EBOP Prosecution of PF Olsen Ltd

EBOP Prosecution of PF Olsen Ltd

Rotorua-based forestry servicing company PF Olsen Ltd toady received a $80,000 fine and prosecution relating to the deposits of sediment and logging debris into tributaries of the Waiotahi River in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. The offending took place during an intense localised rainstorm that fell on 15th – 17th April 2008.

During sentencing submissions PF Olsen stated it had moved quickly following the slips to clear debris from the stream and that subsequent monitoring had confirmed that the stream was now running clear and native aquatic life had returned to normal for streams emerging from forest areas in the region.

PF Olsen further submitted that it was strongly committed to protecting the environment during harvesting operations and since the incident had boosted both staff capability and training of staff and engineering contractors in an attempt to avoid a repeat incident of a similar nature.

Following the sentencing PF Olsen CEO, Peter Clark commented:

“This incident occurred on some of the steepest and most erodible country in the world. While forests do a great job at minimising erosion during a 25 – 30 year growing phase, unfortunately the steep slopes are exposed during the harvesting phase until a new crop of trees gets established – usually a period of 5 or 6 years. In this case the slips occurred during a 1 in 20 year high intensity localised rainfall event. We recognise that the building of roads and skids required to carry out harvesting exacerbates the risk and that special skills and care is required to cope with such storms. Fortunately in this case no long-term environmental harm was done.”

Clark said he “was pleased that EBOP was now engaged with the forest industry to explain its expectations around harvesting activity sediment controls and looks forward to on-going consultation.” He also said he “hoped that this prosecution would not put investors off planting trees on steep erodible hill country in the Bay of Plenty and elsewhere. NZ needed more trees on such land, not only for soil protection but also to help offset carbon emissions from other sectors if we are to improve our national carbon account balance.”

ENDS

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