Extended hearing unfair, seabed mining opponents say

KASM chairman Phil McCabe says the seabed mining hearing has "gone off the rails". Photo / File

The hearing into the seabed mining proposal off the South Taranaki coast has asked for yet more information - and that has upset opponents of the mining plan.

They say the request for more information from mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has made proper public engagement in the hearing impossible.

Trans-Tasman Resources has applied to mine 50 million tonnes of iron sand from the seabed off Patea every year for 35 years.

The application is before an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) hearing which was scheduled to end in March, with a decision within 20 working days after that.

However, the EPA has extended the hearing to May 31, and asked the company for more information.

It wants clearer mapping of the worst-case sediment plume that would flow southward from the mining operation down the South Taranaki Bight, and expert evidence on the noise the operation would make and how the noise would affect marine mammals.

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) and Greenpeace, which both oppose the application, have objected to this requirement for more information. They are supported by local tribe Ngāti Ruanui and Forest and Bird.

KASM chairman Phil McCabe said all the information should have been available to submitters at the start of the hearing, and his group had told the EPA the initial application was incomplete.

Submitters will have opportunities to respond to the new information, but it will be difficult and costly to organise at short notice.

He would like the EPA to either make a decision based on the information so far, or rerun the whole process. Ngāti Ruanui is also planning a legal challenge to the EPA decision, Radio NZ reports.

Mr McCabe fears the EPA is biased toward the mining, and Mr McCabe cites other flaws in the process, such as the EPA allowing 190 pages of the application to be redacted.

The EPA says the application is complex and it is understandable that more information is required. There will be more public sessions before the hearing ends on May 31, with a
decision due within 20 working days after that.

•Ngati Ruanui blasts EPA decision to extend seabed mining hearing

•Iwi 'excluded' from input into seabed mining

Meanwhile, Oregon State University's Dr Leigh Torres has released new video of blue whales feeding on krill in the South Taranaki Bight.

The footage was taken using drones, and shows the large animals making choices about how much energy to expend to gain small amounts of food.

Studies have show the South Taranaki seas have a high diversity of marine mammals, Mr McCabe said.

A whale watching industry could be possible, and Irish submitter Aine Conoghan presented evidence that sustainable tourism would produce more jobs than mining.