Changes to environmental law have allowed a giant coalmine to be sneaked through the consent process with no public scrutiny, says an environmental group.
Greenpeace says state-owned Solid Energy's plan to create a new mine at Huntly covering 225ha and up to 100m deep is beingfast-tracked, an abuse of "limited notification" provisions in the Resource Management Act passed by Government this year.
"This is being ferreted through the system yet it's a massive proposal that will release over 45 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Vanessa Atkinson.
The Waikato River already had pollution levels above World Health Organisation guidelines and the new mine would load further contaminants into the river, she said.
Limited notification means local authorities can decide to consult only a handful of affected parties if environmental effects of a proposal are considered minor.
Environment Waikato, responsible for deciding on the Solid Energy proposal, notified the Department of Conservation, 17 neighbours of the mine, Fish and Game and the local iwi Tainui.
Of those, only Tainui objected but it was unclear yesterday whether anyone from the tribe's environmental arm wanted to attend the hearing, in which case it would be cancelled, said Environment Waikato spokesman Grant Blackie.
But conservation group Forest and Bird said it was "dismayed" the opencast mine was being virtually rubber-stamped.
"We warned this might happen, we just didn't expect the provision to be abused so spectacularly so fast by a state-owned company," said spokesman Kevin Hackwell.
The new Awaroa 4 mine, next to the current Rotowaro Mine, will virtually double Solid Energy's coalmining operations at Huntly.
The expansion is partly to fulfil obligations under a $800 million deal struck this year with state-owned Genesis to provide 1.7 million tonnes of coal to Huntly Power Station by 2006.
Last year, Solid Energy provided 380,000 tonnes.
It's hoped providing for the station to run at full production by stockpiling coal will stave off power crises.
