Selling the Environment

New Zealand has a serious environmental pollution problem that has been largely ignored by consecutive National and Labour Governments. With an estimated total of 10,060,000 Tonnes of effluent discharge from pulp and paper mills into NZ waterways each year, it is something that cannot be ignored.

Mill effluent goes into our waterways. It discolours water, and reduces the amount of oxygen present. Solids in the effluent settle on the riverbed. Chlorine and its derivatives, producing dioxins and other contaminants, as well as many other highly dangerous substances are also known to be present in Kraft mill wastewater. Half of the discharged waste comprises of condensate wastewater, the other half is made up of thousands (too many to list here) of the most dangerous and poisonous substances known to mankind. Some of these dangerous substances are released at levels that often well exceed any worldwide safety guidelines. There is no proper monitoring and any breaches are ignored.

But it’s not just our waterways they’re polluting; our air gets a good hammering as well. Gaseous emissions consist of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, chlorine dioxide and reduced sulphur gases, just to name a few. The typical kraft mill odour is due to discharges of hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide...

Hydrogen Sulphide: Carcinogenic, Gas is heavier than air. Exposure symptoms: Cardiovascular or blood toxicant, neurotoxicant, reproductive toxicant, respiratory toxicant, H25 irritates eyes at 50 ppm and causes death at 100 ppm to 300 ppm. Rapid loss of sense of smell on exposure to gas concentrations above 150 ppm.

Dimethyl Sulphide: Severe eye irritant. Harmful if inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through skin.

Methyl Mercaptan CH35H: Chemical Asphyxiant. Odour: Rotten cabbage. Gas is heavier than air and may travel along the ground. Substance decomposes on burning producing toxic fumes including Sulphur Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulphide. Reacts badly with strong oxidants. Reacts with sunlight, water, steam, or acids to form flammable and toxic gas. Forms explosive mixtures with oxygen at low levels.

(International Programme on Chemical Safety) Exposure symptoms: Irritates eyes and respiratory tract. May cause adverse effects on the central nervous system, resulting in respiratory depression. High levels of exposure may result in unconsciousness and/or death. Effects may be delayed.

(US Dept. of Labour Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Coughing, sore throat, shortness of breath, headaches, nausea and unconsciousness. Pulmonary Edema (Delayed). CS effects: Narcosis, Cyanosis and Seizures. Respiratory failure.

(Intergas Safety Data) Exposure symptoms: Fatigue, Mucous membrane irritation of lips mouth and nose. May affect central nervous system causing muscle weakness, tremors, narcosis, convulsions, unconsciousness, paralysis of the respiratory tract, cyanosis, coma and death. Chronic blood and lung effects: Liver injury has been documented after inhalation. Exposure to 4 ppm for several hours results in headaches and nausea.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are also significant mercury levels because of the toxic releases from pulp and paper mills. With no studies done into multiple gas exposure and their synergistic effects on the human organism, it’s no wonder New Zealand has the highest cancer rate in the World? But hey! The export dollar is worth more than people’s health isn’t it?

Pollution kills plants and other life in our rivers. In 1997, Environment Bay of Plenty described life on the bottom of the Tarawera River, used by the Tasman mills, as “Completely obliterated”, although they have done little to remedy the situation.

The major categories of water pollution of concern to the pulp and paper industry are: suspended solids (mainly fibre), biological oxygen demand, toxicity and colour. The effluent from the bleaching process contains of variety of substances, some of which are known or suspected of being toxic, genotoxic or mutagenic. Chlorinated organics that are produced in the chlorine bleaching processes are of particular concern. Chemicals (especially the dissolved lignin) are detrimental to the environment.

Colour can be a problem, especially when the effluent is discharged into receiving waters with a high transparency, like New Zealands waterways. Most of the colour derives from the bleaching process, and oxygen delignification. External removal of colour can be carried out, but it is difficult and expensive.

