Call to Action- make your submission to Northland Regional Council, protect our existing valuable GE free status

 

 

ACTION ALERT:  

Now is the time to influence what our councils do for the next 10 years – with our ratepayer $$$.   
NRC and WDC are currently asking for your feedback on their Draft Long Term Plans (2012/22)  ie. our 10 Year Community Plan... for both councils)- 
Have your say!
Background: 
your submissions are needed to the NRC draft Long Term Council Community Plan 2012/22
(deadline 3pm, Thursday 19 April 2012) 
and
the Whangarei District Council draft Long Term Council Community Plan 2012/22
deadline - 5pm Monday 23 April
In order to achieve sound environmental outcomes and protect our existing valuable GE free status and growing organic industry ;)
we need to participate :)
In addition to any other environmental concerns you may have (protection of Northland public and conservation lands from mining, protection of native or heritage trees, how to better protect Northland freshwater lakes and rivers), it is important that Northlanders let the NRC know that the very short (and rather weak) precautionary GE policy written in the NRC draft LTCP needs strengthening.
Whangarei District Council has an excellent, strong precautionary GE policy in its draft LTCCP 2012/22 that needs supporting- NRC has a very minimal, weak GE policy (which attempts to throw responsibility onto central government agencies- the NRC needs a stern message from the community to lift its game and include in our 10 Year Community Plan a strong precautionary GE provision.
Please forward this message onto your contacts!
and thanks for making a submission (its easy- key points below! in the case of WDC...you can actually ring up and dictate your submission verbally!  just ask council to repeat it back to you).
If you can, ask to be heard- this ensures you receive timely updates and then you have the right to speak at a public hearing (you can always change your mind later or ask someone else to speak on your behalf).
kia kaha
x Zelka Grammer for GE Free Northland
More information ring 4322155 or email: linda.grammer@gmail.com   (which is Zelka's new email address :)
***
NORTHLAND REGIONAL COUNCIL
Send your submission to NRC by 3pm, l9 April to:
email:
by post:
NRC draft LTCCP 2012/22 document
Northland Regional Council
Private Bag 9021
Whangarei 0148
other quick options:
Fax (09) 438 0012
online submission:
If you have concerns about GMO land use and GMO aquaculture in our region...

