Foster-Bell Paul: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 26 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:2003. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National): I welcome the Labour Opposition’s support for this legislation but I must take exception to some of the comments that have been made so far both in the measured and reasonable contribution from Mr Nash but also in the slightly more vituperative one from Dr Megan Woods earlier in this debate.This bill the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill is very important for New Zealand. The Minister who has introduced it the Hon Dr Nick Smith the Minister for the Environment has an outstanding track record in this Government and in this country in terms of his focus on protecting our pristine natural environment in New Zealand over his more than two decades of service in this Parliament. I applaud him for introducing this piece of legislation which in my view very carefully and appropriately balances the need to allow existing commercial operators to continue their important activity which not only supplies energy to meet this country’s energy needs employs many New Zealanders and makes us a wealthier country but also actually contributes to our international exports as previous members have commented on.This bill has been introduced because of an issue that has arisen in terms of the bedding in of a piece of legislation that for New Zealand was fairly groundbreaking. We have heard accusations thrown around from the other side of the House regarding sloppy process. Well this bill amends legislation that was a New Zealand first for providing any protection whatsoever for our exclusive economic zone a zone that is the fourth or fifthin the world in terms of size depending on the way you measure it and is the patrimony of every New Zealander—Māori Pākehā Asian or wherever you are from. We all have a stake in protecting the pristine natural environment from the Hector’s dolphins and the Māui’s dolphins to the fisheries and to the mineral resources that we can extract safely and use for the betterment of our economy and for the employment of our people. It is in New Zealand’s interest to make sure that that environment is protected.The Māui field which this bill primarily deals with provides about 20 percent of the natural gas needs of New Zealand. That is very significant in terms of heating cooking and other energy—industrial energy as well. We cannot afford to have any uncertainty whatsoever over its operation. That is why we are committed to remedying this bedding-in issue that has been discovered in the legislation.When Opposition members talk about sloppy process well there is a word I am not allowed to use in this House but I can say that it is a little bit cheeky to do so when in fact the track record of that Government when it was in office for 9 years was doing nothing whatsoever to protect our exclusive economic zone. There were no environmental regulations. And when it came to other environmental law like climate change that Government introduced 1000 amendments to a piece of legislation without notice and demanded that a vote be taken on it on the same day. So I do not think that on this side of the House we should take any lectures from those members of that party on the other side.This bill deals primarily with a company Shell Todd Oil Services. It is a very good company. It is half owned by Shell—it is a joint venture—and half owned by Todd Corporation Ltd. It is an excellent New Zealand company that has a very good track record. In fact I can refer to the exact project that has caused the need for this piece of legislation. It is something called a side track—well it is effectively a side spur. In fact there are two of them. There are two side spurs drilled off existing wells. They continue for some distance—up to 6.5 kilometres I was surprised to learn. It is quite an engineering feat to think that under water and under the seabed one can drill that far—6.5 kilometres. But this is a kind of drilling or gas extraction that has gone on for many years. In fact Todd reports that it is 35 years old in the particular Māui gasfield that it is dealing with. In that 35-year history it has had an exceptional track record in health and safety for their staff members but also in environmental compliance.So although it is unfortunate we are now in the situation where in passing groundbreaking legislation that for the first time protects the exclusive economic zone we have left a very good responsible high-functioning and serious New Zealand player in the oil and gas exploration field in a position where it may find itself in June this year not to be in compliance with that new and innovative legislation. I think it does behove any Government to make sure that the glitch that we have acknowledged is remedied so that its operations can continue unfettered as long as it remains in compliance with our environmental standards.But there are three other companies that would be affected if we were not to bring in legislation at this point. The problem may be a little bit further down the track than it is for Shell Todd Oil Services. We have Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd which has existing permits under the previous Crown minerals regime that run through until 24 November 2025; we have OMV New Zealand Ltd whose permits run through until 1 December 2027; and we have Origin Energy Resources New Zealand Ltd which has permits that would see its operations continue until 26 June 2031.So although this bill is primarily to deal with the more imminent issue around Shell Todd Oil Services there are three other companies for which there would be implications if this remedial action was not taken. In fact we should also bear in mind that these matters in respect of Shell Todd Oil Services are before the Environmental Protection Authority an independent body that will consider the environmental implications and hopefully in my view will also look at the economic implications of not allowing the permit so that we do not see a repeat of the previous decisions—which although I respect I cannot say I agree with—in respect of the extraction of ironsands in Taranaki and the extraction of phosphate off the Chatham Islands.So this is actually a relatively simple piece of legislation. It is nothing like the 1000 amendments dropped at the last minute by the previous Government on to its major environmental legislation. In fact despite the honourable member Stuart Nash referring to it as a 6-page bill it is actually only 1½ pages if you exclude the explanatory note. It is a very simple piece of legislation effectively amending section 162 of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act. It will allow Shell Todd Oil Services to continue with operations that it has been undertaking for 35 years in a safe and effective manner.We take the environment seriously. I am very proud to be a Bluegreen—that is a member of the National Party who sees the need and the ability to reconcile environmental concerns with our willingness to move this country forward economically to make sure New Zealanders have secure and well-paying employment. This bill fits into that wider framework. This bill will not change anything for other existing operators in the field. It is specific enough that it will deal with only those areas where there is a problem and it allows for those who have applied for their marine consents to continue until an application has been decided and subsequent objections and appeals are determined. I think we would all agree that it is important to allow the New Zealand public through the submissions process to be able to have their say on what is a very important issue that is dear to the heart of many of us. But if the amendments are not made before 27 June 2015 there will be a company in breach. There will be significant economic impact. Operations may have to cease at Māui and the flow-on effects for New Zealand gas consumers will be significant.Other members have talked about how vital the oil industry is as part of our economy. I have spent some time in other oil-dependent economies or at least petrochemical or extractive-dependent economies such as Iran and Saudi Arabia and I can assure members in this House that the approach taken by New Zealand with regard to keeping our environment clean making it safe—not just in terms of human safety of the workers but safe for marine life—and those other issues shows that New Zealand performs incredibly well in comparison to other countries that have growing petrochemical sectors. I without hesitation commend this bill to the House.