Hon David Parker
The Government has today welcomed confirmation of waste remediation actions from Tiwai smelter owner Rio Tinto, including the removal of aluminium dross in Southland to the Tiwai site and paying the costs of doing so.
That also involves taking on the $4 million in funding commitments of the Government, councils and landowners in relation to the dross stored in the former paper mill in Mataura.
In a letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, Energy Minister Megan Woods and Environment Minister David Parker, Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said the company would make right its environmental performance at New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS).
In the best interests of the community, the company would remove all the ouvea premix stored around Southland as well as the material from Mataura, Hamilton said. It would also meet all the costs associated with the removal and processing of the material. Environment Minister David Parker welcomed the move and said it involved taking on the $4m in funding commitments of the Government, councils and landowners in relation to having the product removed from Mataura. Rio Tinto will also pick up the estimated funding shortfall of $2m to enable the full 23,000 tonnes of material to be processed from the other Invercargill locations.
Tiwai Point: Coastal erosion threatening monitoring bores
18 May, 2021 10:29 PM
5 minutes to read
By Phil Pennington of RNZ
New environmental data at Tiwai Pt aluminium smelter shows sea level rise is destroying bores within scores of metres of where 100,000 tonnes of hazardous waste is stored.
Coastal erosion has already shut down one bore used to monitor groundwater for pollution, and threatens to take out a second.
These bores are within five metres of sand dunes, a few metres behind which sits 106,000 tonnes of spent cell liner (SCL) waste - which contains cyanide and fluoride - on a giant concrete pad.
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