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Tons of a hazardous substance found in a Mataura warehouse will be moved to the New Zealand Aluminum Smelters Limited (NZAS) site at Tiwai Point, where it will be stored in containers.
The news has been welcomed by Mataura resident Laurel Turnbull, who has been fighting for ouvea premix removal since 2014.
One Minute Alternative Environmental Judge Laurie Newhook, who was released Tuesday, says she is pleased to announce that the parties in this case have reached an agreement to expedite the removal of aluminum-derived material (ouvea premix) from the old Mataura paper factory.
The premix, a class six hazardous substance, produces toxic ammonia gas if it gets wet and the mill in which it is stored is next to the Mataura River.
READ MORE:
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* Mataura urges the government to immediately eliminate toxic waste
* Rio Tinto remains committed to eliminating toxic substances
The expedited removal process is underway now and is expected to be completed by the end of April, subject to weather and equipment availability, the minutes said.
The by-product is transported to the New Zealand Aluminum Smelters Limited (NZAS) site at Tiwai Point, where it will be stored in containers. The Crown has compensated NZAS for certain losses it may incur from the storage of the material.
“I believe that the agreement will give peace of mind to the residents of Mataura, freeing them from anxiety about the risk of river water impacting the material,” Newhook said at the minute.
He understood that in time, the material would be exported.
“I believe that the agreement offers the double benefit of protecting the well-being of the people of Southland and its waterways.”
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Laurel Turnbull from Mataura, who has been fighting since 2016 for ouvea premix to be phased out
Order Dross spokesperson Laurel Turnbull was excited when she learned of the deal Tuesday.
“It’s almost too good to be true,” he said.
“It’s just wonderful.”
It had fought for the disposal of the premix since 2014, when it was first discovered at the mill.
The New Zealand Aluminum Smelter (NZAS) confirmed on Tuesday that it would move the remaining ouvea premix currently stored in old Mataura paper to its Tiwai plant, where it would be stored while awaiting processing and export.
NZAS CEO and General Manager of the NZAS site, Stew Hamilton, said: “While NZAS does not own this material, we will remove it from the paper mill site and provide a solution in the best interest of the community. After discussing it with local and national governments, we will provide secure storage in NZAS to solve this long-standing problem for our Southland community. “
The material would be stored in airtight shipping containers and held on hard support at the Tiwai Point smelter.
The withdrawal of the paper mill had already begun and would take eight to 12 weeks to complete.
The material would then be processed at NZAS by third party contractors before being shipped to an overseas industrial end user.
Gore District Council Executive Director Steve Parry, who has been at the forefront of trying to ditch the Matuara premix, said he was elated for the people of the city.
“It’s been a nightmare that he refused to go away and now we hope to see him go away in a few months.”
He hoped it would be a “pretty good winter” for Mataura.
“Instead of the darkened skies of recent years, there are bright skies ahead and this terrible threat to public health will be a thing of the past.”
The Tiwai smelter was the only logical place for it because it had a license to store it, Parry said.
Mataura Community Board Chairman Alan Taylor said the removal of the premix would bring peace of mind to city residents.
“For some people it has been a real concern and for the community as a whole, it is a good result and a great relief that it is changed.”
Gore’s district council had worked hard behind the scenes to remove it, he said.
The agreement is the result of negotiations between the parties, facilitated by Newhook on behalf of the Environmental Court, following a legal action initiated by the Society for the Defense of the Environment to determine the ownership and responsibility of removing the ouvea premix.
Environmental Defense Society Executive Director Gary Taylor said he had filed a proceeding because he believed that NZAS was responsible for the continued safe handling of the premix, which posed significant health and environmental risks if it got wet.
The current storage facility at the old paper mill was prone to flooding, Taylor said.
“This was a complex negotiation that took a long time and was challenging. While our position is that a small environmental group like EDS should not have been asked to take on the world’s largest mining company to see it face up to its environmental responsibilities, we are pleased with the result. “
He thanked NZAS and Rio Tinto for helping to find a solution.
Former NZ First list MP Mark Patterson, who also fought hard to remove the premix from Mataura, said shipping it to Tiwai was the obvious solution up front and that it was disappointing that it took so long.
“But he is going now and that is very positive.”
The people of Mataura had endured a series of unacceptable circumstances and were delighted with the townspeople.
“I could never help but think that if this had been in the middle of Wellington, it would have been gone years ago.”
The Ministry of the Environment (MfE) and NZAS will share the additional costs necessary to accelerate the removal of material from the Mataura site. Each will contribute 50 percent.
A court-assisted mediation was held in Invercargill between the New Zealand Aluminum Smelters (NZAS) and the Environmental Defense Society on October 16.
The company filed a declaration procedure in the Christchurch Environmental Court in July on the storage of the premix, which is a class 6 hazardous substance that releases ammonia gas if it gets wet.
The procedures determined whether NZAS was responsible for disposing of the premix and was only referring to the premix being stored at Mataura, not at other sites in Southland.
“I am satisfied that this agreement takes due account of the history of the material stored in Mataura and the urgent need to remove it for the benefit of our environment and the residents of Mataura.
“I am confident that the health and safety of the communities and of the contractors involved in the removal of the Tiwai material and its storage in Tiwai are the highest on the minds of the parties in reaching this agreement.”
Newhook said this was a separate agreement to resolve the current situation and is not related to any agreement regarding the future of the smelter or the remediation of Tiwai Point.
Former NZ First list MP Mark Patterson started a petition in Mataura and presented it to the environmental selection committee last year.
Gore District Council Executive Director Steve Parry negotiated an agreement between affected parties to begin removing the premix from the mill in 2019, with the phase-out beginning at a rate of one or two truckloads per week in October.
After flooding threatened the mill building in February, Parry negotiated an urgent deal to speed up the removal of the premix, but that was spoiled several days later when Rio Tinto pulled out of the handshake deal.
Taha Asia Pacific stored 10,000 tonnes of ouvea premix at the old paper mill and another 10,000 tonnes at Invercargill warehouses prior to its liquidation in 2016.
In December of the following year, the liquidators formally renounced the premix, leaving the government, municipalities and owners to find a solution for its disposal.
People have voiced their opinion about getting the substance out of Mataura and that overflowed when floods in February earlier this year caused the Mataura River, which runs adjacent to the mill, to swell rapidly.
Then there was concern that the river might break the mill.
