West Coast mine consent appealed to high court

An Environment Court decision granting consent to the planned Solid Energy open cast Cypress Mine on the West Coast is being appealed to the High Court.

When consents were granted for the mine last month, Solid Energy said it hoped to start work within six months and extract 5 million tonnes of coal over its 10-year life.

Forest and Bird said today an appeal had been lodged against the mine, in Happy Valley 17km northeast of Westport.

Field officer Eugenie Sage has raised four points for appeal.

They include:

* whether there was evidence to support the court's finding it was possible to successfully transfer up to 12ha of red tussock wetland to an intermediate site, then back?

* did the court apply the correct legal test when it decided the loss of significant habitat for fauna could be compensated for by a predator control programme?

* did the court use a high enough standard in assessing the mitigation measures?

* did it consider an irrelevant matter when considering the economic benefits of the mine to taxpayers?

The Department of Conservation said today it had no plans to appeal the decision.

Smaller conservation groups warmly welcomed the Forest and Bird decision.

Buller Conservation Group spokesman Peter Lusk, said the move was "most important".

It had two areas of concern -- emissions and global warming, which could not be addressed by the court, and kiwi and snails.

"For 100 years you can't go out and kill kiwi, but you can destroy their habitat," Mr Lusk said.

Mr Lusk and Ngakawau Riverwatch said the consents would result in the death of 10 kiwi, although they are absolutely protected under the Conservation Act.

Riverwatch spokesperson Debbie Chorley, said Forest and Bird needed to set a precedent.

- nzpa