Waste water generation rates should not exceed 50 m3/t of air-dried pulp (ADP), and levels of 20 m3/t of air-dried pulp (ADP) (or product) should be targeted. For paper mills, effluent discharges should be less than 5 m3/t of ADP. I could not find a m3/t for chlorine plants, but would presume that it is less than 5 m3/t making Kinleith fail to meet recommended effluent discharge recommendations. Considering what that pollution contains, any amount is too much to release into the environment.

Kinleith – 2 Kraft Pulp Mills: 2 Paper Machines – Product = 235,000 Tonnes per annum (TPA) 1 Pulp Dryer – 420,000 TPA. Total product 655,000 TPA – Effluent discharge = 3,102,500 TPA. Just under 5 m3/t.

Penrose – (uses paper given for recycling, not wood chips or logs) 1 Paper Machine – 67 000 TPA

Whakatane – Pulp mill: 1 Paperboard machine – 80 000 TPA

Kawerau – Pulp Mill: 3 Paper Machines – 55 000 TPA

Mataura: 2 Paper Machines – 25 000 TPA

Tasman Pulp and Paper Company Ltd. Kawerau

3 Paper Machines – 400 000 TPA

2 Mechanical Pulp Mills – 315 000 TPA

2 Kraft Pulp Mills – 290 000 TPA

Pan Pacific Forests Industries (NZ) Ltd. Karioi: 1 Pulp Mill – 125 000 TPA

Kinleith Mill is one of the largest polluters, with a discharge consent, allowing for a wastewater volume of up to 165000m3/d, of which it was originally expected that up to 155000m3/d may be discharged to the Kopakorahi Stream and 10000 m3/d to the Waituna Stream. US giant International Paper owns the majority of Kinleith. NZ is receiving around 10c for every tonne of waste produced. It’s most likely going to cost us more than 10c to clean up, so there is no financial reason to continue with these dangerous dinosaurs.

 
Kinleith’s discharge into our waterways may have reduced somewhat since 2004 but this is due to new massive sludge pits which allows evaporation and absorption into the earth, thus reducing the overall amount released but increasing the toxicity.

Wastewaters are usually discharged at a rate of 20–250 cubic meters per metric ton (m3/t) of ADP. They are high in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), at 10–40 kg/t of ADP; total suspended solids, 10– 50 kg/t of ADP; chemical oxygen demand (COD), 20–200 kg/t of ADP; and chlorinated organic compounds, which may include dioxins, furans, and other adsorbable organic halides, AOX, at 0–4 kg/t of ADP. Wastewater from chemical pulping contains 12–20 kg of BOD/t of ADP, with values of up to 350 kg/t. The corresponding values for mechanical pulping wastewater are 15–25 kg BOD/t of ADP.

For chemimechanical pulping, BOD discharges are 3 to 10 times higher than those for mechanical pulping. Pollution loads for some processes, such as those using non-wood raw materials, could be significantly different. Phosphorus and nitrogen are also released into wastewaters. The main source of nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus compounds is raw material such as wood. The use of peroxide, ozone, chlorine and other chemicals in bleaching makes it necessary to use a complexing agent for heavy metals such as manganese, all very dangerous stuff.

Fish stocks around Kinleith waterways are greatly affected by its pollution. The effects of which are mainly located in areas where the most discharge takes place, like Lake Maraetai, but have also been found to affect fish in the Waikato River. Fish within the downstream of effluent discharge have been found to contain Dioxins and are not safe to consume; no official is going to tell you that though. The official conclusion is that a build up of toxins is due to historical releases and more testing needs to be done.

Because of an increase in temperature from waste, some fish have apparently increased in number. Fish in these areas have been shown to have a disproportionate female/male ratio and studies have shown this is due to discharged chemicals which change their sex from female to male. I’m sure the same effects are found in fish stocks around Kawerau’s mills.

The likely presence of mutagenic and genotoxic compounds in the discharges into the Tarawera River as well as many other areas of New Zealand, have been shown to cause deformations in fish. There seems to be a correlation between this and the high cancer rate in the people who have eaten eels, whitebait and fish from the sea outside the river mouth. Given the amount of overseas evidence that such compounds are often present in Pulp and Paper Mill discharges, I found it quite extraordinary that Pulp and Paper Mills are still gaining consents to pollute.

