Table: Comparison of key elements with existing measures

A legislative framework that has planning controls, a liabilityregime and defines roles and responsibilities for agencies

Clear roles and responsibilities for local government

Ministry for the Environment (drafting legislation, guidance)

Local government (agreement on inter-agency roles and responsibilities)

RMA Amendment Act 2005 included clarification of roles and responsibilities for regional councils and territorial authorities in identifying and controlling the effects of contaminated land

Guidance on how agencies establish and agree on working relationships

Planning control mechanisms

Ministry for the Environment (drafting legislation and regulation)

Territorial authorities and regional councils (implementation of legislation and regulation)

RMA sections 30 and 31 provide a clear role for territorial authorities in contaminated land.  Local government controls land use through planning functions, including developing regional policy statements, regional plans, and district plans

No change identified

Clear liability framework

Ministry for the Environment (drafting legislation)

Treasury (policy advice to Ministry for the Environment)

The RMA includes a liability regime for land purchased after 1991.  No clear liability for pre-1991 sites currently exists.

Investigate options for addressing liability barriers

Measures to prevent contamination of land

Measures to prevent contamination

Ministry for the Environment and ERMA

Local government (plans, consents)

RMA discharge and land-use provisions; local government discharge and land-use controls (plans, consents, enforcement)

Agrichemical collections

HSNO controls

No change identified

Mechanisms to help identify, investigate, manage, remediate and report on contaminated land

A clear definition of contaminated land

Ministry for the Environment (drafting legislation, regulation)

RMA Amendment Act 2005 included a definition of contaminated land

A national environmental standard will provide added certainty

Consistent reporting on investigations, remediation and validation

Ministry for the Environment (developing national guidance)

Regional councils (informal auditing of reports)

Guideline reporting forms and checklists are provided in CLMG No. 1: Reporting on Contaminated Sites in New Zealand

No change identified

Sampling and analysis protocols

Ministry for the Environment (development of guidelines)

The Ministry has published CLMG No. 5: Site Investigation and Analysis of Soils

No change identified

Competent and experienced practitioners

Ministry for the Environment (regulation)

Accredited auditors (eg, consultants)

Ministry for the Environment CLMG No.1: Reporting on Contaminated Sites in New Zealand helps local government to audit contaminated land reports.

Investigate establishing a scheme of accredited auditors

Training for practitioners

Mechanisms to help identify, investigate, manage, remediate and report on contaminated land (continued)

Mechanisms to assist the clean-up of contaminated land

Ministry for the Environment (administration of funding)

The Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund (currently provides up to $1.5 million per year)

There is direct funding to clean up New Zealand’s worst contaminated sites at Mapua and Tui Mine.

Increase/modify the CSRF to allow funding of more large-scale clean-up projects.

Protection of humanhealth and the environment from the effects of contaminated land

Nationally consistent methods for deriving health and ecologically based soil contaminant levels

Ministry for the Environment, ERMA, Ministry of Health (regulations and guidance)

Territorial authorities and regional councils (implementation of regulations)

The RMA definition of contaminated land supported by CLMG No. 2: Hierarchy and Application in New Zealand of Environmental Guideline Values, and CLMG No. 3: Risk Screening System

Timber treatment, oil industry, sheep-dip and gasworks guidelines for a range of contaminants.  Other guidelines (eg, Ministry of Health guidelines for lead) are also used.

NES for soil contaminant levels that trigger investigation, define land-use suitability, and provide a clean-up threshold

Revision of existing guidance, where required

Protection of health, safety, and the environment during site assessment and remediation

Territorial authorities and regional councils (resource consents)

Department of Labour (workplace inspections)

Code of practice for the wood-preserving industry; OSH guidelines and the Ministry’s timber treatment guidelines and oil industry guidelines

The Ministry could update existing New Zealand industry guidelines

Access to information

Management and reporting of contaminated land information

Territorial authorities and regional councils (maintaining registers and information release)

Ministry for the Environment (information release)

Central government agencies who administer Crown-owned land (eg, LINZ)

Ministry for the Environment CLMG No. 4: Classification and Information Management Protocols (draft)

Land information memoranda through LGOIMA, and project information memoranda through the Building Act.

Central government agencies provide official information to the public through the Official Information Act 1982.

Complete and support implementation of CLMG No. 4

National Information on contaminated land

Ministry for the Environment

NZ Waste Strategy targets: Ministry for the Environment measures progress towards these targets, which include contaminated land targets.

Collection of national information on contaminated land