My Account
The release of an interim decision on the proposed regional landfill at Wayby last month has raised the spectre of yet further, very expensive, legal wrangles. In what has been described as one of the most complex cases ever to go before the Environment Court, Judges Jeff Smith and Melinda Dickey have neither approved nor declined Waste Management’s application. Instead, they say the company needs to demonstrate that it is taking the significant environmental risks, as well as cultural issues, seriously. Only then could the consent be granted.
The Wayby landfill has never been a fair fight.
While the Department of Conservation and even Forest & Bird may have budgets to draw on for this type of litigation, the same cannot be said for iwi, Fight the Tip and individuals. Their funds are not inexhaustible, and Fight the Tip has relied heavily on fundraising and donations, and the generous support of its legal counsel. The court has recognised the validity of the concerns raised by opponents, so their opposition is far from a ‘not in my backyard’ reaction.
Fighting in the other corner is the super-resourced corporate Waste Management NZ owned by the multi-national Igneo Infrastructure Partners, which has ties to banks in Tokyo. On its own website, it describes itself thus, “We are one of the largest and most experienced direct investors in infrastructure assets globally.”
Therefore, it was disappointing that the Environment Court didn’t have the courage to make a decision on the evidence that was presented at the hearing. If it had, the only decision surely would have been to decline it. Instead, it has offered Waste Management another shot at securing its consent. The financial implications of this further work for the groups opposing the landfill are both enormous and unfair. (see stories)
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