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Source: ONE News -
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Parliament's own environmental watchdog has climbed into the bitter spat over mining.
It's a spat that's dividing the nation, with many asking whether we should drill into more precious conservation land to find valuable minerals lurking beneath.
Commissioner for the environment, Jan Wright, says no, saying that the government's argument for more prospecting on conservation land does not stack up.
In a written submission, Wright says the government must first prove the economic benefits of opening up more protected land to mining, as well as justify the risk to the landscape and threatened species beyond a "reasonable doubt".
She says the evidence gathered so far "does not meet this test", and is "vague and rudimentary".
The Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee's response is scathing to say the least.
"The only way we can find that out is by removing the schedule 4 ban on exploration. You can go out there with a pick and shovel but you need to be able to explore the thing to know exactly what's there," he says.
Others agree with Wright.
"That's really a bizarre statement to suggest they will desecrate our heritage areas, our protected areas without having the economic and environmental justification to do so is just a nonsense," says Labour leader Phil Goff.
However, Brownlee is not impressed about the Environment Commissioner's submission.
"I'd say thank you for your report and I'll read it with some interest," he says.
No doubt, the Commission will be surprised at the strength of the Brownlee's reaction.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentmenacerec said on 2010-07-24 @ 00:53 NZDT: Report abusive post
John needs the boot... not just for this either.
menacerec said on 2010-07-24 @ 00:49 NZDT: Report abusive post
No hawthorne, what National have done is gone back on multiple significant election promises. Their economic policies have already shown to correlate with increases in income inequality. They are increasing our debt in order to give the upper 5% of earners the greatest tax cuts, although 75% of the population is hardly left with enough to live on. They are further cutting the rights of workers in favour of big businesses, their true agenda is quite clear.
irwin said on 2010-07-21 @ 11:05 NZDT: Report abusive post
The protest actions taken by my fellow NZers and the governments decision not to proceed with the mining on DOC land makes me very proud to be a Kiwi. This is democracy at its finest and those people who say the government should never investigated it in the first place have lost the plot. The people have spoken and the government has listened. Great.
ukustarmitch said on 2010-07-21 @ 10:01 NZDT: Report abusive post
HAHAHA this is too funny. How dare they consider destroying our beautiful landscape! National, you did the right thing, but don't expect me to vote for you in next years election
SantaCruz66 said on 2010-07-21 @ 08:54 NZDT: Report abusive post
Simply a matter of matter that Gerry doesn't want to mine what he can't walk around. 50k kiwis marched because Gerry et al missed the point. Good democracy for sure but political ineptitude and appalling stewardship - all Gerry had to do was announce it the conference and he would have been fine :)