Fonterra breaks consent conditions for dust control

Media Release – Auckland Coal Action

Sunday 8 September 2013

“Fonterra has repeatedly broken its consent conditions when handling coal and ash at its existing Kopako 3 coal mine and Waitoa dairy factory, says Auckland Coal Action.

Giving evidence in the second week of the hearings on the proposed new Mangatangi mine, spokesperson Geoff Mason showed photos of dust clouds at the mine and of uncovered coal ash trucks. Fonterra has said they cover these.

Conditions broken are:

• That visible dust should not be in the air beyond the boundary of the mine.
• That coal dust is wet down in the storage area at the Waitoa factory when necessary.

He also said that Fonterra’s application had stated that their treated mine water at the Kopako 3 mine consistently met standards for cloudiness, but failed to mention that water boron levels had exceeded limits recently.

“Why should we believe that Fonterra will observe any conditions set in relation to this mine, when they haven’t been keeping to their word with the old mine? said Mr Mason. “Furthermore we can show that they have three times successfully pushed for reduced dust control standards.” That raises the question of whose interests the council is trying to protect. It is a further worry is that any consent conditions for the Mangatangi mine will be removed later by the council with no right of hearing by submitters.

Auckland Coal Action is supporting local residents opposed to the mine and called expert evidence on the dust problem likely to be cause by the mining. Their expert witness stated that Glencoal should monitor background dust for at least 2-3 years before that mine starts, so as to get meaningful data on background dust levels. Glencoal is planning to monitor background dust for only a month.

Uncovered coal ash truck at Waitoa Dairy Factory

Water truck stirring up a plume of dust