Nick Smith3 June, 2010
The Government
today announced the establishment of a new
standalone Environmental Protection Authority
to perform environmental regulatory functions,
Minister for the Environment Nick Smith
said.
"New Zealand needs
a strong, independent regulatory authority
to ensure the protection of our environment
at a national level," Dr Smith said.
"This reform is
about bringing under one roof a wide range
of environmental regulatory functions and
providing stronger national direction to
the environment roles of regional and district
councils.
"These changes
provide a strengthened framework of an Environment
Ministry focused on policy, an Environmental
Protection Authority responsible for efficient
regulation and the Parliamentary Commissioner
for the Environment as an independent auditor."
The EPA will be established
as a Crown Agent, with the Board accountable
to the Minister for the Environment and
will be responsible for the regulatory functions
of:
•National consenting
under the Resource Management Act 1991(RMA)
•Hazardous Substances and New Organisms
Act 1996
•Ozone Protection Act (1996)
•Climate Change Response Act (2008) - legislation
that covers the administration of the Emissions
Trading Scheme
•Stockholm, Rotterdam, Basel, and Waigani
Conventions and the Cartagena Protocol on
hazardous waste
•Antarctica (Environmental Protection) Act
1994
•Exclusive Economic Zone (proposed).
"Further work is
being done by the Environment and Economic
Development Ministries on strengthening
the regulatory environment in New Zealand's
Exclusive Economic Zone that falls outside
the jurisdiction of the Resource Management
Act," Dr Smith said.
"The intention,
as part of the legislation to implement
the EPA, is to provide for additional functions
to ensure this huge area of ocean has world
best environmental protection. The environmental
disaster in the Gulf of Mexico reinforces
the importance of this work. The Government
is determined to ensure that New Zealand's
marine environment is properly protected
as we expand petroleum exploration and development
in the EEZ.
"Creating an EPA
was a 2008 election promise by National
and will strengthen New Zealand's environmental
management. It will help achieve the Government's
goal of growing our economy while effectively
protecting our natural environment.
"Legislation will
be introduced to Parliament later this year
to implement Cabinet's decision this week
on the EPA with an intended operational
date of 1 July 2011."
Attached: Questions
& answers
The Cabinet paper is
available at: www.mfe.govt.nz/news/2010-06-03-epa-announcement.html
Questions and Answers
1. What has been announced?
A new Environmental
Protection Authority (EPA) will be established,
combining the functions of the Environmental
Risk Management Authority (ERMA) with other
national-level regulatory and consenting
functions. This includes the transitional
EPA within the Ministry for the Environment
(MfE) and Ministry for Economic Development
(MED).
The EPA will be a Crown
agent with a Board, responsible to the Minister
for the Environment. MfE will be the agencies
monitoring agency.
2. What will the new
EPA do?
The EPA will:
•receive and process
national consent applications;
•service decision-making bodies under the
RMA; provide and/or facilitate technical
input into regulation-making processes;
•maintain registries such as the Emissions
Unit Register for the Emissions Trading
Scheme;
•undertake compliance monitoring as required;
and
•undertake the functions currently performed
by ERMA.
3. Why is the change
happening?
The EPA will consolidate
regulatory and technical skills and align
similar functions and powers from The Ministry
for the Environment (MfE), Environment Risk
Management Authority and Ministry of Economic
Development (MED).
The new consolidated
organisation will increase efficiency and
support effective decision making by bringing
a range of technical people and processes
together.
4. When will the change
be effective?
The new EPA will be
operational by 1 July 2011 (subject to legislation
being passed)
5. What does this change
mean for the current EPA?
A small transitional
EPA was established last year to centralise
and streamline the decision-making process
of nationally significant proposals. The
Government signalled at the time that it
would do further work to determine what
other functions would be delivered by the
EPA.
The functions of the
current EPA will be consolidated into the
new Authority. The functions under the Climate
Change Response Act will not transfer until
around October 2011.
6. What will the change
mean for Maori?
The establishment of
the new EPA will not change the existing
Crown-Maori relationship under the Treaty
of Waitangi, as the Crown retains responsibility
for policy and other strategic matters related
to natural resources.
The membership requirements
for the EPA Board will need to include at
least 1 member with knowledge and experience
in matters relating to the Treaty of Waitangi
and tikanga Maori.
There will also be statutory
provisions for the EPA to appoint a Maori
advisory committee to provide advice on
policy, processes and applications from
the Maori perspective.
The scope of this advice
will be in relation to the [HSNO Act] functions
of the EPA and agreed in a terms of reference
between the committee and the EPA, to be
reviewed every three years.
7. Why is the EPA to
be established as a Crown Agent?
As a Crown agent the EPA is a stand alone
body corporate: it is a legal entity separate
from the Crown. The legal separation from
the Crown establishes an 'arms length' distance
between the Minister for the Environment
and the EPA.
8. When will the EPA
be established?
Legislation is required to give effect to
the government's decision. Subject to the
legislation being passed we expect the new
EPA to be operating from 1 July 2011.
9. What are the next
steps?
Legislation is required
to establish the new EPA.
