Burning oil in the open

Subclause 10 of the regulations specifies:

10 Burning of oil

(1) The burning of oil in the open air is prohibited.

(2) Subclause (1) does not apply if–

a. the burning is for creating special smoke and fire effects for the purposes of producing films; or;

b. the burning is for the purpose of training people to put out fires; or

c. the burning is for the purpose of protecting crops from frost, and the person burning the oil has a resource consent for the discharge produced from that particular site.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, subclause (1) does not apply if a discharge from the burning of oil is directed to the open air by a stack, chimney, or exhaust pipe (for example, emissions from a motor vehicle).

Implementation

The standard means that the burning of any oil in the open is banned. The definition of oil contained within the regulation is:

Oil–

(a) means petroleum in any form; and

(b) includes crude oil, fuel oil sludge, oil refuse, and refined oil products (for example, diesel fuel, kerosene, and motor gasoline).

Note that the definition of oil in the regulations is not intended to include gas. Councils would still be able to consider whether to grant consents for discharges to air from the burning of oil in appropriately designed equipment with appropriate emission controls. The standard states that any resource consent application for this activity is a discretionary activity.

The ban does not apply to the following activities:

• oil burned in the open for fire training (no consent required– unless otherwise specified in a regional plan)
• creating smoke and fire effects for filming (no consent required unless otherwise specified in a regional plan)
• protecting crops from frost if a resource consent has been obtained. The standard states that any resource consent application for this activity is a discretionary activity.

Note that the consent requirement for frost protection applies only to the traditional form of frost pots that burn oil in the open, or via a chimney or stack. The ban or resource consent requirement does not include the operation of frost control equipment that uses oil injected as a fuel source to drive hot air fans.