The proposed site sits just north of Warkworth on State Highway 1, with the Hōteo River close by. There are fears that leaching from the dump could pollute the river which runs into the Kaipara Harbour.
A comprehensive description of the potential chemical toxicity (with assistance of an appropriately qualified person) follows an assessment of the political toxicity.
Political toxicity.
Recently however, a political toxicity seems to have emerged
from the lush pristine paradise of native New Zealand bush. Astonishingly, it seems that a Māori
charitable trust i.e., Manuhiri Kaitiaki Charitable Trust - a subsidiary of the
Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust has chosen to
support Waste Management.(1)
In exchange for the settlement trust’s support, Waste
Management has agreed to several conditions, including a return of 1060ha of
Waste Management landholdings once the site is no longer required, $2m to
construct six homes nearby, and a $10m environment fund should the river be
exposed to risk. It is also promising jobs at the landfill for Ngāti Manuhiri
descendants.(2)
An open door to the Dome Valley rubbish dump for Waste
Management to tip its toxic imports(3) in exchange for a fee to one special Māori group?
However, more toxicity emerges with other Māori who have
opposed the “landfill”, are not impressed with this backflip and according to a
spokesperson representing Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua, environmental group Fit
the Tip and Ngāti Whātua hapū Te Uri o Hau.
“It has been a huge surprise. We feel like our throats
have been slit by Ngāti Manuhiri. This is not Ngāti Manuhiri people - this is a
statutory board.”
Annie Baines from Omaha Marae also comments and says the
settlement trust does not correspond with its members.
“There has been no engagement with the Ngāti Manuhiri
Settlement Trust, with its beneficiaries. We have had no hui, no pānui.
“We 100 per cent tautoko our whanaunga in the Kaipara. We do
not want a dump in our backyard. We don’t want 400 trucks driving up State
Highway 1 daily.
“The Kaipara Harbour is the jewel in the crown of Ngāti Whātua. There is no way that Ngāti Whātua is going to stand by and risk this treasure being contaminated.(4)
One does not need to have Māori antecedents to share the
view of Annie Baines. As a kid brought
up on the Kaipara Harbour, and later the MP for a large slice of Northern Kaipara
territory, I am opposed to dumping toxic waste from foreign fields, in the Dome
Valley. I oppose this as a New Zealander
first but also cognisant of my Māori ancestry.(5)
Environmental toxicity. (6) (7) (8) (9)
Chromium and nickel oxides found in nickel slag from the
refining process, asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), are known to
cause cancers at very low levels.
So why are we prepared to risk contaminating one of the
largest harbours in the world with these toxic substances.
Why also is the New Zealand EPA (Environmental Protection
Authority) approving permits for the importation of such a large range of
highly toxic substances.
We have become aware that the Redvale Landfill site at Dairy
Flat is being filled with thousands of tonnes of the above chemicals and lots
of other toxic materials.
Most Aucklanders think that it is just their household and
construction rubbish going into the Waste Management site.
However, as shown by the extract from the EPA Permit Holders
list below, Waste Management have a permit to import 12,000 tonne per annum of
nickel slag which they are landfilling at Redvale.
Slag is the by-product left after mineral extraction so it
is not high in heavy metals but it is still potentially toxic which is why it
is exported from New Caledonia for disposal here in landfill.
Waste Management are therefore making money filling land in
New Zealand with toxic chemicals they import from countries such as New
Caledonia.
The Redvale site is filled using a process known by
environmental engineers as landfill cells. At this site there is a geological
formation that allows them to use excavated pits for waste storage.
The land has thick layers of low permeability mudstone and
limestone beneath, which makes it hard for contaminants to leak out.
These cells are dug out and the waste is dumped into them
and when full, they are capped with hopefully impervious clay.
A manager at this site was asked if he would guarantee no
leakage and he refused to comment.
It is a known fact that you cannot prevent leakage from
landfill sites, just minimize it. With the Redvale site nearly full, Waste
Management is now trying to find an alternative site.
They have bought a 1000 ha site at Dome Valley north of
Auckland. The problem is that the Dome Valley site has water flowing from it
into the Kaipara Harbour.
The Dome Valley is a high rainfall area with an unstable
soil type – known as the ‘Onerahi Chaos' – prone to landslides.
