11 Aug Four panel members split over Taranaki seabed mining application
Permission to allow seabed mining in south Taranaki was granted by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)’s Decision-Making Committee following an extensive inquiry that involved hearings in Wellington and New Plymouth.
However, details of the approval decision, released on Thursday, showed the four-member panel was split down the middle over Trans-Tasman Resources’ application, which is estimated to be worth many millions of dollars to the country.
It would see 50 million tonnes of material taken from a 66 square kilometre area off Patea every year for up to 35 years in order to extract iron ore.