Bids to test for dioxins blocked by ministry

The Environment Ministry repeatedly blocked attempts by the Tasman District Council to test for airborne dioxins during the clean-up of a contaminated site in Mapua.

Greens co-leader Russel Norman on Thursday tabled in Parliament a June 15, 2006 letter from the TDC to the ministry referring to requests for dioxin sampling that had previously been declined.

The letter also outlined the council's concerns about the "potential for significant discharges of dioxin" at the site, dubbed the most contaminated in the country.

A July 7, 2006 letter in reply stated the ministry was concerned about the requests, which it believed were outside consent conditions.

"MFE legal will be contacting you separately on this matter as we have concerns over the use of this consent condition," the letter said.

Dr Norman said it looked like the ministry had tried to cover up the botched $12 million clean-up of the former Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site.

"Even when the council offered to pay for the tests itself, MFE continued to use lawyers to try and stop them."

The clean-up has been the subject of a damning Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment report, which found the ministry breached its consents, almost certainly released dioxins into the air and allowed other contaminants to flow into the nearby estuary.

The ministry managed the clean-up of the Mapua site.

The TDC was the landowner and administered the resource consents.

Environment Minister Trevor Mallard told Parliament a different form of testing had been decided on, which focused on the carbon filter inside the machine used to heat and clean contaminated soil. Tests had found a low and acceptable level of dioxin release, he said.

However, Dr Norman told Parliament that the day before the carbon filter testing was to begin the contractor doing the clean-up took out the filters and destroyed them.

When permission was given for air testing inside the machine's stack, 18 months after it was first requested, the machine's temperature was turned down to reduce the release of dioxins.

After testing the company turned it up again, he said.

Mr Mallard said he was not aware of the allegations.

TDC environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King said today the council tried many times during a period of more than 15 months to get the ministry to carry out tests for dioxins.

Mr Bush-King said the council had done "all that was reasonably practical" to get the ministry to show it dioxins were not being produced at unacceptable levels, and it was for others to say whether the council had pushed the issue hard enough.

"We were always recognising that there could be people that were affected, and that was what motivated our actions."

The ministry held the resource consent for the clean-up but the council could not prosecute it for breaching consent conditions because under the Resource Management Act the Crown could not be prosecuted, he said.

"The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment suggested another thing we could've done was a review of the consent, but we were trying to deal with the potential issue," said Mr Bush-King.

"All we were seeking was reassurance that it wasn't a problem."

Mr Bush-King wouldn't comment on how relations were between the ministry and the council during the clean-up, and why the ministry wouldn't carry out the tests.

Meanwhile, the TDC has been invited to explain its side of the botched Mapua clean-up to the environment select committee. Nelson MP Nick Smith said he invited the council to address the committee in response to Mr Mallard and others pointing the finger at the TDC for the clean-up's failures.

On Thursday the council said testing had shown mercury levels in the site's soil were well below residential standards.

- © Fairfax NZ News