 |
 |
|
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
New consents for Methanex New Zealand Plants – July 2008 Simon Berry and Lara Blomfield have been assisting Methanex New Zealand Limited to obtain all authorisations required for the continued operation of Methanex’s methanol plants at Waitara Valley and Motunui in North Taranaki, New Plymouth. Both plants were consented through controversial National Development Act procedures in the early 1980s as part of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects. All of the consents for the plants, including the land use consents, were due to expire over the next couple of years and applications to renew the consents were lodged in 2007. In February 2008, the New Plymouth District Council granted the land use consents needed for both the Motunui and Waitara Valley plants and for the Methanex Port tank farm. Neighbouring landowners lodged an appeal in the Environment Court in March 2008. That appeal was recently settled without the need for a hearing. The renewal of the consents is imperative as Methanex has recently secured a tranche of gas which will enable the massive Motunui plant to be restarted. The company is currently undertaking a $70 million refurbishment project to enable this. Once in full production, the Motunui plant will produce 900,000 tonnes of methanol generating export earnings of over $900 million a year.
|
||||
