Sage Eugenie: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sage Eugenie: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 22 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4661. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
EUGENIE SAGE (Green) 
: 
 Part 4 of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill is entitled “Miscellaneous transitional provisions and consequential amendments”. Some of the consequential amendments like the big slab in the Minister’s Supplementary Order Paper 100 in relation to the Biosecurity Act are not a problem. But the section as Moana Mackey has outlined around planned petroleum activities and some of the provisions as they relate to mineral prospecting and exploration under the Continental Shelf Act are deeply troubling. That is because these amendments have come in now. There has not been an opportunity for the Local Government and Environment Committee to look at them. There has not even been the Minister providing a commentary on them when introducing them. The Supplementary Order Paper has I think a few lines about them but that is all. And because of the detail here and the complexity the full scale of the impacts is not clear. 
But from reading the Supplementary Order Paper and the bill to date there is this whole notion in clause 151AA on the Supplementary Order Paper about “Mineral prospecting and exploration may commence and continue” if the company had a licence granted under the Continental Shelf Act 1964. This licence has been granted but the holder of the licence may not necessarily even have commenced the activity. It is not just that they actually commenced and had some sort of existing use rights. It is allowing a whole class of activity to happen without the requirements for a marine consent because this clause overrides clause 15 which of course is where all the provisions around getting a marine consent are set out and it allows an activity that is not even under way at the moment to go ahead. That seems incredibly permissive particularly around exploration for example for phosphate or activities like that. So that is one clause that we have got quite major problems with. 
Then there is clause 151A about planned petroleum activity. It is very interesting that the Supplementary Order Paper amendment to clause 151A changes the bill to make sure that the activity is planned—and of course there is no definition of “planned” in clause 4 the interpretation clause so it has got very wide scope. What does “planned” mean? Is it just an idea in the strategy section of a big oil exploration corporation? That term is not defined so it has got very wide scope. 
In the Supplementary Order Paper there is quite a significant change. In the bill as introduced the activity could continue without a marine consent until 1 May 2013. The Supplementary Order Paper has extended that for another year. It is interesting that Anadarko Petroleum Corporation is not coming here this summer because it has had difficulties getting a rig. Is this the “Anadarko amendment” that would allow it to go prospecting without getting a marine consent under the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill when it passes? Is this Supplementary Order Paper to allow Andarko just to go through and put in an impact assessment on a voluntary basis but not go through the statutory provisions? 
It would be helpful if the Minister in exile took a call on this to give us some assurance that this has not been the quid pro quo amendment for the industry. It is very troubling that that has been extended by a year and that we have got activities that were given licences under 1964 legislation that predates the whole consideration and assessment of environmental impact that we have had through the Resource Management Act and through this bill and that are allowed to continue even if they have not started yet. That is deeply troubling about this miscellaneous part of the bill.