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Te Rūnanga o Waihao chairperson Dardanelle McLean-Smith said they do not support South Island Resource Recovery Ltd (SIRRL’s) proposal, or its inclusion on the Fast-Track list, a move which had increased their concerns “exponentially”.The iwi had been “really disappointed” in the lack of transparency from SIRRL throughout the application process.“Community input is very important, and from a mana whenua perspective, we are strongly positioned as kaitiaki within our takiwā.“We submitted against the Fast-Track legislation, as the process pins the decision-making on an expert panel and has restrictive time frames.”“It limits our ability to respond in a way that we would like to for that particular process.“It puts a lot of pressure on us. We are essentially a volunteer organisation and we have a very specific position as mana whenua. We hold rangatiratanga within our takiwā.”   “Why should we be the guinea pigs” McLean-Smith said they are concerned about potential health impacts of toxic ash and metal hydroxides that could be created by the plant and question where they will be disposed.She said the plant could lead to a “layering of extremely adverse environmental impacts” in the area.“We also have other impacts that are happening within our takiwā, like the very high nitrate levels in our drinking water.Te Rūnanga o Waihao and Te Runanga o Arowhenua tasked mana whenua-owned Aukaha to create a Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA) for Project Kea.“The CIA gives very tangible evidence of why we don’t agree with the plant and why we don’t want it to go ahead,” McLean-Smith said.“If we had our way it would not have been entertained. It’s just too untested and we are not going to be the country’s guinea pigs.”Waihao board member Melissa Slatter said they were disappointed SIRRL chose the Fast-Track route and said it feels like they are using it to avoid public scrutiny after initially welcoming it.“What’s more outrageous is that it’s been touted as a renewable energy project.“How you can call the incineration of waste and the generation of eye watering volumes of toxic by-products a renewable energy project. Its just farcical. It’s a joke.”Slatter said the plant would have significant, irreversible impacts on the environment, the waterways, the land, the people and the wider community for many generations and they had to say no to the proposal because they were the voice for future generations.“While SIRRL will say they will enlist the latest and greatest technology in these plants, this is new technology to New Zealand and why should we be the guinea pigs?”McLean-Smith said seeing the community groups mobilising against the proposed plant had been really empowering for the people.“When did we decide profits were more important than the health and well being of our mokopuna?” Read Full Article

 Waimate Mayor Craig Rowley recalls how “highly disappointing SIRRL’s approach to community communication had been.“ At a Waimate District Council public workshop, on November 19, 2024, Waimate mayor Craig Rowley described SIRRL’s approach to community communication as ‘disgusting’. “When it comes to the proposed waste-to-energy plant, I’m disappointed, disgusted in the way that this council and our ratepayers have been treated, in the way that we have heard nothing from SIRRL in the last 12-18 months at all.” “They have refused to engage with the council or … the waste-to-energy group and the general ratepayers, so I think that it has been exceptionally poorly handled, the way that this whole proposal has been put out there and put to the community.” Waimate District Council request falls on deaf ears. Rowley went further and said he was also disappointed that the project had made it onto the Fast-Track list. On November 12, 2024 The Mayor on behalf of the Waimate District Council sent a letter to Minister Christopher Bishop requesting that the government remove SIRRL’s incinerator plant project called ‘Project Kea’ from the Fast-track approvals list. In a February 12, 2025 Otago Daily Times article, Mayor Rowley said he is yet to receive any response from Minister Bishop.

