The recognition means Whanganui could have opportunities other councils and the public may not have to state a position on an Australian company’s seabed mining application.

Taranaki Regional Council and South Taranaki District Council have also been confirmed by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as relevant local authorities to the Taranaki VTM project.

The Fast Track Approvals Act 2024, introduced by the coalition Government, does not allow the public to freely submit on the application.

A decision on the application will be made by a panel created for this purpose.

Whanganui councillor Charlotte Melser, who opposes Taranaki seabed mining, said the council now had the opportunity to potentially influence the decision.

“It means our foot is in the door to have our say about how this proposal would negatively impact our district. I was elated,” Melser told Local Democracy Reporting.

It was critical for the council to have a voice in the fast-track process because the legislation provided limited opportunities for public input, she said.

Under the Act, only relevant local authorities, identified iwi authorities and select others can make written comments on the application.

“It cuts out the voices of community, scientists, environmentalists, divers – some of the people that know that marine area better than anyone,” Melser said.

“We’ve had to fight tooth and nail just to get this far because Whanganui is not directly in the project zone.”

Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) wants to extract up to 50 million tonnes of seabed material a year. It would recover an estimated 5 million tonnes of vanadium-rich titanomagnetite concentrate and then dump unwanted sediment back into the sea.

TTR's application says the project would bring regional benefits including 305 jobs with the miner and port upgrades at New Plymouth and Whanganui.

TTR withdrew from an environmental hearing to apply for marine consents via the new fast-track approvals regime.

The councils named as relevant local authorities can nominate a representative to the decision-making panel, provide written comments on the application and speak to those comments if a hearing is held.

They met with iwi, TTR and the expert panel's convenor Jennifer Caldwell on 7 July to discuss the expertise needed on the panel and the timing of its decision-making.

Whanganui council chief executive David Langford summarised his council’s position in a letter to Caldwell prior to the conference.

The key concerns were environmental, particularly the negative impact of the sediment plume, which would impact the Whanganui district; cultural, particularly the conflict of the proposal with treaty obligations and settlements; and economic, specifically the adverse impact of the proposal for the district.

“Our council would like to emphasise the need for expertise to consider the potential economic disbenefit of the proposal with regards to its conflict with offshore wind farming in the Taranaki Bight,” Langford said.

Whanganui District had been identified as one of the best locations in the world for wind energy and the council was pursuing opportunities for renewable energy investment, including offshore wind farming, Langford said.

“Our view is that this one project could stand in the way of other projects which would not only provide significant economic benefits for our district (and beyond), but also better align with the Government’s strategic objectives around climate, energy, and industrial transformation goals (for example, to double New Zealand’s renewable electricity production by 2050).”

The scale and nature of the proposed extraction, along with the resuspension of seabed sediments, could impact ecological and cultural features which each had their own potential economic impact, Langford said.

He said the complex and contentious nature of the application would mean a considerable amount of time would be required to reach a decision.

“Not only is the fast-track process and its underpinning legislation new, but the proposed mining activity is also a world first.”

Langford said it would be important to include the council throughout the process.

“We do not believe we should be precluded from any step of this process on the basis that our council has filed a motion opposing the project – our relevance remains, regardless of our position.”

In December last year, Melser's motion opposing the project won the unanimous support of fellow councillors.

A public-excluded meeting at Taranaki Regional Council was expected to decide this week on a collective council nomination to the panel.

Caldwell is expected to appoint a panel by late July.

LDR is local body reporting co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air