Protesters in Te Awamutu against the waste to energy plant.
Don’t Burn Waipā spokesman Eoin Fitzpatrick wants a moratorium on waste to energy incineration pending a national analysis.
An artist’s impression of Paewira. Photo: Supplied
Fitzpatrick made the appeal to the independent Board of Inquiry hearing Global Contracting Solutions application to build the Paewira plant in Racecourse Road, Te Awamutu, as well as national regulator the Environmental Protection agency.
“I am not sure if the board or the EPA has any say,” Fitzpatrick said last Thursday – the penultimate day of the three-week hearing in Hamilton. “But I would also like them to recommend a moratorium is put on waste to energy incineration until a national analysis has been done so as to prevent other small communities going through what we have been through.”
Fitzpatrick, who has lived in the town for 20 years, urged the board to decline the application “for what I believe to be a plant in an entirely unsuitable location by an applicant who I believe simply wants to be in control of the process of getting rid of their toxic waste without proper oversight.”
The site is near the Mangapiko Stream, Te Awamutu’s Fonterra dairy factory, Waipā Racing Club, Te Awamutu College and the national headquarters of Te Wananga o Aotearoa.
During the course of the hearing Fitzpatrick said he had become more concerned with the applicant’s ability and willingness to comply with good practice, standard operating procedures and regulations.
“I have more concerns about the ability to manage the feedstock,” he said.
Kane Titchener
Earlier in the week Te Awamutu-Kihikihi Community Board deputy chair Kane Titchener took the community board’s objection to the board of inquiry.
“The board is opposed to the incinerator going ahead,” Titchener said.
“This includes not only the current location but also any location in the Waipā or Waikato due to the potential plume drift.”
Titchener was concerned with dioxins entering the food chain.
“The proposed technology is new to New Zealand. The public will be reliant on the company to monitor and control emissions, and we will have no idea if they are doing it properly or not. The risk is too high. Internationally such plants are seen as old technology, and the harmful toxic effects are evident,” he said.
The visual impact of the proposed plant would be totally unacceptable and devalue all properties in Te Awamutu Titchener said.
“No-one wants to live near an incinerator that is emitting dioxins and nano-particles into the air.
