It will come as no surprise that two of the companies on Chris Bishop's quick email list were involved in seabed mining.
A third seabed miner is keenly interested in the plan, which would allow developers to avoid mountains of red tape and lawsuits without vexing objections from locals and green groups.
But one of the main reasons permission to suck up the seabeds off Pākiri, Taranaki and North Canterbury has been blocked by various authorities is uncertainty: a lack of information about what such activities will do to the environment.
These authorities have pointed out that it is not up to local people and concerned environmentalists to prove that mining will be harmful; the companies should do the work to prove that this is not the case.
Continue today The detail we look at three companies searching for profits deep underwater off New Zealand, and why they've suddenly pulled out of the consent process.
“That's the quickest way,” says David Williams, Newsroom's environment and climate editor.
“If you don't get in through one door, another one can open, and this government has opened the door to what they call regionally or nationally important projects. And the way they can get around these kinds of restrictions – some would say environmental protections – on development is to turn to the government and qualify for their fast track.
“That would be their one-stop shop as they call it, and if you are considered important you come into the process and then there is a committee that considers your application and makes recommendations to the ministers who have the final say to have. .”
At least that is the proposal as it stands now. but there is so much criticism that the details may change slightly.
But mining companies appear to be betting that in the not-so-distant future there will be an easier path for them to push their applications – and companies like Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) which wants to start a 35-year offshore iron ore project to mine a 3.2 billion tonne vanadium-rich titanomagnetite resource in the South Taranaki Bight – are withdrawing from the legal process, in this case a rehearing before the Environmental Protectional Authority.
“The eggs seem to be all in one basket now,” says Williams.
“I don't know if you can see that as an admission that they don't think they're going to get this EPA reconsideration off the line… but it seems now that the fate is in the hands of the ministers, and it certainly seems insist that what they say would be a cheaper and less risky way to get approval because the process is shorter. [and] there seem to be fewer environmental restrictions.”
Forest & Bird says the proposed mine site is where creatures including the endangered blue minke whale live and that TTR's plan to excavate the top 11 meters of the seabed will cause catastrophic damage.
TRR admits that mining will “totally destroy” the marine ecosystem, but says the area will recover within a very short time after mining ends and be back to the way it was within a few years.
“I don't know if everyone would agree with that assessment,” Williams said.
“If you destroy things, including living things, that's the end, and recovery is not the same, especially if you change what happens on the seabed. I think there are a lot of questions about these types of assessments.”
NZX-listed Chatham Rock Phosphate is another company on Chris Bishop's list. It also claims a green credentials and says New Zealand rock phosphate is known for its environmental qualities and is low in heavy metals such as cadmium, which causes cancer in humans. The product is used as fertilizer.
The country plans to go much further into the sea, at deeper levels – but the fishing sector is among the opponents.
The World Resources Institute has pointed out that in the race to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contain climate change, the demand for critical minerals such as vanadium is increasing.
However, little is known about the deep ocean. One area of interest in the Pacific, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, hosts exploration contracts for 17 deep-sea mining contractors. And yet researchers who went deeper into that zone than before have recently discovered more than 5,000 species that were completely new to science.
The great irony is that the materials being dug up are used for EV batteries, wind turbines, solar panels and other low-carbon technologies.
Williams says when it comes to energy, it's often “the environment versus the environment.” For example, large solar parks have an effect on the land below them.
“You could say that mining on the seabed is the same. You chew up part of the environment to apparently save another part.
“You have to wonder where this all ends. If you're looking at reducing emissions, maybe you should actually drive less… or fly less often. Maybe the answer isn't just to maintain the status quo and grow and grow and grow.”
The detail also talks to RNZ data journalist Farah Hancock, who has written thousands of words about Pākiri sand.
It is used for high-strength concrete, including in projects such as the Auckland Harbor Bridge, the Sky Tower and City Rail Link. That specific sand has special properties that make it ideal for good quality concrete.
But locals say it is destroying the coastline and threatening the country's most endangered bird, the fairy tern.
The company that has been excavating it for the past 80 years has faced stiff opposition and unfavorable licensing authorities, and is hoping to continue dredging by getting 'sand mining' on the government's list of accelerated activities. .
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