Conclusion: Get rid of these outdated monoliths.

90% of Climate Denial Papers linked to ExxonMobil

A recent article by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), concerning a number of peer reviewed scientific papers, has received widespread global condemnation from environmentalists, scientists and some of the authors of the papers themselves. The article references more than 900 papers which, according to the GWPF, refute "concern relating to a negative environmental or socio-economic effect of AGW.

Further investigation into the claims has found that nine of the ten authors cited as Skeptical of "Man-Made" climate change have links to organisations funded by ExxonMobil, with many co-authoring several papers with Exxon-funded contributors. The top ten contributors are alone responsible for 186 of the papers cited by the Global Warming Policy Foundation. The data also shows that there are many other familiar climate sceptic names among the major contributors to the list.

Dr Sherwood B Idso is the most cited academic on the list, having authored or co-authored 67 of the 938 papers analysed, which is seven percent of the total. Why is this important, and what does it indicate? The "900+ papers" list is supposed to be proof that a large number of different scientists reject the scientific consensus on climate change. Once you crunch the numbers however, you find that the majority of this new list is made up of a small network of individuals who co-author papers and share funding ties to the oil industry.

US Climate Change Lobbyists.

Exxon Mobil and others who profit from selling fossil fuels are clearly underwriting "science" that calls the reality of climate change into question. But the money shapes the messaging and pollutes the minds of those who aren't paying attention. Three respected scientists have independently complained that their climate studies have been misrepresented by sceptics in order to bolster the list of papers thrown together to challenge the consensus on global warming.

It is possible to find scientific papers which question the theory, particularly if you look further back in time before scientific certainty on this issue solidified. But by examining this list in more detail, it becomes clear that rather than capturing broad scientific opposition to the reality of manmade climate change: A significant chunk of the list is authored by a small group of writers with extensive links to each other and to the oil industry.

The week that was

On Tuesday, Japan upgraded the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear crisis to the highest severity level 7 for major accident, this and an earlier admittance that the radiation being released was far greater than first realised, confirms many peoples fears. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the plant is showing “early signs of recovery” but is still in a critical condition.

The stark assessment reinforced the sense that this nuclear emergency ultimately will cause problems that exceed those first predicted by the government, which has downplayed long-term safety concerns and only expanded its mandated 12-mile radius evacuation zone on Monday, something other countries had been concerned with for some time.

The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill passed under urgency this week and sparked some controversy because of possible Internet suspensions, guilt by accusation and termination. A black out campaign on Facebook has ensued with many believing the legislation targets individuals, and removes from institutions (libraries, universities, schools, businesses) the protections that the previous legislation gave.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand has sent the Navy and Police to intervene in a peaceful protest by Greenpeace and local iwi off the East Coast of New Zealand. The protesters managed to halt an oil exploration ship. The Governments actions have caused wide spread condemnation from the public, East coasters as well as Maori and Green Party representatives. John Key believes Petrobras has a legal right under their permit because the Government granted that right. However this was undertaken without proper consultation with local iwi who are looking into legal options to protect the coastlines.

Greenpeace is organising a day of Action for April 20^th a date that also marks one year since the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill disaster that leaked around 4,900,000 oil barrels (779,000 m3) into the ocean.

Scuffles between protesters and security guards marred BP's first annual shareholder meeting in London since the Gulf oil spill, with shrimpers blocked from entering Thursday's meeting to demand more compensation. The protesters included five Gulf Coast residents who had planned to tell investors about the loss of their livelihoods and health problems resulting from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The Government formally apologised to an autistic man wrongly convicted of rape and agreed to pay Mr Farmer $351,575 in compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment. With revelations today that two police officers have been suspended and face sexual violation charges and a Police officer charged with grievous bodily harm being acquitted despite seven officers giving evidence against him, this has not been a good week for the Police. Last week the new Commissioner of Police Peter Marshall admitted that the culture within the force needed to be cleaned up and a recent poll has shown that public esteem for the police has plunged to an all time low.

