Teeth bared over sawmill

The fight against a proposed $30 million sawmill near the Coromandel beach settlement of Whangapoua starts in the Environment Court today.

The sawmill, proposed by Blue Mountain Lumber on a site at Te Rerenga, 8km from Whangapoua, has been a contentious issue in the seaside settlement, with residents vowing to fight it since the project was approved at a hearing last July involving Environment Waikato and the Thames Coromandel District Council.

Appeals against the mill were lodged with the Environment Court and hearings will start today, with appellants saying the sawmill will damage waterways and the local environment.

Among the appellants who will be heard over the next three weeks is the Department of Conservation, the developers of Matarangi Beach Estates and the Whangapoua Environmental Protection Society.

Protection society spokesman Paul Bibby said Whangapoua residents were almost unanimously opposed to the mill, which would operate 24 hours a day processing 200,000cu m of logs a year.

"They're putting this thing right almost on the edge of the harbour. Their waste is going to go into the streams," Mr Bibby said.

"It's just irresponsible ... it just shouldn't be allowed to go."

Mr Bibby said Whangapoua residents would turn out in force when their submissions were heard.

With the closure of log processor and timber manufacturers Tanner Group, which operated a mill at Kerepehi, near Ngatea on the Hauraki Plains, he questioned why Blue Mountain Lumber was not looking at taking over that site.

"That's a more logical place for it."

Blue Mountain Lumber operations manager Matthew Hitchings said the company would not look at the Kerepehi site because it was too far from the forest and one of the advantages of the Te Rerenga site was it was beside the forest, reducing the number of logging trucks on roads.

Mr Hitchings said Blue Mountain Lumber was quietly confident it had the right mix for the project to be approved.

"We're comfortable that we have got a good project. I think there has been a lot of misinformation out there and people don't fully understand exactly what we're doing."

He said improved water treatments would mean no adverse effects to waterways.

If the project is approved, construction is expected to start in early summer and take up to a year to build.

Judge Richard Bollard is expected to visit the proposed site tomorrow.

The hearing, which is being held at the Aotearoa Lodge in Whitianga, is expected to finish on May 6.

The issues

For

* Site near Te Rerenga is ideal because it will restrict the use of roads by trucks.

* Mill will generate jobs and income.

Against

* Commercial mill will be an intrusion in largely natural environment.

* Round-the-clock operations unsuited for rural area.