West Coast Regional Council wants proof of human-caused climate change before supporting Zero Carbon Bill
The West Coast Regional Council has been called "idiotic" after saying it will not support the Zero Carbon Bill until the science behind human-caused climate change is proven. In its submission on the Zero Carbon Bill (ZCB), which the council says "appears to be well-intentioned", it focuses on fairness and justice for a largely remote region dependent on mining, farming and forestry. "To ask the people of the West Coast to commit to an emission target, the evidence proving anthropogenic climate change must be presented and proven beyond reasonable doubt. "Implementing the Bill is likely to result in substantial costs to these industries, as well as changes to the growing industry of tourism. It will also have impacts on day-to-day life for West Coast communities living in a remote, rural region." READ MORE: * Concern over social cost of Zero Carbon Bill * What is the NZ Government's Zero Carbon Bill and will it do anything? * A tale of two countries: Why this expert thinks NZ should copy UK's climate change policy Any move away from mining and burning coal could cause substantial job losses, with coal mining employing more than 900 people. "Fewer people equals less health facilities, which means more people will need to travel to Christchurch to receive medical care, as is already happening." There could be "considerable local resistance" to the Bill if there were job losses across several sectors. COUNCIL'S STANCE "IDIOTIC" Phil Perrott owns Miners on Sea an accommodation and bar in Granity and had to abandon his property during Cyclone Fehi in February last year when the sea came through the waterfront property. He laughed when he heard about the council's submission. "The West Coast Regional Council is the most idiotic organisation I have come across. I have no idea why we pay them rates. They wouldn't know climate change if it came up and bit them in the bum," he said. "Scientists all over the world tell me this is happening why would I argue?" He said the Government, and its agencies like the NZ Transport Agency and KiwiRail needed to sit down with Granity locals and come up with solutions. "If there was an earthquake they would red sticker our houses and buy them off us. Granity has sea surges and everybody runs for cover saying 'we don't want to know'," he said. He said the highway, rail line, telephone lines, school and health centre were all metres from the sea with no protection. If the road was damaged all the communities north of Granity would be cut off. NIWA recommended a "managed retreat", but no one could tell Perrott what that meant, he said. 'WE'RE SEEN AS REDNECKS' Councillor Stuart Challenger, a civil engineer, said he along with two other regional councillors, agreed climate change was happening. Others who were coal miners strongly opposed climate change science, he said. "It's not a discussion it's a fist bang. They are looking at the short-term economic impact on themselves, as opposed to the long term effect on the country." Challenger was opposed to the submission and worried Coasters would be "seen as rednecks". "We are better off ... saying we can do it. "I believe we are probably pretty low generators of emissions because of all the trees, but we are clearing the forests for farms and knocking over trees to make mines," he said. The West Coast was vulnerable to climate change and communities like Punakaiki, Carter's Beach, Neils Beach and Granity were already seeing the effects. "How long can ratepayers spend large amounts of money on walls when soon enough the walls won't be big enough? At Punakaiki it's ruining the amenity you can no longer get down on to the beach you have to walk over a hill to get there," he said. TRUMP FAN ON REGIONAL COUNCIL Of the all-male council, Neal Clementson and Allan Birchfield are miners and Peter Ewen is a mining historian who has written books on the Strongman and Pike River mining disasters. Chairman Andrew Robb and Peter McDonnell are farmers and Terry Archer is a former Buller council manager. Birchfield, whose family owns several coal and gold mines and who wears a Make America Great Again hat, said the claims around climate change were "a gigantic fraud". However, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change a group of scientists convened by the United Nations to guide world leaders has concluded that human activities have caused global warming of about 1.8 degrees since the 1850s and warned there is no way to mitigate climate change without getting rid of coal. Birchfield said the Zero Carbon Bill would increase his costs as a miner, which he would have to pass on to the consumer. Every New Zealander who used steel, coal, or hospitals and schools heated by coal, he said. "I'm not just opposing it because I'm a coal miner. I'm opposing it as a regional councillor for the cost I know it is going to inflict on the citizens. I am representing the people who voted me in. I believe most West Coasters will oppose this," he said. Birchfield said he was a Donald Trump fan. "I strongly support what Donald Trump has done in America bring all the miners back to work again," he said, though CNN reported earlier this month that more US coal-fired power plants have closed during Donald Trump's presidency than in Barack Obama's first term. Birchfield generally voted National but was hopeful NZ First would help defeat the Bill. Robb said he was not a climate change denier. "I don't support the Bill because it does not have enough information on how zero carbon as a target will be achieved and what impacts it will have on our community. The West Coast tourism, mining and dairy farming will all be impacted by this. New Zealand is not a big player in carbon emissions compared to the rest of the world. What happens if the rest of the world don't do anything about it and we're left with no economy to fight the effects of climate change," he said. REDUCING EMISSIONS WILL COST JOBS The council's submission says reducing agricultural emissions may cause job losses in dairy farming, another key West Coast industry. In terms of forestry, the council says the Coast already has a limited ability to reduce carbon levels by planting more exotic forest, as only 16 per cent of land is not in the conservation estate, and not all of that is productive. "It seems fair and just that the West Coast region and its people be rewarded for having saved this great asset over the decades for New Zealand's benefit. "It is worth mentioning that the council does not receive rates from the DOC estate." The Coast is disadvantaged by forested parts of the conservation estate, in existence before 1990, not being included in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the council says. "Indigenous forest does remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, albeit at a slower rate than pine forestry." The council says the Bill needs to consider how the West Coast bush and forests can be credited to offset emissions. It also says any provisions in the Bill to increase renewable electricity generation for Coast communities and beyond the region will be supported. "However, many of our water resources are located on conservation land and, under the current Conservation Minister's approach, use of these resources for renewable hydro-electricity generation may be further restricted or prohibited." Greater appreciation is needed of the regional effects of the Bill, it says.