Press Release – Waikato Regional Council Seven separate court cases against Waikato farmers and businesses have found that they each unlawfully discharged farm effluent into the environment. The cases have been sentenced over the last three months, with the final case being made public …
Seven separate court cases against Waikato farmers and businesses have found that they each unlawfully discharged farm effluent into the environment.
The cases have been sentenced over the last three months, with the final case being made public today, resulting in convictions and a total of $318,025 in fines. The prosecutions were taken by Waikato Regional Council under the Resource Management Act.
Monday, 18 January 2021, 12:28 pm
Seven separate court cases against Waikato farmers and
businesses have found that they each unlawfully discharged
farm effluent into the environment.
The cases have
been sentenced over the last three months, with the final
case being made public today, resulting in convictions and a
total of $318,025 in fines. The prosecutions were taken by
Waikato Regional Council under the Resource Management
Act.
“Farming is obviously a huge and vital industry
that contributes to this region’s economy and communities
in many ways,” said council regional compliance manager,
Patrick Lynch.
“The farming enterprises that feature
in these seven cases reflect a very small portion of that
A Waikato Regional Council officer inspects the extent of effluent pollution at a farm. Judge Melinda Dickey convicted the company in Tokoroa District Court on January 18 and fined it $46,900. The council was alerted to the incident by a member of the public. The highest fine was given to Taupō dairy farmer John Richard Lockwood, who was fined $80,500 for over applying effluent three times – in September and October 2019, and August 2020. He was convicted by Judge David Kirkpatrick in the Taupō District Court on December 1, 2020. In another case, a contract milker allowed effluent to flow into Matapara Stream, which ultimately runs to the Pūniu River.
The Environment Court has rejected a proposal to rezone part of the Pūkaki Peninsula.
Farmland in the heart of south Auckland will remain a green idyll after the Environment Court dashed the hopes of the landowners to rezone it. A group of farmers and landowners had sought to overturn an Auckland Council decision rejecting their proposal to expand the Rural Urban Boundary and the Future Urban Zone across more than 83 hectares of land near Auckland Airport. But after bouncing between the Environment Court and High Court over the last four years, the quest to overturn the decision was rejected in an Environment Court ruling at the end of last year.
Tuakau Proteins Limited was sentenced for discharging unlawful contaminants into the Waikato River. They described the smell as inescapable with windows and doors having to remain closed to prevent the smell of “stale water, rotten carcasses, a baby s soiled nappy or raw sewage” soaking into the walls and carpets. Speaking to
Stuff, complainant Kerry Mosheim said the stench was particularly awful on Christmas and New Year s Day. “It was unbearable. just absolutely disgusting.” Heather McGuire, of Enviroment Action Tūakau, said after years of stink and empty promises of improvement by TPL, the community simply wanted the plant gone.
James Baker/Stuff