Flawed regulatory approach seen in new environmental standard

A proposed new national standard for assessing and managing soil contaminants could prove to be costly and inefficient, and in doing so achieve the opposite of what it set out to do.

This is the view of the Otago Regional Council (ORC), which has prepared a submission on the standard.

Devised by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE), the standard aims to ensure that land affected by soil contaminants is appropriately identified and assessed only when the land is being developed for residential use. If necessary it would also ensure that remedial action is taken, or that the contaminants are contained to make the land safe for human use.

The proposed standard is a mix of allowing (permitting) and controlling (requiring resource consents) certain activities on land affected or potentially affected by soil contaminants.

New Zealand has a legacy of soil contamination due to past uses of chemicals in industry, agriculture and horticulture. In assessing this problem, MfE considers that the risks posed by contaminants in soil have been underestimated or over-evaluated, leading to expensive disputes over local government's liability for the costs.

It says the problem has not been adequately addressed when land potentially affected by contaminants in soil is developed or subdivided for residential use.

However, ORC director of policy and resource planning Fraser McRae said the rationale for the standard is flawed because human health is seen as the sole matter of concern and not a component of the environment.

"The focus needs to be on the cause and source of soil contamination and its effects on the environment as a whole, rather than just human health," Mr McRae said.

The proposal created overlap and duplication between territorial authorities and regional councils.

"In fact, the process as proposed appears to become more cumbersome and more expensive than the present system as councils will still control soil contaminants for aquatic and ecological reasons," Mr McRae said.

Any National Environmental Standard should address all soil contamination issues by widening the current scope to include the environment as a whole, Mr McRae concluded.