Bay of Plenty Regional Council is referring the application for resource consent to abandon the wreck of the Rena to the Environment Court.

Regional Council chief executive Mary-Anne Macleod announced the decision today, less than a month out from the third anniversary of the container ship hitting Astrolabe Reef.

BOPRC is referring the application for resource consent to the Environment Court. Photo: An earlier image of the Rena wreck.

Mary-Anne says there are a number of important reasons for the decision.

'The Council carefully considered the request by the Astrolabe Community Trust to refer the application to the Environment Court, and we have concluded it is in the best interests of the people of the Bay of Plenty that we agree to this.

'It's clear from comments made by interested parties and submitters that any decision made by the Council is likely to be appealed to the Environment Court anyway.”

She says given the inevitability of an appeal, it makes no sense to impose duplicate costs on the submitters who wish to appear in person.

'Also the costs to the ratepayer would be significantly increased if the Council were to hold its own hearings, only to have to participate again at an Environment Court level.”

Regional Council is also extending the time it will take to prepare its report to the Environment Court from 20 working days to 40.

'Many of the 152 submissions received raise very complex issues which will require a substantial degree of technical analysis,” says Mary-Anne.

'This is in line with our decision to double the allowable period for the filing of submissions, where we gave the public 40 days rather than 20 days to give us their views on the Application.”

Even with the extension of time, the decision to refer the application will still produce a quicker result than having a two stage process, she says.

The container ship Rena struck Astrolabe reef on October 5, 2011, and in the process of breaking up spilled heavy fuel oil and cargo much of which washed onto Bay of Plenty beaches.

It is the region's worst human-caused environmental disaster.

Salvage operations have since cleared most of the bow section from the top of the reef.

The larger stern section has since sunk into deeper water, and the owner and insurers, Daina Shipping and The Swedish Club, wish to leave it there.

The former containership owners and insurers need resource consent to leave the remainder of the wreck on the reef.

The application and the submissions on the application are available on the BOPRC website