On September 27, 2023, at a public pre-election meeting in Waimate, Miles Anderson, National candidate for Waitaki, was asked whether he supported the Waimate incinerator proposal. His response was no. On an earlier occasion, following the re-lodgement of SIRRL’s resource consent application, Anderson was asked whether he would submit against the proposal if the Waitaki electorate opposed it. His response was “Yes, it’s my job.”
However, in an Otago Daily Times article about the incinerators’ inclusion on the fast track list, Mr Anderson commented on the need for the plant. What’s changed?
Anderson meets with Why Waste Waimate
Waitaki National candidate Miles Anderson was invited to meet with WWW in 2023. At this meeting, Mr Anderson was asked whether he supported the SIRRL waste incinerator proposal. He stated that, at the time, he wasn’t opposed to W-t-E in theory. However, he didn’t support the current proposal as it stood. He said it didn’t make sense, highlighting trucking waste to the site from all over the South Island and the impact on already poor-quality roads with insufficient passing lanes to support the extra heavy traffic.
He questioned SIRRL’s ability to acquire enough waste within the South Island, given that it was already spoken for by waste management companies. He also questioned the proponents’ history and couldn’t see how a National government could support it as it currently stood, given the level of unanswered questions about the proposal.
He was asked whether he would submit against the proposal if the Waitaki electorate opposed it.
His response was, “Yes, it’s my job”.
Pre-election position
Mr Anderson attended a pre-election meet-the-candidates meeting at the Waimate Event Centre on Sept 27, 2023. A member of the audience asked all candidates to provide a yes/no answer to the following question: Are you for or against the project Kea proposal? Mr Anderson’s response was no, he did not support the plant.
Post-election
In May 2024, Mr Anderson was invited to meet with the WWW committee to discuss the possibility of the Waimate incinerator being fast-tracked. Six Glenavy farmers were also in attendance.
Anderson reiterated his previous pre-election comment that he would oppose the incinerator as currently proposed.
He didn’t think the government could fast-track anything already earmarked for the Environment Court and expressed doubt that they would support it as it didn’t fit their renewable energy manifesto. He considered that mining and aquaculture projects would be of much higher importance.
Anderson was presented with concerns about the importation of waste, as the Berl report suggested there was insufficient waste within the South Island to fuel a plant of this size. He was also made aware of Fonterra’s submittion against a similar incinerator proposal in Te Awamutu, which stated there was no place for an incinerator in a food producing area.
Mr Anderson was also informed of previous proposals by the same proponents who intended to import waste from the Pacific Island’s and Australia, highlighting any importation of waste would be a biosecurity risk.
Miles said he did not think the importation of waste would be economically viable.
Four farmers told Anderson that they would sell up and leave if the plant went ahead due to the threats it imposed on their farms and their children’s health.
He expressed his view that he did not believe the proposal would proceed.
Anderson said he would follow up on the following;
- Asking if SIRRL had applied for fast track status and whether the company had lobbied the three fast track ministers.
- Would the Prime Minister consider placing a moratorium on all waste to energy plants?
Anderson was later prompted for a follow-up response, which came via email from his PA on July 11, 2024. The email stated Miles did not know if SIRRL had applied for Fast Track status and was unaware of ministers lobbying or being lobbied for this. Also, Miles does not intend to ask the Prime Minister for a moratorium on incineration as this is a very broad subject. The email concluded, “Miles is very interested in keeping up to speed with this, but there has been nothing we are aware of other than it being at the EPA stage.”
ODT Article
An ODT article dated 11 October 2024, regarding the incinerators’ inclusion on the Fast Track list, quoted Mr Anderson as saying there was a need for more electricity generation.
With its hydro scheme, the Waitaki electorate generates 1700MW of renewable energy. The 30MW electricity output projected by SIRRL would amount to around 2% of that figure or 0.3% of NZ’s total electricity generation. However, with the company’s proposed plasma furnace and supply of steam to nearby industries, that figure could drop by as much as half.
SIRRL relies on burning high-calorie fossil fuel-derived plastic waste and vast volumes of auxiliary diesel to generate electricity. In contrast, the equivalent $350 million spent on a wind farm would return seven times the amount of energy and be 100% renewable. Even SIRRL excluded itself as an energy project on the fast track list, so Mr Anderson has completely missed the mark with his ODT comment.
The ODT article also quoted Anderson as saying the plant’s environmental impacts were “debatable.” If Mr Anderson believes this to be true, then surely he must agree that the best place to debate the environmental impacts of this proposal is the Environment Court. However, his government’s fast-track selection panel has dismissed the Ministry for Environment (MfE) and the Environmental Protection Authority’s advice and removed SIRRL’s application from the Environment Court. Why?
Mr Anderson should front up to the Waimate community and explain the about-face. Did he lie to appease voters, or has he been forced to toe the party line to the detriment of his electoral obligations? Show some backbone, Mr Anderson, and stand against the Waimate incinerator. As you said yourself, it’s your job to do so.
"We need to back our farmers like we back the All Blacks."
Miles Anderson’s profile on National.org states, “As Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said recently, we need to back our farmers like we back the All Blacks. National understands the contribution farmers make to New Zealand and will work with them, not against them. As a farmer, I will always be a strong advocate for our primary sector.”
Fast tracking a resource consent for an incinerator sited on prime farmland in a hugely important food producing region is not supporting farmers or advocating for our primary sector.
This incinerator will contaminate the surrounding land, water, and air with dioxins, which will accumulate, poisoning the environment and threatening the livelihoods of local farmers. Is Mr Anderson prepared to see farmers walk off their land rather than face the effects of this government-endorsed incinerator?