Prohibited activities in the NES
There are seven standards banning activities that discharge significant quantities of dioxins and other toxics into the air.
These standards are mandatory regulations introduced through sections 43 and 44 of the Resource Management Act 1991. They automatically supersede local controls placed by local government– unless the local government controls are stricter.
Clauses 4 and 5 of the regulations (below) outline how the bans apply.
4 Prohibition on discharges from certain activities
A discharge of a contaminant to air from an activity specified in any of regulations 6 to 12 is prohibited, except to the extent that the regulation provides otherwise.
5 Prohibition on granting of resource consents for certain activities
(1) A resource consent may not be granted for a discharge of a contaminant to air from an activity specified in any of regulations 6 to 12, except to the extent that the regulation provides otherwise.
(2) If a resource consent is granted for an activity, the activity is a discretionary activity for the purposes of the Act.
There is nothing in the standards that directly affects rules in plans.However, section 43B (the “stricter provision prevails rule”) “trumps” any rule which attempts to set a more lenient standard.The rule will be trumped whether or not it is in effect before the standard comes into force.There is no protection for rules in existence at the time the standards come into force.
Clauses 6 to 12 of the regulations describe the prohibited activities. Under the regulations, no person may carry out the following activities (effective 8 October 2004):
- deliberate landfill fires
- burning of tyres in the open
- burning of road tar seal (bitumen burnoff)
- burning of coated wire in the open (to recover metals)
- burning of oil in the open
In addition, no new high temperature hazardous waste incineratorsare allowed to be built, and from October 2006, the use of school and hospital incineratorswill be banned unless they obtain a resource consent.