On December 1, 2024, Why Waste Waimate sent a letter to Fast-track minister Christopher Bishop raising concerns about the inclusion of SIRRL’s incinerator proposal on the list of projects included for fast-track approval. In a December 30, 2024, Timaru Herald article, SIRRL responded with director Paul Taylor stating the letter contained “factual errors, and has resulted in the company seeking legal advice over possible defamation proceedings”. When requested by the Timaru Herald to elaborate on the “factual errors” and “comments” Taylor referenced, the company refused to do so and a company spokesperson said Taylor’s statement was “all for now”. WWW responded by saying, “WWW stands by the letter and states that Mr Taylor should elaborate on these unsubstantiated claims. If he believes errors were made that require addressing, why is he so reluctant to state what these so-called errors are?” Allegation of abuse The December 30, 2024, Timaru Herald article quoted SIRRL director Paul Taylor saying “Recent correspondence with WWW spokesperson, Robert Ireland had seen them receive only abusive language”. While Mr Ireland accepts he called Mr Taylor a “gutless lying bastard”, he also says “Mr Taylor is omitting the lead-up conversation that resulted in those comments being made.” Furthermore, to claim that recent communication between Mr Ireland and the company had seen them receive only abusive language is untrue.   The comment came at the conclusion of an email conversation initiated by Mr Ireland in an attempt to get some information on where the proposal currently stood after a long period of silence from SIRRL. “Mr Ireland emailed Mr Taylor on September 30, 2024, stating that the Waimate community were eager to know where the proposal currently stood and whether SIRRL were pursuing fast-tracking. “On October 3, 2024, Mr Taylor responded ‘When we have all that is required to progress to the next stage our priority will be to update the Waimate community’.” Taylor did not respond to the fast-tracking question. Just three days later the Government announced the list of 149 projects included for fast-tracking with Project Kea on that list. SIRRL lodged its Fast-track application on May 1, 2024.   Despite Mr Taylor’s claims, almost three months later, WWW have not received any legal proceedings against them.

On December 16, 2024 the government released the applications submitted for fast-track assessment. However, SIRRL’s application shows just how low the government is willing to go when accepting proposals for fast-track inclusion. SIRRL’s application is littered with mistakes, misleading figures, exaggerated claims, inconsistencies, and completely omits the proponents compliance history from its application.  SIRRL’s signed declaration is false and therefore should have been rejected outright.  In an October 6, 2024 press release, Ministers Jones and Bishop discribed the process for inclusion as “thorough and robust”, However, SIRRL’s place on the list of 149 questions the credibility of the government and its processes for fast-track inclusion. Read more about SIRRL’s fast-track application below SIRRL’s Application

Parliament speeches were briefly halted on Tuesday due to a protest from the public gallery. Protesters shouted “this bill kills” and unfurled a banner, before Assistant Speaker Greg O’Connor ordered they be removed. One of the protesters, Adam Currie from 350 Aotearoa, said communities across the country would continue to fight against projects – especially mines on conservation land. “It doesn’t matter if the bill passes today, because we’re going to be there to stop them, and communities are going to be there to stop them, all across the country. They have no social license to operate.” VIDEO CREDIT: Chino Barrett-Lovie Disaster Waiting to Happen Green Party environment spokesperson Lan Pham said the law was an “unexpected and unwanted Merry Christmas to Aotearoa”. “It’s been really clear from the start that the public didn’t want and still don’t want this bill,” she said. “If they knew the places in communities that would be put at serious risk by these projects, they would not be passing this bill.” She said the Waimate waste-to-energy plant was a “disaster waiting to happen” as such plants had harmful effects to people overseas ‒ and the community did not want it. “And yet, under fast-track, here is a pathway to allow this project to happen.” Read More

On Dec 1, 2024, WWW sent Fast-Track Minister Christopher Bishop an open letter document (see below). The document detailing SIRRL’s waste-to-poisons plant and the current governments ‘she’ll be right attitude’ despite Environment Ministry concerns, was accompanied by the following email and sent to all ministers and spokespersons. Dear Ministers, Spokespersons and other.   The 149 projects short-listed for the fast-track approval process includes a proposal to build a massive rubbish-burning incinerator in the Waimate District.  These plants pose significant risks to the local environment and human health. The harm to the Waimate District and the South Island has been overlooked in favour of ill-conceived development and risky design.   The undemocratic act of removing the proposal from the Environment Court process, where it would have been subjected to the necessary scrutiny to determine its full effects, is dangerous to NZ agricultural exports, our communities, and the environment we treasure.  It was announced last week that the proposal for an incinerator at Te Awamutu is being taken to a Board of Enquiry.  This is a smaller(!) project than the Waimate proposal. It raises the obvious question of transparency: what criteria are applied to add projects to the fast-track list to ensure consistency, and how can proposals of more significant impact be subject to lower levels of scrutiny? The attached document underscores the disturbing fact that several government ministers have chosen to disregard the Ministry for the Environment’s advice, which has consistently shown this proposal to be flawed. This advice has also raised serious concerns about the proposal’s proponents, particularly its history and credibility. These same Ministers have disregarded the overwhelming and strong community opposition to this plant, removed the community’s input from the process, and continue to ignore calls from the local Government and community to remove this proposal from the fast-track list. The Government should heed the advice of its officials, remove this proposal from fast-tracking and allow the Environment Court to fulfil its crucial role in scrutinising such proposals without ministerial interference or the artificial and rushed deadlines of the intended Fast-Track process. For the sake of transparency, this email is also being sent to numerous media outlets.   Regards  Why Waste Waimate Inc. www.whywastewaimate.com SIRRL; A case study in local democracy and accountability

