'Cubicle' dairy farmer fined 3 times

An Amberley farmer with plans to build controversial dairy farms in the Mackenzie Basin has been fined three times for discharging effluent.

Cornelis Zeestraten, also known as Kees, is the director of Five Rivers Ltd, which wants to build seven dairy farms near Omarama, with plans to keep up to 7000 cows in cubicle stables 24 hours a day for up to eight months of the year.

Zeestraten is also the director of Union Station Dairies Ltd, which owns a Tussock Creek (Central Southland) farm that was fined $25,000 by the Environment Court in August for unlawfully discharging dairy shed effluent to land.

The company was fined $5000 in 2004, and $15,000 in 2007, for similar offending.

Environment Southland compliance manager Mark Hunter said no other Southland dairy farm had been prosecuted three times.

Once convicted, a company was automatically prosecuted for further breaches, he said. Environment Southland records show another company of which Zeestraten is a former director, Southern Friesians, was also served with at least two abatement notices and an infringement notice while he was a director.

His Pebbly Hills dairy farm was served with an abatement notice in 2004-05.

Zeestraten said compliance history should not make any difference to the consent applications being heard by Environment Canterbury (ECan).

He acknowledged there had been problems on some of his Southland farms at different times but they were inherited and not his doing, he said.

He declined to comment on his new dairy farm proposals.

ECan consents director Don Rule said it was unlikely an applicant's compliance history would be considered by the hearing panel.

The panel had to consider each application on its merit and weigh it against any potential effects on the environment, he said. Fairfax

- © Fairfax NZ News

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W   #3   04:57 pm Dec 10 2009

Though this guy is ultimately responsible it sounds like his farm manager is a poor one.

toby   #2   03:07 pm Dec 10 2009

If this clown gets consent I'll eat my hat. Ecan are the biggest bunch of muppets under the sun though so I would not be suprised.

Ecan needs to take a good long look at itself, are you here for the people, or are you here for the landowners? It's our water too, not theirs by right to use and degrade. How do we benefit from a degraded enviroment? They make money and I can't fish where I used to.....

Disgruntled of Wellington   #1   09:38 am Dec 10 2009

If this article is correct, why did The Press also feel the need to publish a copy & paste of the press release put out by this lot claiming that they're going to be NZ's most environmentally friendly farmers? Surely an editorial eye could have been cast over that one first?

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