Posts by Sacha
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Holes of National Significance
Excellent
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RNZ Nine to Noon - Rod Oram (streaming 18 mins) and earlier piece with various stakeholders - mayors, miners, greenies (streaming 30 mins).
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environmentalists can apply to have similar prohibitions enacted
Who's picking a Ministerial call-in of resource consents on grounds of strategic national importance or whatever it's called?
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More Idiot/Savant goodness about preventing mining.
When an interviewer pointed out to Gerry Brownlee that mining on Great Barrier Island - one of the areas he wants to open - is prohibited by the district plan, he suggested that anyone can get a plan change. But this cuts both ways - if mining companies can apply to have that prohibition removed, environmentalists can apply to have similar prohibitions enacted by the Thames-Coromandel, Buller, and Southland District Councils.
And with local body elections due later this year, I think making such a proposal would be a wonderful way of focusing the mind of candidates and councillors on the political cost to them of permitting schedule 4 land to be despoiled. It may also create space for anti-mining candidates to be elected to those bodies, in the same way that concern over water use in Canterbury saw a number of environmentalist candidates elected to ECan last election.
In the long run, though, the only way to assure the safety of these areas is to change the government. And Brownlee has just given a lot of people a strong reason to do just that.
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a series of contingent truths in constant negotiation with one another
Likes
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You seem to be suggesting that only by taking an absolutist position on, say, moral matters can we act with more humanity.
Eh? Can't see how you made that link. I was decrying both unfettered absolutism and relativism in favour of a more shades-of-grey approach -- which to me seems more human. People hereabouts have shown considerable ability to bring that to our conversations. Just not this one for some reason.
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I've crossposted that onto Russell's new thread.
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a comparison of the area to be investigated for mining on Barrier with some geography Aucklanders will already know.
You can choose from a few cities for comparison at scale. Nice work.
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I recommend Idiot/Savant's brief piece on the actual mining economics from Statistics NZ.
even if we take the maximum values for each, we're still looking at $6.5 billion - around 20 times lower than the government suggests.
Has anyone modelled tourism and trade impacts yet?
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Excellent prompt for me to recommend Idiot/Savant's brief piece on the actual mining economics from Statistics NZ.
even if we take the maximum values for each, we're still looking at $6.5 billion - around 20 times lower than the government suggests.
Together with Keith's work, let's prompt better informed conversations all around - because this shonky government's numbers sure don't stack up, regardless of the politics.
Has anyone modelled tourism and trade impacts yet?