It’s very disappointing that the Far North Regional Council has dumped a pioneering and innovative, community and iwi owned waste management enterprise, the Green Party said today. “Cleanstream has been dealing with the Far North’s waste for over twenty years, and has made a huge contribution to the community and the local environment. It’s sad to see them dumped,” Green Party waste spokesperson Denise Roche said. “Cleanstream pioneered kerbside recycling in New Zealand and worked with Far North communities on...

The National Government’s voluntary guidelines for spreading toxic oil and gas waste on farmland ignore the concerns of New Zealand’s environmental watchdog about the dangers of heavy metal contamination, and could lead to greater risks to people and animals, the Green Party says. “MPI’s guidelines for spreading of oil and gas waste on farmland ignore concerns of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment about the danger of contamination by heavy metals, for example, barium and cadmium, and the need for...

The National Government can and should reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution rather than exploit ‘creative accounting’ in order to meet its climate targets, the Green Party said today. Mr Shaw was responding to the Climate Action Tracker report undertaken by four independent European research organisations:  Climate Analytics, Ecofys, NewClimate Institute and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.  It has developed a method to measure the fairness of governmental climate action efforts. “It looks as though the National Government...

A lack of farmer support for the Ruataniwha dam proposal is yet another reason to pull the plug, the Green Party said today.  New information coming to light from Radio New Zealand shows that many of the farmers who stand to directly benefit from the dam’s subsequent water, can’t make a sound business case for their farm with the increased cost. “With few farmers willing to buy into the scheme it doesn’t make any sense to build this environmentally destructive...

The National Government’s paltry emissions reduction target announced today means that New Zealand is not pulling its weight internationally when it comes to climate change, the Green Party said. The Government announced a 2030 emissions reduction target of 30 percent off 2005 levels. This translates to an 11 percent reduction on 1990 levels. “By committing to such a small reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, it means other countries will have to pick up our slack, or we’ll get runaway climate...

The rebuild of Christchurch offers a unique opportunity to plan for more extreme weather events, and for rising sea levels caused by climate change,” Green Party Christchurch spokesperson Eugenie Sage said today.  Nearly 6000 properties in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula could be under threat from coastal erosion over the next century, a new report suggests.

Unless the Government reviews its processes for valuing high country pastoral lease land, it will continue to give away millions of dollars to private interests that should be going to the New Zealand public, the Green Party said today. This follows analysis from Lincoln University researchers showing that farmers are making huge profits from on-selling Crown land that is sold to them under the tenure review process - land that they had previously leased from the Crown. Green Party conservation...

The National Government is spending its Land Transport Fund primarily on carbon-polluting transport infrastructure, rather than building a clean, balanced and efficient system for the 21st century, the Green Party said today. “The National Government could use the Land Transport Fund future-proof our transport system. Instead, National has chosen to continue spending over a billion dollars per year on a few carbon-polluting motorways that haven’t even passed a business case test,” said Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter.  ...

People in Canterbury should not be second class citizens having to live with second class local body representation, the Green Party said today. The Green Party is concerned at the prospect of the National Government failing to restore a fully elected Environment Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) in announcements later this week about the council’s future.

The Ruataniwha dam project should not proceed, as it has already sucked up $12million of Hawke’s Bay ratepayers’ money and $6m from the taxpayer, and questions still remain about the dam’s viability in the wake of yesterday’s Board of Inquiry decision, the Green Party said today. HBRIC, the investment arm of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, has also earmarked another $80m of ratepayers’ money to pay for construction. As parts of the Tukituki catchment are already very polluted by high...