The Minister for the
Environment has asked the Secretary for
the Environment to work closely with ERMA
and MED to undertake the necessary work
to integrate the functions of the EPA once
legislation has been passed.
10. What will this mean
for the Emissions Trading Scheme?
The administration functions
(Emissions Unit Register, applications for
allocation, issuing units and transferring
units and conducting compliance and enforcement
activities) will all be undertaken by the
new EPA once the legislation is passed.
This is consistent with submissions from
a number of groups that regulatory functions
of the ETS needed to be more arms length
from Ministers.
11. Why have the final
decisions taken on the EPA taken longer
than expected?
The Government has wanted
to ensure the role, functions and structure
of the new authority are right and this
has required a broad review of roles that
are covered by multiple Government agencies.
There has also been
quite robust analysis of the options of
a statutory office model within the Ministry
for the Environment compared to a separate
agency and this work has added to the timeframe.
12. What will be the
cost of the new EPA?
Budget 2010 made provision
for $16.8 million for the new national consenting
function provided for in the first phase
of RMA reforms. It is estimated that existing
appropriations of $26.2 million will be
further transferred to the new EPA in 2011/12
but these will be worked through over the
next year prior to Budget 2011.
The annual operating
costs of the EPA were estimated to be about
$1 million more as a result of being a separate
authority to the Ministry for the Environment.
The Government determined that these costs
were justified from the benefits of a clearer
separation of roles.
13. How many staff will
be affected by the creation of the EPA?
It is expected that
changes will involve just over 50 staff
transferring from existing Government agencies,
principally MfE and MED, to the EPA in addition
to the approximately 90 staff employed by
ERMA.
Nick Smith10 June, 2010
Changes needed to Air Quality Standard
Hundreds of businesses
and thousands of jobs will be put at risk
if changes are not made to the unrealistic
and unfair air quality standard adopted
by the previous Government, Environment
Minister Nick Smith says.
Dr Smith today released
a discussion document proposing amendments
to the National Air Quality Standard.
"The existing standard
of only one exceedance a year is unrealistic
and would require banning home log burners
and industries in communities where air
quality is generally very good. This decision
by the previous Government was against the
Environment Ministry's recommendation of
five exceedances per year," Dr Smith
said.
"The Technical
Advisory Group has recommended the standard
be increased from one to three exceedances
a year, which is consistent with the World
Health Organisation Air Quality Standard.
This still means substantial work will be
required in 15 airsheds covering 45% of
New Zealand's population where exceedances
are as high as 91 per year.
"The existing standard
is also unfair in severely punishing businesses
when the vast bulk of pollution comes from
home fires and motor vehicles. The current
regulations prohibit any new consents or
consent renewals for industry after 2013
in airsheds that exceed the standard which
the Ministry for the Environment estimates
would put at risk 233 businesses employing
more than 17,000 staff. We are proposing
putting forward the date to a more realistic
2018 and a compliance regime that does not
unfairly penalise business.
"These changes
are about improving air quality but in a
pragmatic and realistic way. It will ensure
we do not put thousands of jobs at risk
or unnecessarily ban home burners and open
fires in areas with only occasional air
quality problems."
An independent Technical
Advisory Group established by the Government
in June last year reviewed the air quality
standard and recommended it be changed.
The review was a National Party election
promise and a key initiative out of last
year's Job Summit.
"I am today releasing
this advice and the Government's proposals
for amendments to the air quality standard.
This includes requiring mandatory public
reporting by councils. This would allow
me as Minister to monitor progress in problem
areas, and if none is being made, use my
powers under the Resource Management Act
to force action by councils. The Government
wants a standard that achieves material
improvements in air quality without imposing
unnecessary costs on businesses and communities.
"This proposal
sees central government setting a credible
baseline standard but provides enough flexibility
for councils to find local solutions to
local problems. We look forward to public
submissions on the discussion document by
9 July 2010 before making any final decisions."
For the TAG report,
Cabinet paper and discussion document go
to: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/news/2010-06-09-air-quality-review.html
+ More
Give commissioners a
chance, says Minister
Nick Smith13 June, 2010
Protestors today demanding a return to Environment
Canterbury elections should give the commissioners
the chance to address Canterbury's water
problems, Environment Minister Nick Smith
says.
"If regional elections
were the answer, Canterbury would not have
a water problem. The elected Canterbury
Regional Council had 19 years to get a water
plan in place, but despite having greater
issues than anywhere in New Zealand, failed
to do so," Dr Smith said.
"The Government
had little choice but to intervene if it
wanted Canterbury's water issues addressed.
All the advice the Government received was
the status quo had no chance of tackling
the problems and the problems would only
get worse.
"The Government
shares many of the concerns of the protestors
about unmanaged growth of dairying, problems
with water quality and the drawn out debates
over water storage. We just didn't have
the confidence that a highly politicised
and divided Council would be able to get
on top of these issues.
"The Government
has appointed a highly qualified and skilled
group of commissioners to get on top of
Canterbury's water problems. The commissioners
are the best hope of improving Canterbury's
water management and the people of Canterbury
should give them a fair go to get on with
the job."
