Save Happy Valley and Mt Augustus!

written by Alex Winter-Bilington

Regarding: State owned enterprise Solid Energy’s proposed open-cast coal mines in Happy Valley and on Mt Augustus, north Westland.

Ecological Value of Happy Valley and Mt Augustus:

Happy Valley and Mt Augustus are part of the Ngakawau Ecological District, a region officially noted for its ecological and geological significance. Happy Valley itself is one of the best examples of an undisturbed coal measure landscape, quite possibly the only remaining of its type globally. The presence of the coal measures over- and under-lain by impermeable sandstone result in poor drainage and therefore a wetland ecosystem. As a result of this wetness, the region is habitat to many unique species, some endemic to the area, whilst also being repellent to many pest species that threaten and cause the decline of endemic populations elsewhere. As a result, the landscape is one of the least disturbed by human occupation in Aotearoa New Zealand and truly prehistoric.

Happy Valley and Mt Augustus are the exclusive homes of Powelliphanta patrickensis and Powelliphanta augustus respectively, two endemic species of giant carnivorous snail. Both species are listed as nationally endangered, and their populations are limited to around 1,000 each. Because the ecology of Happy Valley and Mt Augustus are sui generis, and both species of snail has evolved in situ over millennia, it is highly unlikely that they could thrive in any other location.

Happy Valley is also home to a large, unmanaged population of Great Spotted Kiwi (around 75-145 adult individuals in but one permitted mining area). Given the lack of predators such as possums and stoats, this species has been able to thrive without intervention. This again makes the region unique and highly valuable.

Happy Valley it part of a DOC recommended protection area, so classified in 1998 Powelliphanta patrickensis and Great Spotted Kiwi are both protected species under the provisions of the Wildlife Act 1953, the highest level of legal protection afforded to species under Aotearoa New Zealand law.

Likely impacts of proposed open-cast mining:

The proposed mining sites include around 40% of Powelliphanta patrickensis habitat that supports an estimated 74% of the total population (Kath Walker, Powelliphanta patrikensis expert) - the total population of this already endangered species would therefore be reduced to 26% of its current size! 14.5 ha of diverse red tussock wetland - representing 70% of the Ngakawau Ecological District wetland and unique even within the District – would be lost . The mining would destroy what has been a haven for Great Spotted Kiwi, a great loss to the national population and efforts to conserve this species.

The proposed mine would produce pollution of surface waterways and groundwater and acid mine drainage – many of the rivers draining the region of Solid Energy’s Stockton Mine are already polluted beyond recognition.

Acid mine drainage has a long-term and devastating impact. Coal mine waste products that are left to “rot” slowly produce a highly acidic and toxic discharge. This mixture can remain ineffectual for many years until disturbance such as earthquakes or landslides cause their movement and release. Therefore, pollution of the area and those downstream could continue for decades beyond closure of the mine, making re-establishment of previous habitats even less likely.

Removal of currently established plant species would encourage the encroachment of pests, as would drainage of the land. The absence of such pests is what currently allows species there to thrive and their establishment would again decrease the likelihood of ecological restoration in the future.

Proposed habitat transferral and “ecological rehabilitation”:

Solid Energy appears to have been granted permission to initiate this plan based upon a promise to temporarily transfer Powelliphanta habitat, preserve it during the mining operation and then “rehabilitate” the environment subsequent to mine closure. This is a highly dubious proposal and there is absolutely no scientific evidence that it could succeed. As mentioned above, the site’s ecology is intimately linked with the underlying bedrock structure, which would be destroyed by mining. The sites micro-climate is unique and again there is no evidence that any of the endemic species could survive in another location. Previous attempts at ecological transferral by the company of more robust sods have failed, and their commitment to the habitat’s preservation is in fact questionable (see below). Furthermore, the company has promised “rehabilitation”, not restoration, which is by no means a guarantee of genuine ecological reestablishment.