Singer Tiki Taane, who was arrested at a Tauranga tavern on Sunday morning for allegedly singing the rap anthem "Fuck the police”, will defend a charge of disorderly behaviour on the basis that he was exercising freedom of speech.

With an earlier move to remove free advice through legal aid, more extreme measures have been implemented in what many consider the most drastic cuts to legal aid in its 60-year history. The National Government seek to reduce the number of civil law cases by 547,000 a year in what ministers describe as an attempt to save money and "discourage a culture of litigation". There is strong opposition to this move with many predicting miscarriages of justice and hearing times increasing through self-representation.

Leaders of Britain, France and the United States have vowed to continue their military campaign in Libya until Muammar Gaddafi leaves power. Col Gaddafi's daughter accused the leaders of "insulting" Libyans. "To speak of Gaddafi's resignation is a humiliation for all Libyans," Aisha Gaddafi told young loyalists at a rally in Tripoli. Fighting also continued in the rebel-held city of Misrata, western Libya, which has been besieged by pro-Gaddafi forces for nearly two months. Rebels said a rocket attack by pro-Gaddafi forces killed 23 people on Thursday morning but this could not be independently verified.

Silvio Berlusconi the 74-year-old ruler of Italy who is alleged to have paid for sex with a 17-year-old belly dancer called Karima El Mahroug, as well as 32 other women has vowed to not stand for re-election. Miss El Mahroug, it is alleged, was under the legal age for prostitution and Mr Berlusconi is also facing a charge of abuse of office.

Berlusconi is accused of using his power as prime minister to secure the release of Miss El Mahroug. She had been arrested for theft last May and Mr Berlusconi told Milan police she was related to the then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Prosecutors recently outlined their case against the prime minister in a closed hearing in Milan concerning Berlusconi's broadcasting empire.

A soil fumigant used in a strawberry farm caused adverse effects and around 40 people were evacuated from hotels near the Auckland Airport Thursday night. Chloropicrin was used in large quantities during World War One and as a riot control agent. It has similar characteristics to tear gas.

Jean-Claude Duvalier AKA Baby Doc the exiled former dictator of Haiti, who is accused of brutality and embezzlement while ruling Haiti from 1971 to 1986, was charged with corruption when he in a surprise move returned to Haiti in January. The theft and misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars, which funded an opulent lifestyle in France after a popular uprising and international pressure, exiled him and his wife from Haiti, have not been recovered. On Thursday a lawyer for a Human Rights Watch organization said there is enough evidence to charge Duvalier with abuses from the 1980s with records showing the former dictator was at least aware of the torture and killings by his forces.

Tunisia has drawn up 18 criminal charges, including manslaughter and drug running, against its former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who triggered a wave of revolutions across the Middle East by fleeing into exile.

National Imperialists Courting Disaster

Greenpeace and local East Coast iwi had a victory on Sunday. They peacefully halted oil exploration off the East Coast of New Zealand. This was achieved by going for a little swim in the ocean that just happened to be in front of Petrobras' seismic testing ship, which consequently had to alter course. Awesome! I'm going to have to buy them some beer.

National and co are clearly unhappy about this with some accusing Greenpeace and local iwi of being eco fascists, extremists and even terrorists. John Key sent the Police to the area on a Navy vessel and a couple of P-3 Orion’s have been flying reconnaissance to curtail the protestors from interfering in what the Government say is “a legal right of Petrobras” to explore the area for oil deposits.

Unfortunately there has been little consultation with local iwi or regard for their legal rights. Te Whanau a Apanui recently unanimously voted against the exploration in their waters because of the potential negative impact from oil spills, something Petrobras has not ruled out.

There is a legal opinion saying that Ministers have no right to instruct the Police in this matter and it is questionable as to whether a formal complaint has been laid at all. However today the Police believing they have the same rights in the Exclusive Economic Zone as they do on land, issued notices on the some 60 protestors. It's interesting that the Government think this course of action will work and I think this points towards the fact that there is a total disassociation from reality by the National regime.

