New air quality rules proposed for Rangiora and Kaiapoi

Proposed rules to reduce air pollution in Rangiora and Kaiapoi were approved by this week’s Environment Canterbury’s Regional Planning Committee. The proposals will go to the full council for approval followed by consultation with people living in Kaiapoi and Rangiora.

They include the following:
- Existing open fires and non-compliant burners installed prior to 2001 must not be used after May 1, 2010. Burners installed after 2001 which don’t meet the low emission standard, ie not complying must not be used after August 31, 2013.
- Replacement solid fuel burners can be installed so long as they comply with clean burning standards.
- Pellet burners will be the only solid fuel burning devices permitted for new homes and existing homes without a solid fuel burner, ie able to be installed without resource consent.
- People will be encouraged to replace solid fuel burners with cleaner forms of heating.
- Industrial and commercial boilers will have to meet emission standards set through resource consents.
- No outdoor burning ie bonfires for garden trimmings allowed in the winter months from the beginning of May to the end of September, unless a resource consent is obtained.

Environment Canterbury chairman Sir Kerry Burke says all open fires and non-compliant woodburners need to be replaced with cleaner forms of heating in Rangiora and Kaiapoi to meet the 2013 national clean air target. This will involve around 2,300 appliances and open fires in Rangiora (about half the total number of households) and about 1,300 appliances and open fires in Kaiapoi (a third of total households). Although people replacing existing solid fuel burners will be permitted to install complying woodburners, if everyone did so, pollution levels would not drop to the national environmental standard. This will be particularly important for Kaiapoi, which has had 19 high pollution nights so far this winter, compared with five in Rangiora. Environment Canterbury will use marketing and education to encourage people to replace with alternatives (such as pellet burners, electricity, oil or gas).

“However, we are proposing that households can retain their old open fires or woodburners for use in emergencies – specifically in the case of power disruptions,” he says.

The Regional Planning Committee also adopted a recommendation that Environment Canterbury should actively pursue a range of different funding sources, including from government, to help communities fund their conversions. “The committee felt strongly that we will need financial assistance from the government to achieve our clean air objectives. It recommended that the Regional Council continues to engage in discussions regarding the difficulties communities will have, unless financial assistance is available from Central Government,” said Sir Kerry.

The recommendations will be taken to Environment Canterbury’s full Council at the end of September. If approved, the proposed variations to the Air Quality Chapter of ECan’s proposed Natural Resources Regional Plan will be publicly notified for submissions a few weeks later.

ENDS

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