Lignite fast track proposed

Multibillion-dollar plans for a lignite-to-diesel conversion plant and urea plant in Southland are so significant the Government could fast-track their resource consents, Gore District Council mayor Tracy Hicks says.

Solid Energy's estimated $11 billion plans to build a liquid fuel plant andRavensdown's proposal for fertiliser plants at as-yet undetermined sites in Eastern Southland would have a significant impact on New Zealand's economy and environmental commitments, Mr Hicks said yesterday.

They would be on an unprecedented scale and there was every chance the Government would want to intervene to streamline the resource consent process and have a board of inquiry or the Environment Court consider the applications, Mr Hicks said.

"I believe in as much local decision-making as possible, but here we have something that is of national significance and central government will want to, and some will absolutely want it to, have a big say in what happens."

The spotlight returned to Solid Energy's plans for the three billion tonnes of lignite it has in Southland with its latest announcement that it will build two demonstration-scale lignite conversion plants.

One plant will use a new technology to convert lignite and biomass to synthetic crude oil.

The other will convert about 100,000 tonnes of lignite a year in a process successfully tested in the United States this year.

Solid Energy new energy general manager Brett Gamble yesterday said the briquette plant could be built from March next year, and a bigger plant could be commissioned by the 2014-15 financial year if export trials were successful.

Details of the crude plant would be released once Solid Energy had worked through its options.

Mr Hicks said there had been plenty of rhetoric and promises around Solid Energy's plans for its massive lignite reserves but the announcement two pilot projects would go ahead were the first "real lines in the sand".

He wanted more dialogue between the council, the company, and the Government as elected officials considered "the next three years, which will be crucial for the district, its people, and its economy".

There were pluses and minuses to having either of the big projects, which could start within the next six or seven years, called in by the Government.

It would take pressure off local resources but it would also take the decision out of the community, Mr Hicks suggested.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee could not be contacted yesterday, but Green Party energy spokesman Kennedy Graham supported the idea of calling-in nationally significant projects to ensure only the best, most environmentally sound were successful.

Even so, the Southland pilots were powerful symbols of an outdated approach to energy production.

The Government should step in and stop the economic and environmental gamble before construction began.

"The people of Southland deserve a better future than being told their job security lies in choking their kids on coal dust and condemning them to a dangerously heated planet," Mr Graham said.

Mr Gamble said Solid Energy would take full responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions of its lignite developments.