David Clendon from the Green Party of Aotearoa was a veritable destroyer of National's misconceptions today in the House of Representatives. Labour's Maori affairs spokesperson, Parekura Horomia has come out and said the National Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee failed to consult Maori before signing over the Raukumara Basin to Petrobras International. Despite this, National is pushing on with their plans.

Hekia Parata, Nationals Associate Minister of Energy and Resources said tonight on Close Up that:

“National was dedicated to 90% renewable energy and on target at 75%.”

Now I’m no Einstein, but even I know this is a complete load of crap! Just like National's idea of an Energy Strategy, the draft of which was recently leaked and has been widely bagged as without substance and pro coal, oil and gas.

What I really don’t like is disinformation; so let’s have a look at the facts…

1. Petrobras is one of the Worlds largest oil companies.
2. Petrobras has a terrible history of oil spills.
3. New Zealand does not require relief wells to be drilled to help in the event of a blow out such as that seen in the Gulf of Mexico.
4. National does not require a secondary oil platform anywhere near in the case of an accident.
5. New Zealand is capable of dealing with an oil spill 0.5% the size of the Deepwater Horizon.
6. Less than 5% of the funds made from crude oil will go to New Zealand.
7. A very limited amount of jobs will be created for New Zealanders.
8. Other countries are moving to close down deep-sea drilling by Petrobras because of safety issues.
9. Burning oil contributes to climate change.
10. New Zealand is failing to meet carbon emission reduction obligations.
11. Greenpeace will not halt their protest until Petrobras go home.

Despite all this, the National Government show a dogged determination to drill baby drill, whatever the cost or danger. Gerry Brownlee prefers to rely on Best Practice and industry self regulation to safe guard New Zealands iconic and irreplaceable coasts and wildlife. With only one part-time inspector for the some 59 oil wells in New Zealand, some recent spills of unknown quantity in Taranaki and multiple spills by Petrobras around the World (which they refuse to pay to clean up), one can take Gerry's claims that self regulated deep sea drilling in New Zealand will be safe, with a grain of salt.

The question must be asked; do any of the National Ministers have investments in Petrobras? The answer is simply; Too bloody bad! Invest in renewables because we don't want to add to climate change or have dangerous deep sea oil drilling in New Zealand.

Contradictions and Lies

John Key says that we need to risk our environment to create jobs on deep sea oil rigs while National have sacked 3000 public servants and cut funding to TVNZ7, presumably because the Natz don't agree with its content.

The New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) is also set to close while National promise to bail out the privately owned insurance company AMI to the tune of a billion dollars.

John Key states that “New Zealand has proven it can manage those risks” from deep sea oil exploration when this is clearly incorrect, we have very little infrastructure to rectify a large oil spill.

With New Zealand wages now 30% behind Australia, Bill English says: “it is a good thing if we can attract the capital” contradicting Nationals 2008 election campaign. Unemployment has increased by around 200,000 while National has been in power.

Bill English says that the deal with Mediaworks is not a loan but documents reveal that it is a loan and he signed off on that loan. Steven Joyce the former head of Mediaworks says that other media outlets had the same deal while it is revealed that 99% of the money spent went to Mediaworks. John Key says he never met with Mediaworks when he spoke directly with the company’s management and consequently went against Ministry of Economic Development advice in granting the deal. Idiot Savant @ No Right Turn says this.

John Key says he knew nothing about the BMW deal when he had signed off on it himself. He states that there was no option but to buy the BMW’s when later documents show this to not be true. Mr Key then jokes about the situation.

John Key lies in an attempt to explain away hard evidence that he had a major, undisclosed conflict of interest in his Tranz Rail shares:

National are convinced state power companies will perform better after partial privatisation, despite contrary Treasury advice. Key promises to proceed with privatization if elected despite a huge percentage of the population being against the plan.

