Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Once again this government’s values have collided with a region’s desire to gain jobs as an application to mine West Coast coal has been refused.Rangatira Developments wanted to take 250,000 tonnes of coal annually from an open cast mine that would cover 109 hectares in total.But the scheme involves 12 hectares of conservation land so the government said no.The Conservation Minister, Eugenie Sage, turned down the application to mine conservation land because it would create irreparable damage to the area. She says it was an undisturbed area with threatened plants and wildlife including the great spotted kiwi, land snails and lizards.Locals are not happy. Buller Mayor Garry Howard says the decision put the whole project, and 60 jobs, in doubt, as the land in question was at the entrance to the larger site. He says there is a place for boutique mining such as this one.After all says the Mayor, DOC has 1.6 million hectares of land on the West Coast, and this application involved just 12 hectares of it.You could