Mt Augustus:

Solid Energy are not playing fair – already they have moved more snails from Mt Augustus than they have resource consent to take and have furthermore sidelined the Powelliphanta expert they have been consulting. The snails they have already removed are being stored in ice cream containers in a fridge in Hokitika (!) with absolutely no guarantee of appropriate food provisions let alone an appropriately controlled environment. This situation must be urgently remedied and cannot be allowed to be repeated in Happy Valley.

Coal-mining and climate change:

Coal-mining is an environmentally and economically unsustainable enterprise. Coal is a fossil fuel and produces climate-changing gasses such as carbon dioxide in great concentrations when burned. The coal extracted from Happy Valley and Mt Augustus is likely to be soled into Asia and burnt in steel production. The predicted effects of climate change are well known in New Zealand, and our government ostensibly supports and encourages the use of renewable energy sources. Destroying ecologically significant areas for production of a fossil fuel is therefore completely outrageous.

Specific Requests:

1. Get your weight behind the campaign! More than anything, publicity is needed. People such as you could make a huge difference simply by publicly denouncing Solid Energy’s proposal;
2. Chris Carter has compromised his integrity as Conservation Minister by approving the proposal, and I request that you, as an MP, publicly call him to account for his decision;
3. Call Solid Energy to account for it’s transferral of Mt Augustus snails and the current method of storage;
4. Pass this brief on to other Members of Parliament; and pressure the labour caucus to support stopping coal mining at Happy Valley and on Mt Augustus.
5. Let me know what steps you take after this meeting.

Footage helps bid for trawling moratorium

by Christine McCafferty
Monday, 10 October, 2005

GETTING pelted with potatoes and sewage was not a pleasant experience for former Gisborne man Gareth Hughes, but it was worth it considering the damning footage he and his fellow Rainbow Warrior crew got of bottom sea trawlers.
Mr Hughes was aboard the Rainbow Warrior in June this year when they filmed a Kiwi bottom trawler dumping a 500-year-old gorgonian coral tree overboard, after dragging it up from the sea bed while trawling for orange roughie in international waters of the Tasman Sea.
On Saturday Mr Hughes and three other Greenpeace campaigners were in Gisborne as part of a worldwide campaign to get a United Nations moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters.
The three weeks spent at sea aboard the Rainbow Warrior was a revelation for Mr Hughes, who has been with Greenpeace for the past five years.
"We took traditional Greenpeace non-violent action and attached inflatable life rafts to stop the nets from going down. I guess the fishermen weren’t very happy about it," he said.
No, they probably were not, considering they used an air compressed cannon to fire potatoes and, when those did not deter the Greenies, sewage at their rafts.
But Greenpeace got their own back. Within minutes of filming the footage of coral being thrown overboard, the images were distributed to UN representatives and television media around the world.
Bottom sea trawling is said to be the most destructive fishing practice and scientists say it is wiping out rare deep sea species that are yet to be discovered.
The trawlers take and destroy everything in their path on the seabed, bringing about the extinction of deep-sea creatures, Greenpeace says.
Greenpeace communications officer Dean Baigent-Mercer compared the practice to bulldozing down a rainforest.
"When experimental trawlers discovered orange roughie, it triggered this global goldrush, with commercial fishers wanting to catch as much fish as possible. However, they knew nothing about the habitat and rare creatures they were destroying."
A moratorium would at least give scientists the chance to study the unknown world of the seabed and discover the extent of damage years of bottom sea trawling had caused.
"No one knew up until now just how bad it was," said Mr Hughes.
"Now they are seeing it first hand, people are really starting to take notice of this issue. It was up to us to get these images out there, because it’s not like the fishing industry is going to tell the public what really goes on."
The Greenpeace crew had received a positive response in Gisborne, with many people signing a postcard expressing their concerns about bottom sea trawling, addressed to the Prime Minister.
"We’ve also had a lot of fishermen from Gisborne telling us their stories about what they’ve seen out at sea. We are particularly interested to hear from more people who have worked on bottom trawlers to tell us their experiences," said Mr Hughes.
Greenpeace was in town on Saturday for the final day of their bottom sea trawling roadshow.

