw for a marginalised part of our community that has been swamped by a tide of heavy industrial development for the past 70 years."
Council building services manager Barbara Dempsy said the tank farm consent application was on hold as the council was waiting on more information, including a cultural impact assessment.
She said planners needed to work through a process within the City Plan and Resource Management Act to make notification decision.
Regional council consents manager Reuben Fraser said the council had decided to limited notify the consent, but was waiting for the city council's decision before proceeding.
According to the notification decision, Timaru Oil Services must consult with Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Kuku, Ngāi Takairangi and Whareroa Marae.
Fraser said the regional council had a specific and limited RMA role in the matter. Considerations such as truck movements, hazards and land use fell under city council jurisdiction.
Tank farm
• 216 Totara St • Four fuel storage tanks • 11,000 cubic metres each • 18.45m high • 29m wide • 2+ years in the planning. Source: TCC, BOPRC
Is time up for heavy industry at the Mount?
The Port of Tauranga says moving some neighbouring businesses out of Mount Maunganui might be a long-term option.
It comes after calls for a public conversation about moving heavy industry out of the Mount and rezoning the land for something else.
The Port of Tauranga. Photo / File
Emma Jones, from Clear the Air Mount Maunganui, said there was no "buffer" between the Mount industrial zone and residential areas.
She said Tauranga's council should pursue an aggressive timeframe to relocate industry.
"It shouldn't be there any more, the city has evolved and changed."
Council strategy and growth manager Christine Jones said the council could explore the issue through a coming review of the City Plan, if elected members agreed to provide resourcing.
A Port of Tauranga spokeswoman said New Zealand's export-led economy required efficient, well-managed ports connected to agricultural and horticultural producers.
"Moving some neighbouring businesses to other places might be an option in the long term and that's a discussion for residents and ratepayers to have with their councils, whose job it is to manage that balance."
