humans, and those involved in the timber industry blame the EPA for failing to approve a cleaner product which could replace methyl bromide.
The Whareroa marae, a Maori meeting house in the Northern Island, is located just a kilometre away from the port in Mount Maunganui, where methyl bromide is regularly pumped under stacks of logs which are bound for export. The environmental spokesperson for the marae, Joel Ngatuere, noted that the locals fear the toxic gas was making them sick, and it is absurd that the industry has failed to remedy the situation.
“To have no action in place, to me it either shows complete incompetence or arrogance to have total disregard for our community… in terms of the impact that it is having on ourselves and also the ozone and climate change,” he said.
Environmental activist and former Green Party MP Steffan Browning said the Environmental Protection Authority should be really called “Economic Protection Authority”, adding that the industry has had sufficient time to get it together. “There is a recapture [technology] available. It just is that they have to dig into their pockets, out of the massive profits, and pay for it,” he added.
Meanwhile, those involved in the industry also blame the…
