The Hive is very pleased to read that the Court of Appeal has issued a Declaratory Judgment that the Auckland Regional Council must not have regard to the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change when considering the resource consent application for the proposed Rodney Power Station.
The Hive believes strongly that the policy response to climate change is a national level issue which is beyond the competence of local or regional authorities to deliver on. Moreover it was Parliament’s intention that the Resource Management (Energy and Climate Change) Amendment Act 2004 removed the ability of regional councils to consider the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change when writing rules and deciding on consent conditions.
It was made clear by Government Ministers during the introduction of the Act that greenhouse gases and climate change was a national issue to be managed by national policy and legislation.
In his Parliamentary speech introducing the Resource Management Amendment Bill in 2003, the then Convenor, Ministerial Group on Climate Change, Hon Peter Hodgson said “greenhouse gas emissions are so important that they should be managed through national mechanisms”.
Unfortunately anti-development lobby groups have been using climate change as a new opportunity to delay or de-rail projects that are going through the already cumbersome RMA process. In Wellington this is being tried regularly, not just in RMA applications but in transport and other infrastructure related decisions.
We hope that all Councils take good note of, and read carefully, the Court of Appeal's Judgement.
We also hope that Genesis Energy proceeds with planning for the proposed Rodney station. Without it there are real security of supply issues looming for Auckland. That will be bad for the whole country.
