Environmental Protection Authority launched

 The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) that opens today marks a new era in managing New Zealand's natural resources with the Government taking a more active role and major resource consents being processed nationally.

 "A weakness in New Zealand's environmental management has been the degree to which major decisions have been left to regional and local authorities and it taking longer to approve consents than to build major projects," Dr Smith said. "The establishment of the EPA is about providing greater national leadership and enabling timely decisions on critical infrastructure."

The EPA is established as part of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act that came into effect today enabling major resource consent applicants to apply directly to the new agency.

"This reform has come about because the current system is slow, costly and inefficient. It is unrealistic to expect small councils to have the resources to be able to cope with major consents. Inevitably council decisions are appealed to the Environment Court dragging out the process for years. This new system will enable the decisions to be made through a single robust process that incorporates both local and national considerations.

"The genesis of this new authority was National's 2006 Bluegreen Vision for New Zealand. The authority will initially be a statutory office within the Environment Ministry but further Cabinet decisions on its broader role are being considered. These may include environmental responsibility for New Zealand's exclusive economic zone, oversight of hazardous substances and new organisms, and the administrative functions of the Emissions Trading Scheme.

"The Government's broader intent is for the EPA to be the national regulator on environmental issues and the Ministry for the Environment to be a smaller policy agency.

"This reform strengthens New Zealand's system of environmental management and will help achieve the Government's goal of growing our economy while effectively protecting our natural environment."

 Further information is available at www.epa.govt.nz