August 20, 2014
EPA backs phosphate mining opposition
Opposition by Maori fishing companies to a plan to mine phosphate from the Chatham Rise has been boosted by a new report from the Environment Protection Agency.
Agency staff say there are too many uncertainties about the environmental impacts to an important fishery if Chatham Rock Phosphate is allowed to go ahead.
The company wants a licence to mine an initial 820 square kilometre area some 400 kilometres east of Christchurch.
That could expand to more than 5000 square kms over the projected 30 year life of the project.
The report says scraping off up to half a metre of the sea floor has the potential to adversely affect benthic communities, pelagic species, marine mammals, human health, commercial fisheries and Maori/Moriori cultural interests.
Hearings on the proposal start on September 25.
The fishing industry has been banned from bottom-trawling on the Chatham Rise since 2007, when it became a Benthic Protection Zone, but the zone only regulates commercial fishing, not mining.
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