A New Zealand forest company must pay a Tolaga Bay couple NZ$50,000 each after a terrifying night they spent marooned on their roof amid rising floodwaters laden with forestry debris. Aratu Forestry Limited, previously Hikurangi Forest Farms Limited, was fined a total of NZ$379,500 on two charges brought by Gisborne District Council under the Resource Management Act of discharging contaminants — forestry waste and silt — to land in circumstances that enabled it to enter water. Source: Sarah Curtis, Gisborne Herald
The offence is punishable by a fine of up to NZ$600,000. The company was also ordered to pay three victims a total of NZ$125,000 reparation for emotional harm.
Ten forestry companies were charged with similar RMA offences, which came to light in two extreme weather events that hit the region but impacted on different places on June 3 and 4, and June 11 and 12, 2018.
One of the charges against Aratu related to its Te Marunga forest, about 12 kilometres west of Tolaga Bay, which was affected by the earlier event when 47,000 cubic metres of forest waste ended up on the beach at Tolaga Bay and another 400,000 cubic metres was lodged elsewhere around the catchment, damaging properties, and blocking waterways, roads, and bridges.
The other charge related to Aratu’s Wakaroa Forest, in Waimata, which was mostly impacted by the second event.
Slash and sediment debris mobilised from Wakaroa and other forests inundating Uttings Bridge on Waimata Road, which had to be closed, and led to significant repair costs and inconvenience for residents to the north of the bridge.
Environment Court Judge Brian Dwyer sentenced Aratu in Gisborne yesterday, fining the company NZ$229,500 for its breaches at Te Marunga forest and NZ$150,000 for those at Wakaroa forest.
Gisborne District Council will receive all but 10% of the fine.
Judge Dwyer also ordered the emotional harm reparation for the three victims — residents on a shared family farm in Mangatokerau Valley one of the worst-hit areas of Tolaga Bay.
Paul Te Kira and his partner Nina Maraki will each get NZ$50,000.
They were forced to clamber on to their roof with their four-year-old granddaughter at about 3.30am when floodwaters entered their house and rose to within 30cm of the ceiling.
They had to wait exposed to the weather until a helicopter could rescue them at first light. Huge logs in a raft of forestry debris inundating the Mangatokerau River battered their home beneath them.
A whangai sister Amber Grace who also lost her home at the property that night but who was fortunately away, will receive NZ$25,000.
Judge Dwyer said the company was part of a wealthy international conglomerate with huge forestry holdings in this district (35,000 hectares) and in other parts of New Zealand. It could afford a reparation order of substance for these victims who suffered immense loss and a terrifying, life-threatening ordeal.
Defence counsel Alistair Darroch submitted the company formally apologised to affected families, made koha payments to them, and had begun tidy up work at their properties. Some were visited by management including the then director from Malaysia.
Aratu met half the costs of cleaning up Tolaga Bay Beach despite waste there being more attributable to other companies.
The guilty plea discount also applied.
Speaking outside the court Aratu Forests Limited CEO Ian Brown said the company respects the decision of the court and takes full responsibility for the non-compliances identified as a result of the storm.
“We are deeply sorry for the impact this has had on our neighbours and the wider community, as well as the rivers and coast in the area. We acknowledge the hardship that our neighbours in the Mangatokerau valley have gone through as a result of the floods and debris, and we unreservedly apologise for the suffering they have endured.”
“We are determined to restore the environment, rebuild the trust of the community and continue working with partners to ensure this doesn’t happen again. There remains much to do, but under our new ownership Aratu Forests Limited is committed to demonstrating that forestry has a key role to play as a long-term sustainable land use in the Gisborne region. We are about responsible investment which includes outstanding environmental outcomes as a key part of our business,” said Mr Brown.
