Category Archives: RDC

Bonny Glen, District Councils, Horizons, News, Rangitikei, RDC

Marton Residents Report Wind from the Bonny Glen Landfill Direction 6-7 km Away Smells ‘Obnoxious … like sewage’

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I was contacted this week by residents who live in town reporting a foul, sewage-like smell blowing from the direction of the Bonny Glen landfill situated some  6-7 km away. This is in addition to the smell of passing trucks which, as previously reported, drop bits of refuse on the roads. Two of those people who gave feedback on the truck situation had this to say:

  • truck numbers are static but there are bigger and heavier truck and trailer units
  •  3 went past within 5 minutes this morning at 7.10am, empty, and making a really loud crash sound as they hit the bumps and manhole covers outside our house, shaking the house
  • The tankers taking leachate to the wastewater treatment start about 7-7.30am and continue until approx. 4pm, making about 7-8 round trips per day (also report 12 pday). However since this report of last year, these days the leachate tanker is seldom seen (so have they changed routes?)
  • How that is affecting the plant is unknown, but I understand that RDC are to spend upwards of $1million to upgrade to cope with this leachate, a good example of the ratepayers subsidising a corporation? (Yes indeed)
  • Doors and windows are warped and sticking due it’s believed, to the continual earthquake-like house shaking that goes on with the passing trucks
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Some Marton residents hear up to 3 trucks in the space of 5 minutes drive past, shaking their homes like an earthquake

Comment:

Is the leachate tanker now taking a different route given it’s not seen any more? At late last year’s reporting by community members the leachate tanker count was 12 sometimes 13 trips on average per day. This is a considerably higher than the mere 2 to 3 figure bandied around last year and signals cause for concern at the volume being dumped in the WWTP, given the plant was not coping with 2-3 loads.

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Leachate is dumped into Marton’s WWTP in unknown quantities under a ‘gentleman’s agreement’, regularly exceeding consent levels

Readers may recall the submission made to the consent hearings last year (2015) by a (then) local man, Hamish Allan, on the issue of leachate and the Tutaenui Stream’s pollution. At the time he was a member of the Marton Community Committee (MCC – a conduit for action between the public and Council) and he said that:

“…a member of the public came to us because they were concerned about ‘Enviro Waste’ trucks disposing of industrial waste from Bonny Glen down a manhole in ‘the junction’. “

Mr Allan outlines the difficult process he experienced in getting any action on this issue. He said that: “…by bringing up the issue of the leachate in our recommendations we were genuinely endeavouring to be an effective liason with the community so…

What could be a relatively simple & democratic process – providing straight-forward answers to straight-forward questions – became an opportunity for Council to tell us off about small-scale procedural matters, with only one councillor voting against the motion, to her eternal credit.

What’s more, the minutes of the Community Committee meeting in February 2012 detail Council’s deliberate attempt at avoiding any direct response to the issue of the leachate…”

… they simply refused to accept the recommendation of the MCC! You can read the submission yourself here. You will find there also,  full details of the ongoing and shocking non compliance issue regarding the pollution of the Tutaenui Stream.

In conclusion, the MCC appears to be giving merely the illusion of a democratic process.

Clearly from Mr Allan’s report of 2011 and 12 events, that avenue for addressing pertinent issues didn’t work. I attended one of the MCC meetings last year to ask when an in-stream biota survey would be conducted to assess the aquatic life of the stream. They should be made three yearly according to the consent, however in Mr Allan’s submission he points out that there hadn’t been one since 2002. At the meeting I attended the Mayor Andy Watson was present and spoke to my question. There was no date given for a survey nor any indication there would even be one. In answer to my query, what action should I take as a member of the public or words to that effect, I was advised to email the Council (ie the Mayor and Councilors). I did that subsequently and have heard NOTHING since.

Clearly also, the democratic processes within your democratically elected council are not working in favour of you the public who incidentally are funding the whole machine with your rates.  Whom it does appear to be working for are the Bonny Glen Landfill owners, Midwest Disposals. 

