Contaminated Land and Hazardous Substances Masterton Gasworks - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Contaminated Land and Hazardous Substances

Masterton Gasworks • Given controlled activity consent under Discharges to Land Plan in 2014 for 25 years • Continues to leach arsenic, cyanide and PAHs beyond boundary of the site both in groundwater and surface water and movement of silt within stream bed progressing downstream.

• Assessment under pNRP- as the ground and surface water at or beyond the boundary of the site can not meet the standards set in the permitted activity criteria in R55, they would be required to gain a discretionary resource consent under R56 • Assessing the site under the requested amendments, the rules will be easier to understand and interpret, activity would still require discretionary consent under R56

Gun Club – new activity • Wairarapa Gun Club

• Non notified consent issued November 2016 for discharge of steel shot and clay targets to land – 10 years • Non notified consent issued July 2017 for discharge of lead shot and clay targets to land – 15 years • Main contaminants of concern lead and antimony (heavy metals that contaminate soil and water ) and PAH’s from clay targets.

• Consent granted as the ‘effects’ were determined to be localised until they reached certain contaminant levels and the landowner had signed off as an affected party, therefore effects on the landowner could not be considered. • Would recommended changes to policies and rules have made any difference to the assessment of activity against objectives/policies?

• Policy 89 strengthened by saying shall be avoided instead of managed • Policy 95 may be less permissive as it will refer to RMA definition of contaminated land rather than having to wait for contamination to become so bad that it then falls into Category III definition • R57 – discharge of hazardous substances – non complying activity has been extended to cover land i.e. soil

• Non complying activity status requires an ‘or’ test, either adverse effects will be minor OR activity will not be contrary to objectives and policies of relevant plan and proposed plan. • If the adverse effects on the land are more than minor, the s104D objective/policy test applies. The recommended changes would give clearer direction that the objective of the Plan is to avoid creating contaminated land

• pNRP does not require a landowner to undertake contaminated land investigations. NES-CS (implemented by TAs) applies only when land use changing to a more sensitive use or subdivision.

• Recommended changes to R42 – minor discharges, R48 and R49 – stormwater rules will make it clearer that these types of discharges will only cover confirmed contaminated sites, not those like the gun club which will have contaminants but unless an assessment and reporting is undertaken which then pushes it into Category III – confirmed contaminated, they can carry on with stormwater discharges from the site as permitted activities.