KEY POINTS:
Auckland's environmental watchdog has had mixed results with legal action against loggers of Rodney's forests to stop sediment running off into the sensitive Mahurangi and Kaipara Harbours.
In one Environment Court reserved decision, Holmes Logging and Woodmetrics were fined a total of $25,000 for carelessly damaging a Matakana Valley Forest stream in 2006.
In another decision, however, the judge dismissed 33 interrelated charges against Holmes Logging, its director and its operations manager, for activities in the Moirs Hill and Gully Rd areas of Mahurangi Forest.
Judge Craig Thompson said the ARC case did not meet the high standard of proof required for criminal proceedings.
He suggested the ARC review its resource consents to clear up uncertainty about whether the terms of its erosion and sediment control guidelines for earthworks had been breached.
Until this was done, he said, neither foresters nor the council would have a satisfactory regime for controlling forestry activities.
Company director Ken Holmes' reaction to the decision to the Herald was: "It's a big win for the industry.
"The ARC went after us trying to inflict standards that are impossible to achieve on an industry that's not doing too good anyway," said Mr Holmes.
"The ARC were trying to inflict changes in the way the business works ... to stop harvesting. The judge threw the charges out because they didn't have the documents.
"The resource consent and the sediment control plan were not specific or good enough."
The council will appeal against the decision. In the case, heard in May, it alleged its guidelines for effective erosion and sediment control measures were breached.
The company and management argued measures were appropriate and effective so they did comply with ARC rules.
The other case, Mr Holmes said, was as a result of a mistake over four hours' work in 2006.
Holmes Logging pleaded guilty to three charges under the Resource Management Act: disturbing the bed of the Waiwhiu Stream, damming the stream and discharging sediment and vegetation.
Woodmetrics, manager and organiser of the harvest, pleaded guilty to two charges: permitting the disturbance of the stream bed and permitting discharge of sediment and vegetation.
Judge Thompson fined the companies $5000 on each charge.
He said they had made a good, professional job up until working on the Waiwhiu Stream when they made "pretty much a mess" by pulling 100 felled trees along the alignment of the stream with a swing yard hauler. The stream was further damaged when the crew tried to remove trees in the water.
The judge said there must have been some damage with the amount of sediment that went into the stream and possibly further down the catchment.
Woodmetrics national operations manager Philip Elworthy said: "It was an unfortunate incident. We take our environmental obligations very seriously."