To read more on historic feedback on the vagaries of the landfill go here.
For the history of the landfill and the quintupling (almost) of its original size go here.

EnvirowatchRangitikei

Bonny Glen, Midwest Disposals, Pollution, RDC

A Rangitikei observer reports seven to twelve truckloads of leachate per day for the WWTP

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The Marton Waste Water Treatment Plant is up for a multi million dollar upgrade as reported recently in the Wanganui Chronicle. It was noted in the article (and locals of course know this) that “…a contributor to the current plant’s failure was leachate (landfill run-off), which was trucked to the treatment plant from Bonny Glen landfill..” 

According to RDC’s own report of December 2014 “Marton’s WWTP is configured as a domestic/municipal wastewater treatment based upon pond technology. It is not well suited to provide high levels of treatment to significant industrial trade wastes of a complex nature”. 

The Chronicle’s article goes on to say that … “The landfill’s owners are now working on pre-treating the leachate and the council’s utility assets manager Joanna Saywell suggested Midwest may be able to fully treat the leachate within a few years.”

The operative words here are “working on”, “may be able to” and “a few years”. This non specificity will allow all parties concerned to drag their feet for quite possibly another decade or so  given the wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly. Note they have dragged their feet for one decade already whilst polluting the Tutaenui stream to who knows what extent … as  deputy Mayor “Mr McManaway said it was a worry that records of what was being put through the system [that he serves] had not been maintained.” (Wanganui Chronicle 20/12/14). In fact, with 10 of the required 36 reports over nine years either missing or non-existent, and a decade of largely non-compliance, going by the water testing that did occur,  we can fairly safely conclude it’s in a bad state. And the in-stream biota surveys? There’s been none since 2002 … the consent requires one every three years so four are missing. (These surveys tell us the state of the stream’s aquatic life, if any). My two queries in March to RDC asking if there’d be another one hasn’t garnered a response yet.

In December 2014, pre-consent stage, the official reporting of leachate-truck activity was one load every two days:

“Leachate is put into the waste water system about every second day under a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between the council and Bonny Glen operators Midwest Disposals Ltd… Some days leachate can contribute almost 70 per cent of the ammoniacal nitrogen levels which regularly exceed consented levels..”  Wanganui Chronicle 20/12/14

A person on the truck route commented on the article however that they were seeing the leachate truck go past at least three times a day. A conservative estimate then would make that one round trip a day at least.

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Waste water treatment in Marton

Fast forward eight months. The consents are granted to quintuple the landfill size (not quadruple as previously broadcast) with a now increased volume of leachate due to the extended capacity of the landfill. It’s been observed by a local who lives on the truck route, that the leachate tanker is making seven round trips a day on average, and often there are two tankers working bringing that up to twelve round trips a day, six days per week.  So we have progressed from an estimated six truckloads per week to a conservative forty two to seventy two per week. That is quite some increase.

We are certainly going to be needing that multi million dollar upgrade and let’s keep our fingers crossed that Midwest “may be able” to treat the leachate themselves “within a few years” as they’re saying. As Nigel Belsham’s quoted in the article, “… if it was trade waste causing problems to the plant and not domestic waste, the bill should be picked up by industry.” 

But then we do have a gentleman’s agreement that it appears, at all costs must be kept. Hopefully RDC will see their way clear to getting an in-stream biota survey soon so we can know how trashed the Tutaenui really is.

If you haven’t surely already deduced this, RDC, like councils everywhere these days, has been placing corporate interests above the interests of both the environment and the people who elect them. These same councils espouse ‘sustainability’ – the new ‘buzz’ word – while in reality their practices are everything but sustainable.

EnvirowatchRangitikei

Bonny Glen, Pollution, RDC, Water

Council to discuss upgrade of waste water treatment plant

This is from the Wanganui Chronicle and updates us on where RDC is up to with their plans to solve the significantly long standing status of non-compliance with regard to the leachate pollution of the Tutaenui Stream. (To read the full history of this and the non compliance reports see former Martonian Hamish Allan’s submission to the consent hearings earlier this year. There should be an in stream biota survey every three years and it appears there have only been two). More on this later.

