National's Eric Roy is deeply sceptical about whether Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton will follow through on his promise this morning to 'smooth' the way for mining ventures.

Mr Anderton told a mining conference that the Conservation Act has been applied too rigidly in some instances, and he wants to remove those 'roadblocks' to sustainable development.

"On the face of it that's a very sensible comment, which must be applauded. One would hope this means ventures such as the Pike River coal field on the West Coast now stand a good chance of going ahead.

"But when it comes to sensible application of environmental rules this Government has fared poorly. The classic example of that is the way the Government stopped sustainable logging on the West Coast.

"It's easy to say these sorts of pro-mining things at a conference on mining. One can only hope the Deputy Prime Minister has enough backbone to stick by those sentiments when he ends up in the inevitable face-off with greenies like Nandor Tanczos, Sandra Lee and Phillida Bunkle.

"You have to doubt whether Mr Anderton's pro-mining talk will be backed up by his own left-wing colleagues in the Alliance, let alone the Green MPs on whom this Government is reliant for support," Eric Roy said.

Ends

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