All the rain that falls on the land there goes down into the
Hoteo River then into the Kaipara.
Waste Management plan to allow storm water to drain into the
Hoteo River, but only after being “filtered by a series of dams and wetlands.” If
they continue to be allowed to landfill waste chemicals some of the toxic
components will dissolve and no amount of filtering will remove them from the
water flow.
The question must therefore be asked as to Waste
Management’s intent.
Are they genuinely trying to help by disposing of Auckland’s
waste or are they mainly interested in making a profit while putting the safety
of our environment at risk?
And there are they who will contend: Ten Million dollars will not fix a
contaminated Kaipara Harbour?
(1) https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Backflip-by-iwi-shocks-groups-opposed-to-Dome-Valley-dump-NZ-Herald.pdf
(2) Ibid
(3) Ibid
(4) Ibid
(5) On my paternal side, I am a direct descendant of Chief Te Tuhi-o-te-rangi of Ngati Mahuta, and thereby of King Te Whereowhero of Tainui. I also have Maori pedigree via my maternal side: A Norwegian seaman Ole Olsen, jumped ship in the Hokianga and married a local Ngapuhi Hei Hei wahine. Reverting to the paternal pedigree of Edward Meurant. My French Gt Gt grandfather rocked up in Kawhia in 1835 where he married Princess Kenehuru of Tainui. Meurant became a ‘translator’ at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
(6) https://www.epa.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Documents/Hazardous-Substances/Current-permit-holders-for-Hazardous-waste-import-export-and-transit-permits/7b5c801d5d/Current-Permit-Holders-Imports-Exports-and-transits-as-at-2018.10.02.pdf
(7) IMPORT STATISTICS: Waste Management NZ Limited Wastes having as constituents or contaminants: calcosodium slag, New Caledonia, 12,000 tonnes, 8/04/2023.
(8) Received 6 May 2020: Introduction the French company Societe Le Nickel (SLN) produces nickel since 145 years in New Caledonia (Ashok et al., 2004; Ibrahim et al., 2018).
(9) Background to the slag. The ferronickel slags (FNS) are manufacturing wastes, which currently amount to around 2 million tons per year. At present, only 8% of the annual production is used in cement production and road construction (Nickel, 2017). A stockpile of 25 million tons of FNS is immediately available (Nickel, 2017) for recycling. As it may present environmental risks for surface and ground [1] water, waste reduction and/or elimination should be performed. The FNS from SLN is chemically stable and free of harmful substances (Nickel, 2017). It provides excellent properties such as high density, hardness and toughness, good compaction with high water permeability and high fire resistance with low thermal expansion (Nickel, 2017). It is widely used as asphalt aggregate, construction materials, moulding sand and as fertilisers. FNS presents an excellent potential for construction applications in the Pacific region and particularly for Australia, taking advantage of its strategic positioning and the increasing risk of the decreasing supply of natural aggregates and other supplementary cementitious materials.
5 comments:
it seems that the inter tribal wars up north were not effectively terminated by the signing of the Treaty. Whatever is po\roposed wherever some oppoortunist maori faction invariably emerges claiming non consultation. With the vast expanse of desolate country alongside the northern rail line it seems odd a better site draining more directly to the sea and across private land cannot be found. What is the prrpose o the imported material? Transport seems contaray to low CO2 aims. Surely there are enough hills in NZ to provde fill forever? It astonishes me the difficulty we have with disposal. How do crowded countries like Holland, England cope?
Europe copes with it's waste by burning. Sweden burns 90% of Europe's waste. Most of Northland's waste is burnt at the Portland cement works using their burner built to European emissions standards. NZ should turn Tiwai point into a massive waste burner for all of the Pacific's waste especially plastic. The excess energy created would power a CO2 sequestering plant.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Y8GUnSTlQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpp_rDcf7F8
Oh my goodness imagine the Resource Management Act implications!!!!! Easier and cheaper to send waste to Sweden for disposal.
I wonder how much was spent giving back hander?
So Australian company Igneo is getting paid to dump toxic nickel compounds in NZ . I would have thought that they had some old open cast mines that needed filling in somewhere in the outback.
Post a Comment
Thanks for engaging in the debate!
Because this is a public forum, we will only publish comments that are respectful and do NOT contain links to other sites. We appreciate your cooperation.