Recently a local resident who lives on the truck route informed me he sees 12 round trips per day of the leachate tanker. This is a significantly larger volume than the number that has been cited to the public. 

An upgrade is good news will not be before its time.

Here is the Chronicle article:

“A multi-million-dollar, three-year upgrade of the Marton wastewater treatment plant has been proposed.

Rangitikei district councillors will this morning discuss changes aimed at making the plant compliant with its resource consent.

The MWTP has been non-compliant for at least a decade, partly due to its acceptance of leachate (run-off) from the nearby Bonny Glen landfill. The latest compliance report found the plant’s discharge into the Tutaenui Stream “significantly non-compliant”. At times, ammoniacal nitrogen levels have been 35 times the recommended limit and deemed to adversely affect aquatic life…”

Read More:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11496417 

Glyphosate, News, RDC, Related Chemical Websites

Are councils in bed with Agrichemical companies? They cite grossly inaccurate figures in their defense

Are councils in bed with Agrichemical companies? Both the Auckland & Rangitikei District Council are favouring chemical weed control over non-chemical, in spite of the heightened health risks highlighted recently by WHO. They cite outdated & incorrect data to support this preference. 

Some Aucklanders are currently objecting to a flip flop on their Council’s current weed management policies. A petition has been circulating (and is on FB also  if you would like to sign it) calling (like the Rangitikei) for a ban on the use of glyphosate on Auckland’s streets and parks. Some parts of Auckland are chemical free in terms of weed management however not all, and council is doing a u turn on their current policy of minimal chemical use, indicating in their Ten Year Plan a preference for chemical control.

Copy of Copy of Dec 2014 041
Public areas are sprayed without any warning before, during or after the fact

Auckland’s Weed Management Advisory (a Community-led organization that helped create the Council’s Weed Management Policy 2013 of minimum agrichemical use, which the Council seems intent on doing away with) are also calling for a BAN on Glyphosate and have put a leaked briefing document up on their website. You can read it here. This is the Long Term Plan featuring quotes for alternative methods of weed management as opposed to management with glyphosate, typically, Roundup. Georgina Blackmore, the petition organizer, states that the figures cited should be taken with a pinch of salt … in fact a very large amount of salt. They are using she says, old, inaccurate and misleading information. “Disingenuous” says Auckland councilor John Watson. The Weed Management Advisory has accused the Auckland Council of putting the public at risk. Read their press statement here.

This line is a very familiar tale. Our own Rangitikei District Council cited inaccurate figures when justifying their rejection of glyphosate-free weed management in our public spaces. We had tried to counter this outcome by citing Auckland contractors who are currently employing mechanical weed control methods. The latter stated emphatically that their costs were a marginal 10-15 percent more than Roundup, and expected soon to even match it. Similarly, with the current Auckland scenario cited here, other Auckland contractors are saying their costs are even less than glyphosate.

When the request for tighter parameters and controls around glyphosate spraying was originally put to the RDC, citing the extensive independent research available on the myriad health risks associated with Roundup use,  an internal report was requested by RDC on alternative cost-effective weed-control methods.  Councilor Lyn Sheridan asked why health effects were not investigated by RDC and the response by CEO Ross McNeill was, ‘…they weren’t asked for’. They are missing the point here.

We need to be asking, why are Councils so bent on, so adamant, about choosing chemical control, and with a chemical that has recently been re-classified by WHO as a Class 2A carcinogen?  Claiming there is insufficient proof of health risks is myopic at best.

Currently, as of 2011, one in three New Zealanders will contract cancer

That statistic is extremely high and surely deserving of closer examination of the research into environmental causes and the elimination of the probable ones?

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Walkways and adjacent herbage where both school children & general public regularly walk is sprayed heavily with Roundup/glyphosate

The thing about Roundup is (and you will hear this in the audio link below) we the public are given no warning in advance of spraying, no signs are put out when they are spraying (so people can walk on it before it’s dry without even knowing) it is sprayed on public walkways where school children walk with no prior warning and it is sometimes sprayed on windy days.

