EDS - Taranaki VTM decision shows the Fast-track Act can, surprisingly, work

Environmental Defence Society Chief Executive Gary Taylor says, “The fear has been that the Fast-track Approvals Act would approve every application regardless of its environmental impacts. The draft decision on the Trans-Tasman Resources offshore mining project shows that’s not the case.”

“Far from being “embarrassing” as suggested by a mining industry spokesperson, the decision indicates that the Act can work and that even big projects that don’t meet acceptable environmental thresholds and that overstate their benefits, will get refused consent by expert panels. That’s how the proportionality test of section 85 of the Act is supposed to work (and is consistent with what EDS submitted to the Panel).”