West Coast council gives green light for bridge protection work
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The green light has been given to a raft of projects around the West Coast, including bridge protection work.
In August, the West Coast Regional Council granted 12 non-notified resource consent applications.
This included plans by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to protect the State Highway 73 Otira River Bridge, west of the Otira Gorge.
The river will be temporarily diverted to build protection structures around the eastern bridge abutment and the central pier.
Down river, KiwiRail gained consents to undertake earthworks, remove gravel, and divert water courses on the Otira and Taramakau rivers, to maintain protection work for the Midland Railway, as far as Jacksons.
In Buller, NZTA gained consent to secure the lower Buller Gorge section of State Highway 6 near Westport, at Island Creek, to protect the eastern abutment of a bridge on the creek.
Also in the lower Buller Gorge, at White Cliffs, the agency will undertake protection work at Clearwater Creek, including installing a weir in the creek bed, underneath and downstream of the bridge.
Oceana Gold sought permission to discharge seepage and leachate mine water to a tributary of Progress Creek from a pond, part of the management system for the mothballed Globe Progress Mine, near Reefton.
Buller District Council gained consent to dispose solid waste in a landfill at Maruia, including leachate from a refuse landfill where it may enter water.
The regional council also granted five applications to change conditions on previously granted consents.
This included Westland Mineral Sands at Okari, Cape Foulwind, being allowed to do earthworks within 5m of a drain.
Others related to gravel extraction and an application to change a whitebait stand design on the Taramakau River.
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Westport harbour fuel spill still being investigated
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
An alleged fuel spill of thousands of litres of fuel oil into Westport's harbour is being investigated, with officials seeking more information as accusations fly.
The Kings Birthday Weekend incident, on June 1, saw West Coast authorities spring into action to contain the slick after a troubled fishing boat limped into port.
The boat was apparently taking on water while also leaking fuel oil, via an internal bilge pump.
The port set up some booms to contain the spill while staff, working with a regional environmental response team, undertook a cleanup by suctioning about 2500 litres of fuel mixed with seawater into containers.
A further inspection on June 2 found about 200 litres of fuel residue lingering within the harbour basin.
On June 4, the West Coast Regional Council-- which has environmental oversight for the region's waterways - said the impact looked worse than it was.
The incident sparked social media outrage with people expressing outrage at the "f...ing disgusting" spill.
West Coast Regional Council compliance manager Chris Barnes said on Monday (June 17) he had decided to continue an environmental
investigation into the incident because what had occurred was not really clear cut.
"I want more information," he said.
"There's some accusations that came out I don't believe were true - but there is a bit more that doesn't meet the eye."
He expected an update with more information within council's quarterly environmental monitoring report early in July.
Meanwhile, the council was called out about 4am on Monday to a potential environmental incident about 25km southwest of Westport.
It followed a vehicle crash on State Highway 6 in the vicinity of Costellos Hill, about 5km north of Charleston.
A car towing a trailer had come to grief after apparently losing control.
The front part of the vehicle was left suspended over a waterway.
Barnes said a member of the public who called it in was concerned about oil leaking from the vehicle going into a creek.
Fortunately the vehicle's occupants escaped unscathed but the scene looked "pretty nasty", he said.
An assessment at the scene ruled out any major impact on the waterway, he said.
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