This an article published by JET magazine

Being an Activist

When asked the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I always said, “I don’t know, a lawyer, maybe an architect?” Then one day a few years ago I thought about it and realised that somehow I was actually being paid to be an environmental activist! This came as quite a surprise to me because I never planned to have a career working on protecting the environment, and up until that point had always done it just because it was fun and exciting.

I currently work for the Green Party of Aotearoa/New Zealand, as the Youth Campaigner and before that I worked for Greenpeace New Zealand and Australia in a variety of roles. Being an activist isn’t your normal run-of-the-mill job, and there isn’t a school you can go to get training in it. It is a job that has far more to do with your personality than your education. In the beginning, all you need is the willingness to contribute to a campaign that is important to you, and dedicate your time, effort and creativity to achieving that goal. There isn’t one thing that you have to be good at to be an activist – you need lots of different skills, but one of the most important is being able to talk to groups of diverse people like politicians, volunteers, or just your average person on the street. You have to know your stuff, and do as much research as possible, so that if you’re asked a question you can give a good and accurate answer. You have to be organised and able to organise other people, and you have to be able to use technology such as email and the internet. Lastly you must be positive in everything that you do. When you’re talking about a problem, you also have to know what the solution is, and how to get there. A big part of being an activist is encouraging people to believe that there is a solution to a problem, and they can be apart of the answer.

I have been involved in heaps of different campaigns over the last six years such as working on climate change, keeping genetic engineering out of New Zealand’s environment, toxic pollution, and recently helping to keep Wellington’s trolley buses. There are lots of different ways you can campaign towards a positive solution – you can lobby and approach politicians (by writing them letters or having a meeting with your local electorate MP); you can get publicity (by organising a march or painting a banner); you can help publish reports; and you can inform the public of what’s happening (by handing out leaflets or organising a public meeting). You can ask people to sign a petition; or write a letter; or to boycott something. I think the funnest part of being an environmental activist is doing non-violent direct action: when you take peaceful action to stop or save something – like when Ghandi went on hunger strike in protest; when the founders of Greenpeace sailed into a nuclear test site; or when I dressed up as Roland McDonald and chained myself to a gate to stop the delivery of genetically engineered ingredients.

My Time on the Rainbow Warrior

One campaign that I have been involved in over the last few years is trying to stop high seas bottom trawling, because it is the world’s most damaging fishing method. Bottom trawling involves dragging nets – larger than a football field, with big metal rollers along the ocean floor to collect fish. The problem is that you don’t just catch what you’re looking for, but you also catch everything else: corals and sponges and other fish and animals that live on the ocean floor. The deep sea is an amazing place. It is totally dark, frigidly cold, and is under such great pressure that it would crush a person. It is one of our last wildernesses, and more people have been to the moon, than the deep ocean floor. Scientists estimate there could be 100 million unknown species down there; still, bottom trawling is like clear felling undersea coral forests, and those species are killed before scientists get the chance to study them properly. Bottom trawling is like ‘blowing up Mars before we get there.’

In 2005, I was lucky enough to sail on the Rainbow Warrior. We sailed into the Tasman Sea to do what governments around the world weren’t doing – stopping the bottom trawlers. We left Auckland in May, sailing north. Nearly everyone got sea-sick; it was absolutely horrible hearing everyone vomiting and moaning and not able to do much work for the first couple of days. I was lucky and did not get sick, and because of this I was called ‘cast-iron guts’ by the crew. However, this was a mixed blessing and meant that I had to take over some of the cooking duties for the crew of 26 meat-eaters and vegetarians aboard.

As we sailed north, the weather got progressively worse, and we learnt that around the tip of the North Island were massive 10 metre plus waves. We had to shelter near New Zealand’s most northerly point for the weather to clear and we for the next few days we spent training and practicing. Greenpeace is famous for its zodiac inflatables, and the images of activists in between the whale and the harpoon. However, you never see all the effort that goes into launching one of them. It takes the Captain (who in our case was the Captain of the original Rainbow Warrior which was blown up 20 years earlier) managing the crane; the boson, yelling instructions; and four people holding four large ropes to stop the inflatable from wobbling too much. The boat was then placed on the side of the Warrior, before dropping it into the (usually heaving) sea bellow with its crew. It is potentially dangerous work, but after a few practice runs we could launch them quickly, and in the dark if necessary.

