Local bodies may have right to compo over GE errors

By ANNE BESTON

Councils may have the right to demand millions of dollars in compensation if things go wrong with genetically modified crops, says a legal expert.

Rebellious Northland councils paid the Sustainability Council, an anti-GM group, to explore their rights in regard to the release of GM plants in their areas.

The Sustainability Council's report contains advice from top environmental lawyer Dr Royden Somerville that councils may be able to impose GM no-go zones and their own liability regimes.

The Far North, Whangarei, Kaipara and Rodney District councils, with help from Local Government NZ, commissioned the GM report after frustration at what they saw as the Government's dismissal of their concerns about GM crop contamination.

"A community can put in place a liability regime requiring those engaging in a GM release to pay compensation for harm caused by an approved release," Dr Somerville said in the report.

He also found that councils might be able to use the Resource Management Act to impose GM-free zones.

His findings on liability contradict the controversial clause in the Government's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO), which demands compensation from people growing and releasing genetically modified organisms only if they flout the rules.

Sustainability Council executive director Simon Terry said local authorities were right to be worried.

"Local authorities are likely to be picking up the tab for any environmental damage and that is obviously a key consideration in looking at these issues."

Whangarei council environmental planner Kerry Grundy said local authorities had tried to make their concerns heard when the HSNO bill was passed last year.

"There has been a fair amount of frustration at the lack of notice central government took," he said.

"You could say they were pretty much ignored."