To effectively deal with the risks of GMOs...and... to protect our existing valuable GE free status and growing organic industry... here are some Key points to make that will strengthen the weak precautionary GE policy in the NRC draft LTCCP 2012/ 22
-I strongly support Northland Regional Council having a strong precautionary GE policy
- I am concerned that what is written in the NRC draft LTP 2012/22 is not strong enough and contains a couple of mistakes that need to be rectified by NRC.
-I note that Whangarei District Council has done an excellent job on the GE issue (it has a strong precautionary GE policy on p. 136 of its draft LTCCP 2012/22) 
I would like the NRC to support its territorial authorities by keeping GE out of the region, at least until such time as a truly strict liability regime is put in place and the risks of GMOs are adequately identified and addressed
-I request that the Northland Regional Council's policy on genetic engineering be made stronger to include prohibiting any trials or use of genetically modified organisms in Northland, at the very least until such time as a truly strict liability regime is put in place and the risks of GMOs are adequately identified and addressed.
-I request that NRC change the wording in the NRC draft LTP to reflect the NRC's own obligations and demonstrate a serious commitment to protect our environment and Northland primary producers from GMO experiments or releases,  not just an inadequate statement as to what the NRC "thinks" the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should do regarding GMOs.
-I want to see the NRC precautionary GE policy use the correct, full name of the Northland/Auckland "Inter Council Working Party on GMO Risk Evaluation & Management Options"
-I want to see the old wording from our 10 Year Community Plan (NRC adopted LTCCP's 2004/14 and 2006/16) replaced in the NRC LTCCP 2012/122, in the interim until the NRC places (as it promised) a strong precautionary GE provision in the NRC new RPS
-I want to see the wording in the NRC draft LTCCP 2012/22 changed to:
"Council has adopted a precautionary approach to Genetically Modified Organisms /GMOs.  The Regional Council is a member of the Northland/Auckland "Inter Council Working Party on GMO Risk Evaluation & Management Options" to discuss a common approach to the management of genetically modified organisms in Northland.  Until this group has completed it's work, the council has decided to adopt a precautionary approach to GMOs. This means that there should be no further development and field testing of transgenic organisms envisaged for agriculture, horticulture and forestry in Northland, nor any commercial release, until the risk potential has been adequately identified and addressed, and a strict liability regime put in place.
While the NRC supports a precautionary approach to genetic engineering being taken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we are mindful that the EPA is not required (under the HSNO Act) to take such a precautionary approach.  The NRC wil submit on any GE applications to the EPA and provide a contingency fund for expert assessment of applications for outdoor trials or use of GMOs in Northland as notified by the Authority ($10,000)."
-It is important to me that the NRC respects the precautionary and prohibitive GE policies put in place by Taitokerau Iwi for their respective rohe, as conveyed to the NRC through the Regional Policy Statement Review process.
thank you for the opportunity to submit- I wish to be heard. Please keep me informed.
further NRC background:
In the present circumstances (with strong debate in Northland about the GE issue...and the largest # of submissions made to NRC- on any issue raised in the NRC new Regional Policy Statement Review... supporting the NRC's proposed precautionary GE provision...in the NRC new RPS Discussion document 2010)  there should be in the interim a strong precautionary GE policy in the LTCCP (like there was in the operative NRC LTCCP 2004/14 and 2006/16- this was inappropriately weakened by the NRC during 2009's Review of the LTCCP).  
The community was promised by NRC that the strong precautionary GE policy/ provision would be placed in the NRC new RPS, that this was the appropriate place for a strong provision  but NRC has failed to deliver (to date) on this promise. So let's get our 10 Year Community Plan sorted and protect our existing valuable GE free status.
ENDS
WHANGAREI DISTRICT COUNCIL
deadline for submissions:  4:30pm (if hand delivered), otherwise... 5pm Monday 23 April
email your submission to:
by post:
WDC draft LTCCP 2012/22 consultation
Whangarei District Council
Private Bag 9023
Whangarei 0148
fax: 09  438 7632
online:
WDC Draft LTCCP page
WDC submission form
Telephone submissions can also be made by calling 0800 WDC INFO or +64 9 430 4200.  Submissions may be made until 5pm Monday 23 April.
Background:

If you have concerns about GMO land use (including field trials and releases on our patch)

To effectively deal with the risks of GMOs...and... to protect our existing valuable GE free status and growing organic industry... here are some Key points to make supporting the strong precautionary GE policy contained in the WDC draft LTCCP 2012/ 22 and asking for outright prohibition of GMOs
Dear WDC
I fully support the following paragraph on p. l36 (Planning & Regulatory Services) in the WDC draft LTCCP 2012/22
This is an excellent strong precautionary GE policy- well done!
"Council has adopted a precautionary approach to the management of biotechnology, in general, and to GMO (genetically modified organism) land uses in particular. It will continue to investigate ways of maintaining the District's environment free of GMOs until outstanding issues such as liability, economic costs and benefits, environmental risks , and cultural effects are resolved.  Together with other Northland and Auckland councils on the Inter Council Working Party on GMO Risk Evaluation & Management Options, Council has committed to investigating possible local and/or regional management of GMO land uses under the Resource Management Act."
I urge council to carry on with its good work (as a full member of the "Inter Council Working Party on GMO RIsk Evaluation & Management Options") and ask that council go further and class all GMO land use as a Prohibited Activity in the Whangarei District Plan.
At the very least, all GMO land use should be prohibited until such time as a truly strict liability regime is put in place and the risks of GMOs are adequately identified and addressed.
A good start would be ensuring that those GE companies or Crown Research Institutes who clear the very easy hurdle of the national regulator (Environmental Protection Agency) have to (as a bare minimum) have to prove financial fitness, post a million dollar bond, and be personally and financially liable.  This to ensure that corporations and individuals are held liable for unintended or unforseen adverse impacts of GMOs to the environment, economy, other primary producers, and the public health.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit. I wish to be heard.