Anti-mining group’s legal challenge fails

30 April 2007

Anti-mining group’s legal challenge fails

Solid Energy welcomes today’s High Court decision which confirms the earlier decision of the Environment Court that the company has all the necessary consents and permissions required to capture and relocate native land snails on the ridgeline of its Stockton Opencast Mine in the Buller and to undertake coal mining within the Stockton Coal Mining Licence (CML) area.

Anti-mining group, Save Happy Valley Coalition (SHVC) had appealed the earlier Environment Court decision of 15 December 2007 which confirmed that Solid Energy was acting legally and had all the necessary consents and authorities to mine at Stockton. The group had argued that the company required land use consents to mine within the CML and for adjacent Department of Conservation land and that it did not have necessary water-related consents to cover certain activities. This was despite the fact that the Buller District and West Coast Regional Councils had confirmed Solid Energy’s view that no further consents were required.

Solid Energy Chief Executive Officer, Dr Don Elder says, “This is yet another unnecessary action designed less to protect the species of native land snails than to frustrate and disrupt our business and to cost us money.

“Yesterday’s publicity stunt, where SHVC protestors stopped a coal train by chaining themselves to the railway line, shows that they have little regard for the law and that they don’t give a second thought about tying up the time and resources of the emergency services as well as the courts. Their ongoing activities are frivolous publicity stunts.

“They continue to harass and obstruct our staff and contractors from going about their lawful work. They have trespassed, and damaged property. They have made it clear their ultimate aim is to damage us economically and try to shut the company down totally.

“Today’s decision confirms what we have always maintained. We act within the law and we take our environmental responsibilities seriously. We will spend almost $10 million protecting this snail population; obtaining the necessary permits and authorities to relocate them and defending these actions against legal challenges by anti-mining activists which are totally without merit,” says Dr Elder.

To date more than 5,600 snails have been collected from the Stockton ridgeline area and delivered to the Department of Conservation in Hokitika to be kept in a controlled environment and, since December 2006, almost 2,000 of these have been released back into the wild to predator-controlled habitat at Stockton.

ENDS

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