A controversial North Taranaki composting and worm farming business has flunked its latest environmental monitoring report.
The Uruti site. Photo: screenshot
Previously in trouble for stockpiling 20,000 tonnes of oil and gas waste at its Uruti site, Remediation New Zealand is now in hot water for using treated sawdust .
The regional council gave Remediation NZ a 'poor' grade for its environmental and administrative performance during the July 2020 to June 2021 period - the lowest score it can give.
It revealed unauthorised treated sawdust had been spread on compost rows, leaching chemicals into waterways.
A practice, the report said, evidence showed had been going on for at least 15 years.
Ngāti Mutunga environmental officer Marlene Benson said it was the worst Remediation NZ report she had ever read.
"There's some quite worrying things in there. I've been really worried since we found out that they do treated sawdust and that it's actually throughout the site.
"I'm worried about what the effect on our taonga species in the streams, but also how are we going to clean it up."
The report showed consents for discharges to land and water were breached - fouling local waterways - and bad smells remained a problem.
Benson said the report was a shock because the company was preparing for a consents renewal hearing during the period.
"So if you thought there was ever a time, a period during them running that site that you would put all the effort into making sure it was squeaky clean it would have been over those 12 months.
"Because that report is going to go to the Environment Court. They're going to get to read it and it just doesn't show the company in a very good light."
Those consents were knocked back and not renewed.
The hearing revealed Remediation NZ had stockpiled about 20,000 tonnes of oil and gas waste rather than treating it, among numerous other breaches.
North Taranaki Awa Protection Society chair John McLean was not surprised at the latest findings.
"But not being surprised doesn't mean I'm anything other than basically totally pissed off.
"You know, they seem to basically persist in the face of them having been found to be such bad operators back in the original hearing.
"They've been able to persist and it appears they'll likely be able to persist right through to July and perhaps beyond that."
Remediation NZ is appealing the consents decision to the Environment Court and is allowed to operate in the meantime.
Dawn Bendall is a neighbour of the Uruti site.
She said the sawdust indicated a wider problem and she had requested information about what was in each individual truck offloading there.
"Can you really believe what they say they are taking?
"Because at the end of the day it's taken regular monitoring from the Taranaki Regional Council and they're the ones who have picked this up.
"This isn't actually something that Remediation NZ have pointed out to the TRC or anyone else. You just can't trust them."
The company was hit with the poor grading after being asked for three letters of explanation, and copping four abatement notices and 11 infringement notices from the regional council during the period.
It was prosecuted and fined more than $33,000 over bad smells in 2010.
Taranaki Regional Council director resource management Fred McLay said it could seek an enforcement order from the Environment Court for Remediation NZ to be closed down.
Factors would include significant adverse environmental effects and ongoing non-compliance and prosecutions - but he did not consider that threshold had yet been met.
Remediation NZ managing director Kerry O'Neil declined to comment until after the Environment Court appeal was heard.