Read Georgina’s piece here on her recent findings and her interview on Radio with Auckland Councilor John Watson and Professor Ian Shaw from Canterbury University.

Link to the audio HERE

Read the Scoop’s press release on Weed Management Advisory’s findings here:

Auckland Council Accused of Putting Public at Risk

Thursday, 30 July 2015, 11:24 am
Press Release: Weed Management Advisory

Auckland Council Accused of Putting Public at Risk

“A complete ban on the spraying of glyphosate, also known as Roundup, on all public land in Auckland is called for after a New Zealand toxicologist confirms heightened risks of the chemical. Leaked documents show Auckland Council trivialising the serious health risk…..”  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1507/S00578/auckland-council-accused-of-putting-public-at-risk.htm

Auckland Council Budget Committee’s paper on weed management citing false figures for non chemical control:  https://weedmanagementadvisory.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/briefing-note-auckland-council-weed-managment-april-2015.pdf 

Article from Georgina Blackmore (Ban Glyphosate in Auckland NOW at Facebook)

“In an interview I gave on bFM this week about our campaign to ban the use of Glyphosate on Auckland Roads and Parks, Councillor John Watson and expert of Toxicology Professor Ian Shaw both agreed that we need to be seriously looking at what alternatives we have to spraying Glyphosate…” Read at SOURCE:  https://www.facebook.com/BanGlyphosate/posts/417049618496545

Bonny Glen, RDC

The trucks to Bonny Glen … local concern about speed, noise and road damage

This week a local person contacted the site expressing concern with the trucking to Bonny Glen. Here is a summary of those concerns:

  • I am beginning to be more concerned over the number of trucks going along Wanganui Road
  •  Speed is a BIG Issue… speed’s always been an issue but there is more noise and speed than ever before… seems to me that something like a road hump needs to be put in place to slow them down because road signs certainly don’t
  • The noise of the trucks has increased, one hears them bumping over who knows what
  • Trucks are entering Marton, and leaving it in the small hours
  • The state of the road has deteriorated and will get worse I am sure
  • Is there another route that could be used? If it must continue?

Backtrack to mid 2014 and we had reports saying that if consents were granted to quadruple the landfill size the trucks are unlikely to be more numerous on a daily basis … (Feilding Herald Aug 14 2014) now the consents are granted and the landfill is set officially to almost quintuple we are told there WILL be an increase of trucks from an average of 42 to 73 per day (Manawatu Standard 12 June 2015).

Note, I have also reported on the site other expressions of concern over trucking noise and speed. A truck every ten minutes (35 in a morning – modest estimate) and at very early hours. This person reported the entire house shaking when they went by, often dropping refuse along the way, and leaving odour. The person is not alone in their concerns, other neighbours are also fed up with the trucks.

If you’re concerned in any way with the state of affairs concerning truck nuisance, put them in writing to the RDC Mayor and Crs, and/or make them known at the Community Committee meetings that meet every second Wednesday of the month. Details on the RDC website.

Please also consider contacting the site so the information can be registered there as well.

~ EnvirowatchRangitikei ~

Glyphosate, RDC, Related Chemical Websites

Petition to Ban Carcinogenic Chemical in Rangitikei’s Urban Public Places

TO: THE RANGITIKEI DISTRICT MAYOR ANDY WATSON, AND CEO ROSS MCNEILL

We are calling on the Rangitikei District Mayor Andy Watson, and CEO Ross McNeill, to protect the public’s health by banning the use of the carcinogen glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, within the Rangitikei town limits. We want to see the Community housing grounds and parking areas, street verges, berms and roadsides, public parks and walkways designated chemical free zones.

Why is this important?

