New Zealand minister condemns Rio Tinto's "outrageous" failure dealing with toxic wastes

Published by MAC on 2020-02-13
Source: Australian Associated Press

New Zealand threatens to sue Rio Tinto after floods threatened toxic waste

Minister says he has ‘had enough’ of company’s failure to deal with waste dump that was almost breached by South Island floods.

Australian Associated Press

12 February 2020

New Zealand’s environment minister has threatened the mining
conglomerate Rio Tinto with legal action over what he says is an
“outrageous” failure to deal with toxic waste from an aluminium plant.

Recent South Island floods – in which the waste’s storage facility was
nearly inundated, bringing ecological and human tragedy – have
infuriated locals in Mataura, where 10,000 tonnes of “ouvea premix” resides.

David Parker, the environment minister, said the company “had a history
of crying wolf” to government to earn concessions and he had “had enough”.

“For them to try and escape some responsibility for cleaning up the mess
that comes from their own smelter. It’s outrageous. I can’t reconcile it
with their statements of corporate responsibility,” Parker told Radio NZ.

Rio Tinto stores the waste from its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in a
disused paper mill in the South Island town, an hour away.

That waste is a class six hazardous substance, capable of generating
poisonous ammonia gas when combined with water.

So when flooding ran through Matuara earlier in February, forcing the
town’s evacuation and ruining dozens of properties, locals were
understandably fearful for the potential for tragedy from the waste.

They believe another six inches of floodwater would have seen the
storage facility breached, thereby devastating the town and water catchment.

The waste has remained in Matuara for a number of years after the
company which Rio Tinto contracted to remove it went broke.

The government cut a deal with local authorities and Rio Tinto to remove
the waste, and last week, local council executive, Stephen Parry, said
he had reached a deal “based on a good old-fashioned Southland
handshake” to speed up the move – only for Rio Tinto to back out.

Parker said Rio Tinto had a responsibility to New Zealanders to clean up
their own mess, foreshadowing a move through the courts if they didn’t.

“Central government agreed to kick in a million dollars, the smelter a
bit more than a million dollars and the councils some hundreds of
thousands of dollars to get the clean-up started in a major way,” he said.

“We didn’t bring to bear those underlying legal liability issues but
maybe we the government should be looking at suing them now. I’ve had
enough.

“You know, they talk about preserving grizzly bears in Canada and
migrating birds in Australia. Well perhaps they could take the same
stance when it comes to the people and the environment of Southland.”

The smelter, located at the very base of South Island near Invercargill,
uses around a ninth of New Zealand’s electricity consumption each year.

Rio Tinto has been contacted for comment.