While at anchor, we took the opportunity to treat the mostly foreign crew to a New Zealand tradition – the BBQ. The occasion was a birthday on board, and somehow a cake was produced, one crew member even had a bow-tie, and we danced into the early hours. It must have looked hilarious to other ships at anchor to see people dancing in the bridge (the steering and chart room) of the Rainbow Warrior.

It got to the point that the forecast wasn’t improving, and if we stayed at anchor we’d miss our chance of catching the bottom trawlers; so the captain made the decision to brave the waves and head into the Tasman Sea. The sea truly was ferocious, with waves crashing over the ship and people being thrown out of their bunks at night, and oh; it started another crew-wide bout of sea-sickness.

The routine on board was that the Captain and mates would rotate shifts keeping watch, while the rest of the crew worked a normal 8 hour day. We would be woken at 7, start work at 8, do half an hour of cleaning before the other jobs that needed to be done for that day. My position was as a deckhand, which meant that when we weren’t launching the inflatables I was painting, chipping rust or organising things in the hold. There would be a regular morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea brakes, but just the act of constantly holding on to things and maintaining balance meant that you would be famished by meal time. 5 o’clock was time to down tools and have a drink, and usually stare at a glorious sunset before dinner and then usually someone would play a guitar, or we would watch a movie. If the Captain could be persuaded he might stop the ship and let us have a swim – absolutely freezing being the middle of winter, but having huge albatrosses in the water with us made up for it.

It wasn’t until the tenth day at sea before we found our first bottom trawler: the Tasman Viking. We were woken at 6am and told that we found the ship on the radar that night. So I donned my activist kit: thermals; wet-weather gear; helmet; goggles; knife (in case we had to cut ourselves free); life jacket; vest with Stop Deep Sea Destruction written on it and a personal banner. Then we launched the inflatables and set off in pursuit of the trawler. It was depressing watching the trawler pull up its net, full of fish, and it reminded me of the landfill back in Gisborne (where I grew up) but instead of seagulls, there were hundreds of albatrosses circling the trawler; all fighting to get the by-catch that is thrown overboard.

We found two more ships soon afterwards – the Westbay and the Ocean Reward – all New Zealand trawlers taking part in the destruction of the deep. On the twelfth day we started doing non-violent direct action on the Ocean Reward, such as tying and inflating a large 20 person emergency life raft to the trawl nets, so it couldn’t be sunk; locking a cable in between the trawl doors, so the net couldn’t work; and locking plastic barrels to the net – so they would have to haul the net back on board, to chop the barrel off before laying the net out again…when we’d tie another barrel on…and repeat. The most effective tactic was just racing the zodiacs right up the stern (back) of the ship so they couldn’t lay the net out. Obviously our actions annoyed them greatly and they used different ways to show this such as throwing fruit and fish at us; building a mortar to hurl potatoes at us; and using their high pressure fire hose on us. It was surreal being in the middle of the Tasman Sea and having a fisherman yell at me, “why don’t you go and get a real job!”

Our actions gained media interest and widespread support around the world and we when we found the New Zealand trawler, the Waipori, throwing overboard a massive man-sized piece of coral: we knew we had found more damning evidence to take to the United Nations Generals Assembly, who in November were to make a decision on the future of bottom trawling. My three weeks aboard the Warrior were exciting and a lot of fun and best all, successful in terms of the campaign. I believe that trying to save the world doesn’t have to be all about seriousness and sacrificing things, it has to be fun as well.

We need our Government to support the moratorium on bottom trawling in International waters at the United Nations, and you can write the Prime Minister Helen Clark, (freepost Parliament) asking her to support the moratorium. If you would like to find out more about the campaign visit www.greenpeace.org.nz or www.savethehighseas.org

Today, Green MP Sue Kedgley and Wellington City Councillor Celia Wade-Brown delivered their submission to the Greater Wellington Regional Council supporting the initiative to exclude jet skis from Lyall Bay and separate them from other water users.

