Annual Chairmans Report
Sunday, June 13th, 2010Kia Ora everyone,
Well its that time again, another 12 months of campaigning behind us, so whats to report;
Well the issue that has dominated our energies for the last 12 months has been the Methyl bromide fumigations at Port Shakespear. Every fumigation releases up to 5 tons of a deadly toxin into the atmosphere with no controls , and limited conditions Methyl Bromide is a neurotoxin that you can not see, taste or smell and culminates in your system.
You and I need to have a resource consent to light a bonfire, because of the smoke, Marlborough District Council are going to ban log fires because they pollute the atmosphere , yet they wont insist on Genera the fumigators or Port Marlborough having to have a resource consent for this potentially lethal activity.
This is because of their vested interests , Marlborough District Council are the 3rd biggest forest owners in Marlborough, and they own 100% of the shares in Port Marlborough.
It’s hard to believe that in this day and age that a district council could put their vested interests ahead of the health and safety of our port workers and the entire Picton community.
Because of the campaigning done by the Guardians, Soil and health and the Green Party. Erma the govt agency vested with the task of overseeing the use of toxic substances has initiated a reassessment of the use of Methyl Bormide.
Their initial recommendation was to do nothing for 10 yrs, it was a decision reached after weighing up the benefits that M/B has to the national economy opposed to the negative impact that it has on health and safety and the environment.
Their latest recommendation after reading all the submissions is virtually unchanged, although they say that that could change if new information comes to light following the hearing of verbal submissions that we will be making this coming Wed, but Don’t Hold your Breath. !
The reality is that Erma aren’t going to do anything , so the sooner this reassessment is completed the better and we can put pressure on the Marlborough District Council to put use the tools in their tool box to make it a consented activity and put a robust air plan in place .
Remember that it is election year so you need to be mindful of which Councilors have been supportive throughout this campaign.
I’d like to thank all the people who took part in the two protest rallies held in the past year, it takes a huge amount of energy to organize a rally , on the 17th of Sept we held a large rally on the Picton Foreshore, Tony Coia then gave us a subsidized price to run his big bus through to Blenheim , ( for the first time in the history of our province, the people of Picton marched on Blenheim.
We then stacked the public gallery of the MDC committee room , and it nearly turned into a riot when the Mayor said that we were just a noisy minority who didn’t represent the Picton community, however sanity prevailed, but it was very disappointing to witnesses our two Picton concillors vote against us !
Another rally was held on the 23rd of April , again a wonderful turnout, this time supported by the combined trade unions, we got a letter back from Sue Kedgley thanking the Guardians for organizing the rally , she said that of the rallies held in CHCH, Picton Wellington and Tauranga , the Picton rally was by far the biggest and the most effective .
Other issues that we have been involved in:
Back in Feb Guardians along with mooring owners, iwi and Stephan Browning were influential in preventing Port Marlborough from obtaining a resource consent to obtain a licence for control of the seabed of Shakespear Bay.
If granted this would of given them the virtual ownership in perpetuity, ( privatization of the Seabed.) The application was declined in its entirety and has set an important precedent. In regards to privatization of the Seabed of the Queen Charlotte Sounds.
We have attended the Govt road show over the Foreshore and Seabed Act and sent in our submission.
We have been involved in the Picton advisory group, but have resigned from this until such time as they restructure , as it is, it is nothing but a talk fest that the Marlborough District Council set the agendas, they provide the facilitator, they audit the minutes, the members representing stakeholders don’t have a mandate to vote on an issue as the representative of their organizations, so no votes can be taken and no resolutions reached.
It is just another example of the Marlborough District Council manipulating our community with a seen to be done consultation exercise , but as an entity they have no teeth.
We put them to the test and after about 3 months finally got the majority of the members to vote to get the Marlborough District Council to put an airplan in place to stop the release of Methyl Bromide over Picton.
A letter to that effect was sent to the Mayor, before the Sept rally and subsequent council meeting to discuss the issue.
The Mayor said he never received the letter and both the councilors voted against us.!
So that was re enforced our suspicions that this group is a waste of time.
I have been attending the
Marlborough District Council focus group meetings to do with the marine side of the rewrite of the Regional policy statement , this has been a battle but we have been able to influence this process to a degree.
As I told you this time last yr, I fear that our biggest challenge is ahead of us with the Govt, and their Aquaculture amendment bill that allows for the unfettered growth of aquaculture, and them ordering the Marlborough District Council to make changes to the District ( Sounds Plan ) to open the Marlborugh Sounds up for the development of aquaculture.
Before the end of the yr you will see the application by King Salmon for 5 new AMA’s ( Aquaculture Management Areas), if they only put one farm per area this will effectively double the number of Salmon Farms in the Queen Charlotte Sound in one hit.
Believe me that is just the start of the privatization of our seabed !
So the battles continue, unfortunately our bank account is nearly empty with less than $500 left, we will be sending out the membership accounts after the AGM so if you want us to keep fighting to keep the Marlborough Sounds as a recreational area and not have it taken over by the multinationals, industries and corporate entities please give us your support.
We are happy to give freely of our time and energy but there is an associated cost and without your financial support this has to come out of our own pockets.
On a positive note the Marlborough Sounds Restoration Trust that Guardians support has gone from strength to strength in the last year, the Wilding Pine project has been remarkably successful and on 18th of May we will be holding a workshop to discuss new projects that the trust could be involved in like Pest Control, native reforestation projects, programmes to reintroduce native birds that have been lost to the area.
Every year the sounds environment is getting more and more beautiful as the bush regenerates, but there is lots that we can do to accelerate this process.
One of the wonderful spin offs of the wilding pine project is that many of the Sounds bay communities have got actively involved with the trust, this community involvement is something that we want to develop more with future projects.
If any of you have questions about the trust give me a call.
Well that’s more than enough from me, Go well everyone , hope you have a warm and dry winter, Keep the Home Fires Burning ,
Arohanui,
Pete & Takutai