Recently glyphosate was classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Class 2A carcinogen, meaning, it probably causes cancer.
In 2009 French Professor Séralini’s two year study on glyphosate found it produced large cancerous tumours in rats. Because its effects are cumulative and not immediate (that is they only show up over a long period of time) people generally think it is safe. Dr. Don Huber, an award-winning, international scientist, microbiologist and professor emeritus of plant pathology at Purdue University (US) who has 55+ years experience in research and expertise in the area of plant pathology, says that contrary to the common claim of safety, a large volume of peer-reviewed scientific information clearly demonstrates that Roundup herbicide is chronically toxic to human and animal tissues and leads to cancer, premature death, kidney and liver failure, blood disorders and a host of other diseases.
Glyphosate is many times more toxic than DDT, and there’s also a correlation between Glyphosate use & bee die off.
With our cancer statistics at one in three now and climbing, it is important we protect the public, particularly children, from exposure to this chemical. It is a product most Council contractors use in keeping both urban and rural public areas weed free. There are some Councils however that now use chemical free alternatives, one in particular is hot water and foam. Some of us have already requested of Rangitikei District Council that they consider a chemical free alternative, however they’ve declined, based on their own report that failed to look at the proven cost effectiveness of hot water and foam treatment which is almost equal in cost to chemical spraying.
Our environment has long been subject to frequent spraying of this toxic chemical and France’s highest Court ruled in 2009 that it is not biodegradable as advertised. It has now also been found present in human blood, urine and breast milk. With WHO’s damning conclusions we need to be taking responsibility for protecting our health and making our beautiful district healthy and environmentally friendly for all. The public spraying of this carcinogenic chemical is a violation of our human rights.

Help us make public areas in our Rangitikei towns both glyphosate and chemical free now.

Sign the Petition HERE

Health, RDC, Related Chemical Websites

More on Marton’s leachate saga

Plant performance queried

By Zaryd Wilson

Thursday Apr 16, 2015

The persistent resource consent compliance failure of the Marton Wastewater Treatment Plant has come under scrutiny.

Representatives from Rangitikei District Council fronted the Horizons Regional Council environment committee yesterday to explain the plant management and decisions made.

The plant’s discharge into the Tutaenui Stream has been failing compliance for at least a decade and is in breach of environmental and reporting conditions.

An independent report last year highlighted leachate, which the plant accepts from Bonny Glen landfill, as the main factor behind significant compliance failure. Without the leachate, the plant would likely meet compliance. RDC has accepted the leachate for a number of years under an informal “handshake” deal in return for payment from landfill operators Midwest Disposals Ltd.

Council representatives acknowledged problems with the MWTP and said they were committed to meeting compliance.

But it is going to cost.

“We regard it as serious and we’re taking our time to get the decisions correct,” Rangitikei Mayor Andy Watson said.

Rangitikei’s infrastructure manager Hamish Waugh said council had improved its data reporting in the past 12 months.

“I acknowledge that it wasn’t up to scratch in the past.”…… read the article HERE

– Wanganui Chronicle

Who will pay? Probably not the main polluter in this dance anyway. “…we’re taking our time to get the decisions correct” (emphasis added) …. well that is the truth. And in 2011 ignored attempts by the public via its own community committee to get this whole fiasco out in the open and dealt with.

~ Envirowatchrangitikei ~

Glyphosate, Health, RDC, Related Chemical Websites, roundup

Central District Times reports on Glyphosate outcome for urban spraying in the Rangitikei

RDC’s Verdict on Non-Chemical Urban Spraying Option in the Rangitikei 

The Central District Times has reported on the outcome of my presentation to the RDC’s forums on 26th March 2015 . You can read the CD Times article at its source HERE, or to enlarge, click on the copy below….the article by Caroline Brown is titled …

URBAN SPRAYS OPTIONAL

Urban Sprays Optional CD Times

I have written a response to this article, not published at this stage (it may or may not be). You can read it here:

Letter to the Editor re ‘Urban Sprays’, 31st March 2015,

This issue was raised with the RDC 12 months ago citing much research deeming glyphosate a probable carcinogen. The response; ‘unproven extrapolation’. Following discussions with the Mayor at my request, he said if a cost effective alternative were found it would be considered. Seven months later I made a presentation to the RDC citing the research again, requesting opt out from chemical sprays in Rangitikei’s urban public places. Two Cnlrs voted it onto the agenda pending a report by Council. I then forwarded contact details for a company in Ak with a proven system costing 10-15% more than glyphosate (not 15x more) set to match glyphosate by end of year. The contact wasn’t followed up. If you decide to opt out of chemical exposure, be prepared for ridicule and unpleasantness.  When RDC discussed this, the Clr for the proposal, in citing the latest announcements from WHO and Canterbury University, was directed to stick to questions not discussion, whilst seconds later a Clr against the proposal, still question time, was allowed to expound on the safety of glyphosate. For more info & if you’re for a chemical free urban Rangitikei, sign the petition at envirowatchrangitikei.wordpress.com or the Sustainable Rangitikei FB page

Please note, the online petition will not be on the websites until this weekend 11th April.

Please consider signing it if you are at all keen to restrict chemical spraying around town where humans, including our children, are exposed. You will find more information on the spraying of Glyphosate in particular, on the Glyphosate page, a sub page to the Chemicals page. Links to the research are there also. For further articles use the categories box at the left of the pages, or scroll to ‘Updates’ at the bottom of the Glyphosate page. Sign up for ongoing updates.

Pam Vernon

~ Envirowatchrangitikei ~

Bonny Glen, Horizons, Leachate, RDC

Chronicle again highlights a decade of consent breaches by RDC and pollution of the Tutaenui Stream

As previously reported here, RDC has failed to meet consent conditions for all of a decade, and Horizons has failed to deliver any penalties. Now Horizons, according to this latest article by the Wanganui Chronicle, has written to the RDC (after 10 years?) asking why it has been consistently breaching.

“Horizons has written to RDC seeking a formal explanation as to why it is consistently failing to comply with ammoniacal nitrogen standards and what steps it is taking to ensure this matter is addressed. A response was to be provided to HRC this week. A Horizons spokesperson said it was received.”

So ten years pass, and all of that time, it has been quite within the power of Horizons to deliver some kind of penalty regarding these breaches, and now it is asking questions? Closing the gate long after the horse has bolted. You can read the actual compliance/non compliance reports at this link.

In December we had RDC saying there would be a report on why at the end of January. Here we are in mid March with still no real answers.

Read THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE’S ARTICLE HERE

Bonny Glen, Landfill, Midwest Disposals, RDC

Landfill verdict expected by early April

11 March 2014      Here is the latest from the Chronicle (Wanganui) regarding an outcome and the submissions hearing regarding Midwest Disposals’ landfill at Bonny Glen near Marton.

In the hearings I attended the independent commissioner chairing the proceedings, said, ‘When the consent …. if the consent is granted ….’  He quickly corrected himself by adding, ‘ Of course there are no guarantees…’ or words to that effect. My life experience tells me that this is as near to a Freudian slip a person can get. Basically he is saying what is really in his head. I’ve written to three editorial columns now about this fact and none have printed my emails. Well two haven’t, we’ll see on the third as I only sent it this morning’.  (An hour ago, still not approved).

This is a sign of the times I believe. Big business is in bed with government in terms of money & profits, and any rhetoric about protecting our environment, are probably mere window dressing. I’ve been reading increasingly that there has to be a compromise between maintaining the economy & considering the environmental effects of industry. Very convenient with a loose directive like this. Who is really policing it? Certainly with the Marton evidence to date, the RDC & Horizons appear to have been in collusion. If they’re not, then why have Horizons not meted out some kind of penalty for the RDC’s negligence resulting in pollution of our waterways? For NINE years? (See previous articles here on the Tutaenui Stream’s pollution by leachate by going to ‘categories on left side of site page).

So no, I’ll not be a bit surprized ‘when’ the consents are granted. The hearing will allow the company in question here to concede to provide some of the needed mitigation of damage … and the locals will be left to complain accordingly should the fallout they suspect will continue to happen … continue to happen. And should you have problems getting through to Council, just go to the Community Committee Meeting, and Council may accept their recommendation … or they may not … as Mr Hamish Allen discovered when he tried to raise the leachate issue in the first place.

Here is the Chronicle article anyway… and watch this space as I will be writing further about the ‘independent’ commissions & who comprises the panels.

