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“We are dumbfounded that Genesis is doing this, and even more astonished that the shareholding government ministers Michael Cullen and Trevor Mallard are letting it,” said Greenpeace climate campaigner Vanessa Atkinson.
“At a time when the whole country is looking to tackle climate change, an SOE is taking legal action to give polluting power a free pass on climate change.”
The High Court ruling that Genesis wants reversed involved fellow State Owned Enterprise (SOE) Mighty River Power’s plans to convert the Marsden B power station in Northland to run on coal.
The High Court ruled in favour of Greenpeace and against Mighty River Power by declaring that regional councils must take climate change into account when granting resource consents.
Mighty River Power had filed an appeal of that decision to the Court of Appeal (which Genesis tried to join) but it was dropped when Mighty River Power abandoned the Marsden B proposal earlier this year, after a three year campaign against the project by Greenpeace and community groups.
Genesis has now started new legal proceedings for a declaration to reverse the High Court decision, saying such a declaration would help it gain resource consents for its Rodney power station.
“If Genesis wins this case it could remove the only legal control on polluters’ greenhouse gas emissions. This means that any climate polluting projects (such as Genesis’ forthcoming Rodney gas proposal) could go through the consent process without climate change being considered at all.”
Genesis also runs Huntly power station, which is New Zealand’s biggest single greenhouse gas emitter.
“Helen Clark says she wants New Zealand to be carbon neutral and the Energy Minister is constantly repeating his preference for “a renewable energy future”. Yet the government is letting one of its own companies use the courts to undermine that future.
“It seems the Labour Government still doesn’t accept the need for climate change to be at the forefront of decision making, and is prepared to let one of its SOEs try and get climate change off the agenda altogether.
“The Government should be bringing greenhouse gas emitters to account for their polluting activities, not allowing its SOEs to take Greenpeace to court for trying to protect the climate. This is blatant hypocrisy, and it’s taking New Zealand in completely the wrong direction in terms of the climate.”
Notes to Editor
What exactly is Genesis seeking?
Genesis has asked the High Court to declare that, when a project for which consent is sought doesn’t involve renewable energy, 1) authorities do not have to consider the effects of greenhouse gases emissions on climate change 2) renewable energy and climate change are not relevant considerations, and 3) regional councils may not make rules that have regard to climate change.
How do Genesis’ actions tie in with the RMA?
The Resource Management Act (RMA) was amended in 2004 to affect regional councils’ ability to directly manage and regulate greenhouse emissions. But Greenpeace argued in the High Court that the RMA still provides for climate change to be considered through the benefits of renewable energy development in reducing climate change emissions. The High Court decision confirmed that it does.
Timeline:
October 2004 – Mighty River Power lodge application with Northland Regional Council for resource consent to refire Marsden B power station on coal.
October 2005 - Greenpeace and other community groups lodged an appeal to the Environment Court.
February 2006 - Mighty River Power submitted to the Environment Court that climate change could not be considered in the overall appeal.
July 2006 - The Environment Court made its decision regarding the relevance of climate change to the overall appeal, finding that climate change is not a relevant consideration that can and must be taken into account when approving Marsden B.
August 2006 - Greenpeace appealed the decision on climate change to the High Court.
October 2006 -The High Court overturned the Environment Court decision and said that climate change does need to be considered.
November 2006 - Mighty River Power challenged the High Court decision to the Court of Appeal. Genesis Energy indicated their interest in joining the appeal on Mighty River’s side, and after failing in an attempt to join in the High Court, applied in the Court of Appeal to join as a party to the proceedings, but their application was never heard.
March 2007 - Mighty River Power abandoned its coal plans at Marsden B and withdrew its resource consent application and its appeal to the Court of Appeal.
May 2007 – Genesis Energy filed new legal proceedings against Greenpeace in an attempt to have the effect of the High Court ruling protecting the climate reversed.
