Upston Louise: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeUpston Louise: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 26 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1996. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Land Information) on behalf of theMinister for the Environment: I move That the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Local Government and Environmental Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 29 June.This bill amends the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act of 2012. This Government put the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act in place to provide comprehensive environmental management of the natural resources in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Prior to that Act coming into force New Zealand did not have a system in place for managing the environmental effects of activities undertaken in this area.Our exclusive economic zone is one of the largest in the world and together with our extended continental shelf is approximately 21 times the size of our land mass. The exclusive economic zone covers an area of more than 400 million hectares while our extended continental shelf covers a further 170 million hectares. It is an area that holds significant economic potential and the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act aims to enable this economic potential to be unlocked in an environmentally responsible way.The Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill which is having its first reading today will make a technical amendment to the exclusive economic zone legislation to ensure the sensible transition of existing petroleum operators into the new regime. There are four petroleum production operations in the exclusive economic zone off the coast of Taranaki which are crucial for ensuring New Zealand’s oil and gas supply. Petroleum production has been occurring in this area since the 1970s in a safe and responsible manner but the environmental effects of these activities have previously been unregulated. The Government wants to ensure that existing operators are brought into the exclusive economic zone regime in a way that does not compromise the supply of oil and gas to New Zealand.Currently transitional provisions in the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act require existing operators to undertake the marine consenting process before their pre-existing petroleum mining permits or privileges under the Crown Minerals regime expire. This bill will ensure that when operators apply for a marine consent for their existing production activities they will be able to continue operating as they have done for the last 40 years until their marine consent application is decided on by the Environmental Protection Authority. The bill will also provide certainty in the case of subsequent objections to or appeals from the Environmental Protection Authority’s decision as their operations will be able to continue while any objections or appeals are determined.I want to emphasise that the Government would have preferred that Shell Todd Oil Services had applied in sufficient time so that this bill was not needed but we also appreciate that with a new regulatory regime this fine detail over timing was not fully understood. It is inevitable that when we are implementing a new regime of this sort there will be errors that need pragmatic correction. The Labour Party and the Green Party provided no environmental regulation at all in the exclusive economic zone in their 9 years in Government and it is true that when you do nothing you cannot make errors.This bill does nothing to change the requirement to apply for a marine consent. Operators will still be required to provide an impact assessment on the nature of their activities and the effects on the environment and on other interests. They will also be required to identify measures to avoid remedy or mitigate any adverse effects. Applications for production activities will be publicly notified and submissions will be invited to allow for community engagement on decision making.As New Zealanders we all value our big blue backyard. The Government welcomes commercial activity but it must be on the basis that the appropriate environmental safeguards are in place. This bill provides a technical amendment that eliminates any possibility that New Zealand’s energy supply could be at risk should existing production operations have to cease while a marine consent application is being considered or any appeals are being decided.The cost of the Māui gas platform being down is $40 million per day to the New Zealand economy and this occurred in 2011. We cannot allow that to occur through the inadequate timing issue over appeals for an existing operation. Risking energy supply was clearly never the intention when the regime was put in place. The bill simply reiterates the Government’s original intent that existing operators have a smooth transition into the new regulatory regime. I commend this bill to the House.