The Environment Court has dismissed an appeal against the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's decision to renew water and air resource consents for Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) and Norske Skog Tasman.

In an interim decision released last week, the resource consents for the Kawerau mill operations have been granted for a 25-year period. The appeal related to consents granted for the air discharges and the taking of water from and discharges to the Tarawera River.

The Tarawera River by the Norske Skog and CHH plants in Kawerau. Picture by Google Earth.

CHH and Norske Skog Tasman also applied for, and were granted, a resource consent for a landfill by Whakatane District Council, but this was not appealed at the Environment Court.

The Environment Court has added two additional conditions to the consent and has sought feedback from the parties about the wording. The interim decision requires the consent holders to reduce the colour of the discharge in steps during the 25-year term unless they can show that a further reduction cannot be achieved.

Parties to the appeal have 14 days to report back to the court on the wording of the conditions around this matter before a final decision will be released.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council water management group manager Eddie Grogan says council was pleased the original decision had been upheld in the Environment Court's interim decision.

CHH and Norske Skog Tasman had applied for a 35-year joint resource consent.

In deciding to renew the existing consents for air discharges and for the taking of water and discharging it into the Tarawera River, and to grant the landfill consent, the hearings commissioners considered a wide range of impacts and benefits.

Overall, the panel agreed that the renewal of the existing consents was appropriate because of the value of the existing investment, the exceptional circumstances and scientific evidence that there were no significant effects on the aquatic ecology. Under the new consents, there are conditions that require the consent holder to reduce adverse effects over time.

One of the central concerns of many submitters to the consent hearing was that the health, welfare and amenity values of the Tarawera River were being compromised.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council's decision on the water and air consents was appealed by T and L Marr and Te Rangatiratanga o Ngati Rangitihi Incorporated at the Environment Court. The landfill consent was not appealed.