by frog
Here’s an amusing written question from Metiria Turei to the Minister of Conservation:
Q: Will he rule out of the review of Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act any consideration of mining potential in Milford Sound; if not, why not?
A: All national parks are encompassed by the review of Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act. Until that review is complete I cannot say which areas will be given further consideration for inclusion or exclusion under Schedule 4.
We know Milford Sound is covered by the review, but Tim couldn’t quite bring himself himself to give the exact answer:
A: No I will not rule it out. Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park which is included in Schedule 4, so it is encompassed by the Review.
Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure there’s no minerals there of interest anyway (unless you want granite to cap old open cast coalmines).
The Press, Tuesday 6 October 2009
Ministers have played down speculation about removing sections of National Parks from Schedule 4, only to have your Ministerial advice describe some National Park areas as “highly prospective”, and even tagging three of them by name:
MED considers that conservation land within the Coromandel Peninsula (precious metals), Kahurangi (precious and base metals), Waitutu (petroleum) and eastern Paparoa (coal) to be worthy of inclusion in such a review.
Minister Brownlee has been at pains to say he’s been completely open about it all, yet we had to get his Ministerial advice — which is obviously of intense public interest — under the OIA.
His main response has been that Metiria is being “hysterical”. Name-calling isn’t my idea of open and honest debate.
But ‘openness’ is a facade. In the House a few week’s ago, he refused to answer an oral question; now he won’t answer written ones. This one sought the exact report he was referring to, to confirm we were referring to the right one:
Q: What is the name, author(s), and date of publication of the World Bank report he referred to in his “Opening Address to Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 2009″?
A: The member has clearly read the report given she has referred to parts of it in written and oral questions.
All in all, Brownlee’s bullish attitude just leads to cartoons like the above, why mythical oil wells in Milford Sound.
John Key must be scratching his head.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Thu, October 8th, 2009
Tags: cartoon, conservation, Fiordland National Park, gerry brownlee, Metiria Turei, milford sound, mining, national park, Official Information Act, Schedule 4, tim groser, world bank
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
What minerals of interest are likely to be in Fiordland?
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oil, I think it was
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Petroleum (oil) in southern Fiordland (Waitutu). See Greens reveal Govt wants to mine in Fiordland
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(This is truely inspiration stuff from The National government!)
Government mining papers released by the Green Party this week, and confirmation from the Minister’s office, show that the minerals industry will now have the privilege of being able to veto new conservation park boundaries, in secret.
“The Government has given its mining department a right of veto over all new Park and reserve boundaries, giving the mining industry an advantage over conservation and the public interest,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.
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there’s a lot of lignite in Fiordland, but that’s probably not what they’re after.
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i think they want the lot and they are not going to get any of it
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I’m surprised there’s oil in Fiordland as it is on a plate boundary and I thought oil had to be trapped under something like a sedimentary basin. I see there is Mg0 and chlorine (for use in swimming pools for the rich?). I think there could be an urgent search for rare earth minerals?
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Jh – see L&M Petroleum’s L&M Petroleum’s Waitutu interest (with map) [L&M have changed this PDF - the original is here]
Kahikatea – where in Fiordland is there lignite? I’m not aware of that.
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With China’s stockpiling of and snuffing out the exporting of rare earth minerals, ‘urgent search’ becomes ‘unholy scrabble’.
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Metiria’s office has just confirmed that L&M surrendered their permit to prospect the onshore Waitutu area when it became part of Fiordland National Park and was added to Schedule 4. The link to their old map given above is provided to show the oil prospects in the area (the yellow slodges). They’re just prospects at this stage. The PDF was updated on L&M’s website this week to reflect the surrendered permit.
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I don’t know. I don’t know if it exists at all – I read it in a newspaper somewhere, and assumed it was true.
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Have a listen to our podcast this week on mining: http://www.greens.org.nz/audio/mining-fighting-talk
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