Motunui legislation expected to be changed

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 1

Motunui legislation expected to be changed

PA Wellington Legislation for the discharge of treated effluent by the Motunui synthetic fuels plant at Waitara is likely to return to Parliament with significant changes, after the hearing of public submissions.

The chairman of the Commerce and Energy Select Committee, Mr D. L. Kidd, told NZPA after the hearings ended yesterday that “quite a lot of change” would probably be made to the Synthetic Fuels Plant (Water Rights) Bill. Some matters had changed since the bill’s introduction last month and additional technical details had also been obtained. “Our objective is to fix this thing up once and for all,” he said. The bill was introduced to give the synthetic fuels plant the right to use the Waitara Borough outfall instead of the planned separate outfall at Motunui. That right would endure until Synfuels was granted a right to discharge through an alternative site or through an upgraded Waitara regional outfall. This followed up the report of the Waitangi Tribunal and consequent appeals to the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, by the Te Atiawa people seeking the protection of traditional Maori fishing grounds. The Taranaki Catchment Commission told the committee that the tribunal had

only considered broader issues affecting the whole north Taranaki area. The tribunal’s decision, which led to the bill’s drafting, was not based on detailed study of a specific outfall proposal. Mr Fergus Power, a biologist with the commission, told the committee that he thought marine life would be much safer if the original Motunui outfall was proceeded with. Because of the currents in the area, the further east it was constructed, the better, he said. Waitara’s present pollution problems could be easily rectified, Mr Power told the committee. No permanent damage had yet been done, and marine life was abundant. The commission said it could only support the proposed legislation if there was a time limit placed on the combined discharge proE 1 through the existing ara outfall. The commission raised serious doubts about the reliability of the present Waitara outfall. Two big reports had been completed on the condition of the pipeline, but in neither case had the entire pipe been studied because of adverse tidal and

weather conditions, the committee was told. Its future was “highly suspect.” The pipe could suffer serious damage or collapse completely within the next few years, and the consequences would be great, the commission said. Even quite straight-forward repairs could take four to six months to complete. If the Synthetic Fuels Corporation, had to close for repairs because of public reaction against its dumping treated effluent in the Waitara River, the cost to the company and the country would amount to millions of dollars every week. The manager of the Taranaki Water Board, Mr J. Douglas, said there was no doubt that when Synfuels discharged through the Waitara outfall the likelihood of ecological damage would be “greatly increased.” The increased pollution risk was largely a result of management problems, he said. With effluent from many sources being piped into the same outfall, and the.loss of protection under the Water and Soil Conservation Act under the proposed legislation, it could be difficult to pinpoint problems.