"Excluding jet skis would make Lyall Bay beach safer for surfers and
swimmers, and I am glad the Council is investigating this issue
before, and not after someone is seriously hurt or killed by a jet
ski," says Ms Kedgley.

“In my joint submission with Celia, we have submitted that jet skis be excluded from Lyall Bay much like what happens overseas, as in Cape Cod in the U.S. or Port Maquarie in Australia.” Says Ms Kedgley.

"Unfortunately, some jet skiers' antics such as wave jumping outside
of the flagged jet ski zone, have meant that other water users' lives
have been endangered and some of the stories I have heard have been
chilling," says Ms Kedgley.

The two Green members’ submission focused on safety and pollution
issues as a basis for jet skiers to be excluded from Lyall Bay and
have a separate beach allocated that is not shared by surfers and
swimmers.

"As a keen kayaker, I believe Lyall Bay is a great place to relax and
have a swim, surf or kayak but sharing the beach with jet skiers is unpleasant because their distracting high mosquito-like whine is heard for kilometres,
and some of their fuel is also discharged into the sea," says Ms
Wade-Brown, who also enjoys walking her dog along the coast.

Ms Kedgley and Ms Wade Brown called on the Regional Council to exclude
jet skiers, and they agree with Greater Wellington Regional Council Chairman Ian Buchanan’s statements that, "Maintaining the status quo or public education, are too Costly or impractical"

Early yesterday morning a group of us gathered at Wellington railway station while in Auckland the local Greens there along with Keith Locke handed out flyers and collected signatures on the petition to save the Overlander.

The campaign is important both in protecting our past - the trains two years short of its hundreth birthday, but also our future. We need to ensure that we have transport options avlaible when we can't rely on imported enegy supplies. If we just spent a little money and effort on it, the Overlander could be a fast, modern and attractive way to travel the North Island, that has the potential to be cheaper than air travel and much, much cleaner.

India's southern state of Kerala has banned the Indian subsidiaries of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo from manufacturing and selling soft drinks.

Several Indian states have already banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi at schools and colleges after scientists found they were contaminated by pesticides.

Kerala is the first Indian state to ban producing or selling the drinks; its neighbour Karnataka has banned them from schools, colleges and hospitals.

"There are lots of reports which prove that these drinks have certain ingredients that are harmful to the human body," said VS Achuthanandan, Kerala's chief minister, after a cabinet meeting approved the ban. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo could not be reached immediately for comment.

Last week, the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi said it had found pesticide residues in samples of Coke and Pepsi that were 24 times above the limits set by the Indian government.

The centre said that tests on 57 samples taken from 11 soft drink brands made by Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India had found a "cocktail of three to five different pesticides."The chemicals are believed to have entered the drinks through the groundwater used in their manufacture.

On Tuesday, PepsiCo placed advertisements with several Indian newspapers saying the company follows Indian government's regulations and that the "pesticide residues present in soft drinks are minuscule."

The company also said that food will often contain residues of pesticides used by farmers.

"Our beverages in India are suitable for anyone, anywhere," said a PepsiCo statement. "We drink them. We share them with our families and friends. And we know they are safe for you."

email wellington@savehappyvalley.org.nz to sponsor your snail and help the threatened snails on the west Coast.

To celebrate my new experimental blog Gclip, I have posted R Kelly's trapped in the closet clip 1. G clip is going to be where I practice my html skills and where I'll post all the great YouTube clips that I've been finding, but that are not appropriate for this site.

trapped in the closet chapter 1

Greenpeace activists chain themselves to the Belize flagged Chang Xing - in Port Nelson. The activists prevented the ship from leaving Port and is part of the on going campaign to achieve an international moratorium on bottom trawling in International waters. For more information

Bottom trawling is the Worlds most destructive fishing practice and involves dragging large nets with metal roller along the ocean floor.

Currently the UN is discussing the issue and is going to make a decision later in the year. Our Government is not currently supporting a moratorium and needs a prod. Send an e-card to our Government. Good on the Greens for also running with this issue and Metiria Turei's asked some good questions to Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton.

I was published in Salient today on this issue with an article entitled. How Low Can They Go?