In the wake of the Spring Creek Mine job cuts yesterday the battle over whether a new coal mine should be opened on the West Coast is once again heating up.
In the wake of recent mining job cuts by Solid Energy, Steven Joyce says opponents of a mine in the Denniston Plateau should stop court action against the plan.
Mr Joyce called on Forest and Bird and a West Coast environmental action network to drop appeals against consents granted for the Denniston Plateau land last August, citing the need for West Coast mining jobs after state-owned Solid Energy announced the mothballing of its Spring Creek mine.
Watch the video to see Forest and Bird conservation advocate Nicola Toki's response.
Bathurst Resources has proposed an open-cast coal mine, the Escarpment mine, the first of several Bathurst plans in the area, and says it would employ around 400 people.
However, Forest and Bird says Mr Joyce "is being opportunistic in deflecting the blame for the mismanagement of the Spring Creek mine".
"I feel for the people who are losing their jobs, obviously," Forest and Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell told BusinessDesk.
"That's a real issue. But mining is a boom and bust industry with a long history of it on the West Coast. It's one of the reasons their economy has never been as strong as they would like.
"The long term future is having industries that are much more sustainable."
He questioned also whether Mr Joyce's intervention in favour of Bathurst's proposals could run him foul of the legal process playing out through resource consent appeals, and the statutory process that would follow if Bathurst succeeds.
"There would be a serious question, given his public advocacy, about whether such a decision has been influenced by government policy," Mr Hackwell says.
Bathurst chief executive Hamish Bohannan has reported frustrations among shareholders over delays to the Bathurst consent process, saying the company has spent $15 million so far on consenting issues.
NZN / 3 News