Long history of breaches
Two Taranaki men who have previously copped fines described as the largest handed out in the region’s environmental offending history are back in the spotlight for either poor compliance or illegal actions on their farms.
Francis Mullan, of Okato, and Colin Boyd, who farms in Inglewood, have both appeared in court before when being prosecuted by the Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) for breaches of the Resource Management Act.
In Boyd’s case, he is a repeat offender and is due to face sentencing on March 22 after pleading guilty to four charges related to an illegal diversion on his Surrey Rd farm in Inglewood, near a section of the Mangatengehu Stream.
The New Zealand Herald reported the charges related to a period of time between October and November 2019.
Three years before the latest offending took place, Boyd was found guilty of diverting a stream on his farm in a deliberate move which had a significant impact on animal life in the stream.
At sentencing, he was fined $60,000.
His resource consent compliance also came under the spotlight at yesterday’s TRC consents and regulatory committee meeting.
Boyd, in conjunction with company MI SWACO, holds three consents related to a drilling waste and stockpiling landfarm and landspreading operation on his Inglewood property.
A report considered by the committee highlighted serious problems with compliance by the company in terms of poor environmental and administrative performance.
‘‘In some cases these were repeated non-compliances by the company where the causes of the non-compliance were known and were directly related to the actions and inactions of the company.’’
The report said monitoring of biology of an unnamed tributary of the Mangatengehu Stream showed it had suffered, and a significant decline in species diversity and population was noted.
Enforcement action was subsequently taken.
The landfarming operation had since closed and been decommissioned, with 60 paddocks still under active remediation, the report said.
Six unauthorised incidents of non-compliance were found regarding Boyd, who was issued with five infringement notices and one abatement notice.
Mullan was fined $66,000 in 2015 after being found guilty in the Environment Court on two charges of discharging effluent into groundwater and a stream on one of his farms.
His history of non-compliance dated back to 1999, including poor management of effluent ponds.
A recent inspection of his Okato farm by TRC officers found ‘‘significant non-compliance’’, according to a report tabled at the consents and regulatory committee.
It explained how the dairy effluent disposal system on Mullan’s Kahui Rd farm was not working as required under the conditions of his resource consent.
No abatement notice was issued at the time, but following a re-inspection on January 27, enforcement action was now being considered, the report said.