Read the ARTICLE HERE

Bonny Glen, Horizons, Midwest Disposals, RDC, Submissions Hearing

Wanganui Chronicle reports on the leachate submission

28 Feb 2015 The Wanganui Chronicle has reported on the submission by Mr Allan. Commissioner Brent Cowie has said it was a waste of everyone’s time. Not surprizing given they had taken, this along with the other important issues like land values and truck nuisance effectively off the table. Not a word by Mr Cowie on the fact that the submission is very damning of Horizons and the RDC. The submission provides documented evidence of total negligence in their care of the Rangitikei waterways, in particular the Tutaenui Stream. If you have not already, you can read Mr Allan’s full submission, including all of the reports that were made available at his request, (many were missing). Many show non compliance and yet the RDC have received little more penalty from Horizons than a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket.  The reports are uploaded onto the Rangitikei Environmental Health Watch website. Judge for yourself if they have not been very remiss in their responsibilities in caring for the environment as the Horizons website claims they do.

I attended the hearings the day of Mr Allan’s submission (and would have gone every day were it held in the actual home of the proposed extended landfill). Cr Soraya Peke-Mason slammed this decision early in the piece. One could be forgiven for thinking the whole process is mere window dressing for an already foregone conclusion/decision. One of the independent commissioners made a glaring Freudian slip during the proceedings, saying …. “once the consent … well if the consent is granted”….. One would hope the local people will take this matter up with Council & Horizons “once the consent is granted” because nobody else is going to. Not even these independent experts who purport to care for the environment.

Read the Chronicle article HERE

Bonny Glen, Horizons, Landfill, Leachate, Marton, Midwest Disposals, Property Values, RDC, Submissions

SUBMISSION REVEALS NEGLIGENCE BY AUTHORITIES REGARDING LEACHATE DISPOSAL

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 Submission on RDC’s Leachate Disposal into the Waste Water Treatment Plant in Marton

On February 24th Hamish Allen, a Marton resident, presented a submission to the panel on a topic that is not considered to be part of the consent hearings. (For a background to the consent applications to quadruple the size of the Bonny Glen landfill go HERE). Neither, as was pointed out prior to the hearings, were property values or trucks.  Ironically, since these are the very concerns which automatically arise when a neighbouring landfill announces plans to quadruple in size.  Nevertheless, Allen’s submission concerns the leachate that is disposed of through Marton’s Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) and has been for nine or so years (deemed the RDC’s concern, not Midwest Disposals’) . This has been, rather than a formal arrangement on paper … a ‘gentleman’s agreement’. The levels have been poorly reported and only sporadically tested with many non compliances, as Allen’s submission demonstrates. He has supported his submission with documented evidence. There have been by all appearances, no penal consequences issued by Horizons for these failures in compliance by the RDC. Following is Allen’s submission which outlines the history of how the Marton Community Committe (MCC) of which he was a member at the time, tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to address this in 2011. There needs to be accountability here … as Allen points out in his submission

‘there can be no economy on a dead planet’. 

The consistent placing of economic interests over the environment is NOT sustainable. The very principles our regional authorities are purporting to pursue … “Maintaining and enhancing our Region’s land, water, air, coast and habitat protection” (from Horizons’ website) …  are being held in flagrant disregard. These electedrepresentatives need to be held accountable. You can assist with that process by attending the Marton Community Committee Meetings and lodging your objections there: 

MARTON COMMUNITY COMMITTEE
Location: Youth Club, Centennial Park Pavilion, Humphrey Street, Marton
Wednesday 11th March 2015 7.00 pm

At the end of the submission below here, the original compliance and non-compliance reports will be available to access by this weekend, 28th Feb 2015. Any inserts of photocopied evidence within the submission can be clicked on to enlarge. 

READ ALLEN’S SUBMISSION HERE

WATCH FOR THE ORIGINAL COMPLIANCE REPORTS WHICH WILL BE UPLOADED TO THE SAME PAGE THIS WEEKEND …. 28TH FEB 2015

Watching our environment … our health … and corporations … exposing lies and corruption