'A Pandora’s box': Fears over toxic wood waste removal at harbour site (2024)

A management plan to dig up contaminated wood waste from a boat harbour development site on Keepa Road in Whakatāne has been signed off by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

One councillor, however, has likened the move to opening “a Pandora’s box”.

Recent testing has confirmed there are dioxins in the northern part of the site and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals”, in the wood waste and groundwater.

In Malcolm Campbell’s view “it’s quite a frightening situation”. The regional councillor and former Kawerau mayor made the comment to Local Democracy Reporting, though said he did not speak on behalf of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

At a recent meeting, he told the council’s monitoring and operations committee: “my big concern is if we open that Pandora’s box and [the contamination] starts flowing out into the Whakatāne River”.

Te Rāhui Herenga Waka Whakatāne board chairman John Rae said regional councillors should be more supportive of the project.

“The Te Rāhui board are committed to the success of this project,” he said.

“[We] believe the recent commentary from Bay of Plenty Regional Council representatives around the removal of contaminants, as project partners, and leaders of environmental management in our region, should be more supportive of the removal of contaminants near the awa.”

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) granted consent to Te Rāhui Herenga Waka Whakatane in June 2022 to build a commercial boat harbour on land that was previously used as an industrial landfill.

Te Rāhui Lands Trust, Ngāti Awa Group Holdings, the Crown through regional economic development unit Kānoa, and Whakatāne District Council are shareholders in the partnership.

Regional council chairman Doug Leeder said the regional council flagged at the time to the EPA that, in the council’s view, this was a contaminated site. Waste material from the Pinex sawmill and the Whakatāne Board Mill was used as fill for the former wetland site, before it was topped with soil in the 1980s.

It had since been used to grow maize.

The regional council had the responsibility to oversee compliance with the consent conditions, including a site and soil contamination management plan. This required certification from the regional council and Whakatāne District Council.

The management plan for the first of four phases, removing the wood waste and stockpiling it on a neighbouring site, was certified last week. A further resource consent would be required to take the wood waste away from the site.

Leeder told Local Democracy Reporting the regional council inherited the issue with the contaminated land before the organisation was formed in 1989.

“The issue of where the wood waste goes has not been determined. So they’ll make a big stockpile of the stuff and then decide what to do with it.”

Campbell was concerned the regional council would be left to clean up the mess if the project was not completed. While he felt the landowners should be able to make some money from their land, he didn’t think a boat harbour on that site was the best option.

“There are plenty of other places a boat harbour could be built.”

Regional council regulatory services general manager Reuben Fraser said certifying the management plan meant the regional council was confident the plan minimised the risk of discharges to the environment and to human health.

“We’ve also encouraged the consent holder to get a really good idea of what the total costs of the project are going to be and that they have the funding available to see it through,” he said.

It had taken 18 months and seven iterations of the first stage of the management plan to satisfy the council that sufficient safety measures would be taken.

Fraser said a bond would be set to be paid by the consent holder before excavation began to ensure that, if they could not see the project through for any reason, the regional council could use that money to make the site safe again.

“We will have to go through more of these management plan certification processes when we get to further stages,” he said.

“Hopefully the community can take some comfort that the council has been pretty stringent on this management plan. We’re taking this really seriously.”

Rae said the board was pleased to receive certification after lodging the first iteration early in 2023.

“The management plan focuses on removing the contamination from the Te Rāhui site and relocating it to a consented landfill.

“The board continue to discuss in detail and consider the excavation and transport budget for the waste and will only get fully under way on the site when the budget for the works is agreed.”

Te Rāhui would make further announcements when the remaining management plans were lodged and approved by both councils and activities begin on the site, he said. This included continued trials and tests.

“This project will restore the connections and mauri of the river for future generations, retain existing jobs and create hundreds more to ensure flow-on economic benefits for the region.”

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.