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Source: ONE News -
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The new government is being taken to task for not consulting stakeholders on plans to repeal biofuel laws.
Bio Diesel Oils New Zealand is having to cancel plans for a new factory in the Waikato - a project it's already spent $10 million on that would have employed nearly 50 people.
The company's managing director, Tom McNicholl, is bemused as to why the government's choosing to repeal the law without consulting the industry, or companies such as his.
He says he cannot understand why the government's chosen to proceed without seeking feedback.
McNicholl says with no mandatory biofuel requirements in place, there will be no incentive for oil companies to use domestically produced biodiesel, and his industry will not survive.
Instead, he will have to instead concentrate on the smaller-scale market for technology to sell overseas - unlikely to employ the staff of 48 which his factory would have.
He is urging the government not to proceed with its plans.
The National government has scrapped the legislation under urgency, citing claims that too much biofuel would be imported under its framework and that oil companies had estimated it would increase the cost of fuel by as much as eight cents per litre.
It says it will still endeavour to encourage local production and industry guidelines, but NZ's leading biofuel lobby has warned that the move will both increase NZ's carbon emissions and slow what was a burgeoning alternative energy industry.
BP, however, is hailing National's decision, saying it makes commercial and environmental sense.