A Waimate District Council survey asking residents if they support a proposed $350 million waste-to-energy plant has received more than 700 responses with an emphatic majority stating their opposition. The result of the survey, which ran from November 5 to 19, showed 94% of respondents were against the proposal. The council received 735 responses to the question: “Do you support a waste-to-energy plant within the Waimate District?” Of those, 697 (94%) answered no, 28 (3.4%) answered yes, and 10 were undecided. The survey was launched on November 5, the same day councillors agreed that mayor Craig Rowley should write a letter to the Government requesting it remove the proposal from South Island Resource Recovery Limited (SIRRL) for a waste-to-energy plant from the list of projects to be fast tracked. Read More

Farmers in a small South Island town are worried milk and meat produced in the area will be contaminated if a waste-to-energy plant goes ahead. “Cattle and sheep are grazing the grass, which puts a massive negative on our exports if things like toxins are found in our meat and wool for New Zealand,” sheep and beef farmer Ross McCulloch said. The Glenavy site is close to dairy factories and Fonterra’s previously raised food safety concerns about a similar proposed plant in the past. The Glenavy School who is a short distance downwind of the proposed incinerator is also concerned. School board Chaiperson, Adam Rivett said, “the dioxins in the air that these things release. If you look at the studies overseas, some of this is not good and obviously, it impacts children more readily than it does adults.” Watch Full One News Story Below

At a November 5, 2024 workshop, the Waimate District Council (WDC) agreed that the mayor write a letter to the fast track ministers requesting Project Kea be removed from the Fast Track Approval’s Bill’s listed projects’. The letter dated November 12 states; WDC writes to express our collective opposition, on behalf of our community, to the approval and construction of the South Island Resource Recovery Limited, Project Kea waste-to-energy plant within our district.

Sixteen months after the environment minister was asked to handle consent applications for a controversial $350 million waste-to-energy plant, the Waimate District Council has asked the Government to remove it from its Fast-track Approvals Bill. Waimate councillors have agreed, after a discussion at a council workshop on Tuesday, that mayor Craig Rowley should write a letter to the Government requesting it remove the proposal from South Island Resource Recovery Limited (SIRRL) for a waste-to-energy plant from the list of projects to be fast-tracked. Rowley said the council did not want the project included in the bill, which was designed to speed up resource consents and get big projects built, saying its inclusion meant the Waimate community would lose the chance to have a say. “It is incredibly important the community has an ability to voice its views on the project,” Rowley said. Councillors also agreed the council could not support the company’s proposal in its current form, given a lack of information. “It is disappointing that when the project was first proposed, the company behind it were very intent on having open discussions with the community, but that has not been the case,” he said. In October, the Government released a list of 149 projects to be fast tracked. SIRRL’s Project Kea was one of those. At the time, the company behind the plan welcomed that decision.   “The Government should heed the advice of its officials” But one of the groups formed in opposition to the proposal, Why Waste Waimate (WWW), issued a statement saying many in the community would feel “cheated and disgusted” by its inclusion. The group’s spokesperson, Robert Ireland, said on Tuesday the group welcomed the council’s decision to send a letter seeking the proposal be returned to the Environment Court. “WWW doesn’t believe this to be an unreasonable request, given that Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the impacts of this proposal are best determined in the Environment Court when she signed off on the land sale earlier this year,” Ireland said. “Applying a shortcut to such an extremely complex and potentially dangerous proposal is reckless, and will lead to mistakes that will negatively impact the environment and human health of the Waimate community for the next 35 years and beyond.” Ireland said he questioned whether those ministers involved in the fast-tracking would be as eager to rush the project through if it was to be sited near them. “The Government should also heed the advice of its officials at the Ministry for the Environment when they repeatedly provide information suggesting this proposal is flawed.” Read full article