John Key states that 10,000 Christchurch homes will need to be demolished when he had no intelligence to base this figure on. Key posses for photo opportunities while many in Christchurch go without basic necessities.

Gerry Brownlee says that the government is doing a good job while it is revealed that EQC assessments are being done in a time frame of as little as 44 seconds. Gerry Brownlee opens the tender to build temporary accommodation for those affected by the Christchurch Earthquake to international interests while Japan’s first temporary accommodation becomes available for those effected by their Magnitude 9 Earthquake and tsunami.

After much controversy concerning the Governments plans for heritage buildings affected by the Earthquakes, Gerry Brownlee says:

“I understand conservation architecture very well and I do have an appreciation of heritage buildings."

Mr Brownlee then follows this up with:

“It's going to ruin communities because people have not been able to get on with things due to that very expensive heritage process," and "We cannot put the city into paralysis while we go about considering the heritage values of such a large number of buildings."

John Key changes his position on the Iraq war initially stating that National should send troops because "blood was thicker than water." He later said that we should not send troops to be more in line with public awareness. Phil Goff says that Key either has a defective memory or simply he is not telling the truth to disguise his poor judgement and yet another flip-flop. Etc.

The week that was

The National Government offer to bailout AMI to the tune of more than a Billion dollars. The privately owned company has had financial difficulty since the Christchurch Earthquake and improper re-insurance measures. This decision to bail out yet another privately owned business was made in light of recent revelations that the Treasury advised John Key that South Canterbury Finance was never compliant with the bailout scheme…

SCF debt ballooned from $200 Million to as much as $700 Million once it was admitted to the Crown run scheme. This has resulted in a bailout to the tune of $1.7 Billion with a further $300 Million to follow. SCF was also subject to a Serious Fraud Office inquiry at the time. All this has prompted Phil Goff to make a request for the entire National Government to resign.

More than 750 principals have given a vote of no confidence in the National Government because of their educational standards, which have received a unanimous thumbs-down. The failure is due to Education Minister Anne Tolley inept management, an ill-conceived policy and a lack of consultation.

President of the NZEI Ian Leckie said:

"As professionals and educators we feel completely marginalised as the government pursues a political agenda for education rather than educational policy based on what's best for children, teaching and learning. Any attempts to raise our concerns about untried and untested National Standards are met with arrogant disregard."

Principals Federation president Peter Simpson said:

“The standards are too undeveloped to be of any use and principals should make a moral and ethical decision on behalf of the country's children to reject them” and “the Government has tried to manufacture a sense of crisis even though international studies show New Zealand's schools are among the best in the world.”

Despite this, the National Government continues to ignore these concerns.

On April 7, a 7.1 Magnitude earthquake hits the east coast of Honshu, Japan. It is considered to be an aftershock of the March 11, 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake. The aftershock sequence of that event has been ongoing since March 11 with 58 earthquakes of M 6 or greater up until April 7 2011. The aftershock has reportedly killed 3 and knocked out power in the northern part of the country.

Due to the earthquake, the Onagawa nuclear power plant north of Sendai, had a failure of power supply to the cooling of the plant's spent fuel pools. An emergency diesel generator functioned and radiation-monitoring devices detected no abnormalities.

Bill English tries to make the 30% lower wages comparative to Australia a good thing... He recently stated:

“One is the wage differential. We have a workforce that is better educated, just as productive and 30 per cent cheaper.”

Mr English’s statements refute the extensive electioneering by National to the extent that they were going to close the wage gap with Australia. This clearly points to the fact that the National party has no plan to speak of. New Zealand has a work force that is less educated because of National’s policies, has far lower productivity compared to Australia and a raft of subsidies and welfare because of those low wages. It is clear that the ideology within the National ranks does not understand that less turnover because of low wages equals less spending and a malfunctioning economy.

A bribe of $2 million dollars was given to the Maori party in the form of a plastic Waka to apparently progress Maori interests in the Rugby World Cup. With a 88% public vote against the tupperwaka, the Government continues to defend the project.