Forest & Bird is celebrating a Court of Appeal decision this afternoon that the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) was wrong to rubber-stamp a proposal to mine the sea floor off the Taranaki Coast.

"Forest & Bird and many others have opposed TTR's environmentally destructive plans and the EPA's blatantly unsound decision-making since they first came to light three years ago," says Forest & Bird CE Kevin Hague.

"Forest & Bird won't stop fighting environmentally harmful proposals until the lesson is learnt - we need nature, and nature needs us to look after it. New Zealand has a chance to build an economy that protects and restores the environment, and doesn't profit from destroying it.

"Our message to TTR is 'Pack up and go home, New Zealand's environment doesn't need you, and its people don't want you'. To the EPA we say, 'Your job is to protect the environment, start doing it or we will see more of you in court, and we will win'.

“Trans-Tasman Resources was proposing to spend the next 35 years sucking up 8000 tonnes of seafloor every hour. This would likely kill everything on the sea floor, and severely disrupt the habitat of blue whales and other marine mammals.”

“The Taranaki sea is home at least some of the time for 34 species of marine mammals, including Hector’s and Māui dolphins, humpback whales, and New Zealand’s own population of blue whale,” Forest & Bird CE Kevin Hague says. "Forest & Bird's team are celebrating for them, for iwi, and for New Zealand."

For photos and video to support the story:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/glcm5wzm0tnma59/AABpuK19GbBZoJYHaOKGaBgra?dl=

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