Gisborne District Council has recovered half of just over $100,000 spent on what its legal representative described as “avoidable” legal costs in an Environment Court decision against a Chinese-owned forestry company.
The case followed several recent enforcement actions taken by the council across several forests, including Kanuka, West Ho, Te Marunga, and Wakaroa, which the council says have resulted in forestry operators reducing risks and improving compliance.
Environmentalists said they were pleased with the legal outcome but believe these issues should be addressed through stronger regulations.
The council spent $101,175 on legal and expert witness costs associated with a four-day hearing in July last year.
The hearing concerned enforcement orders related to woody debris and sediment migrating from commercial forestry activity in the Kanuka Forest in the Upper Waimata River catchment.
According to the court decision, the council argued that the forestry groups, China Forestry Group (CFG), and management company Wood Marketing Services (WMS), “unnecessarily lengthened” the hearings process through conduct before and during the hearings.
This included the NZ-based director of China Forestry Group NZ, Yuxia Sun, resigning 10 days before the hearing.
The council submitted that the respondents provided “arguments without substance and technical or unmeritorious points which failed”, which caused the council to incur more “avoidable legal costs” drafting submissions in response.
Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, council’s resource management compliance manager, Gary McKenzie, said the council had a responsibility to uphold environmental standards and protect public welfare as a regulatory authority.
“While some costs can be recovered through the courts, full cost recovery is not always possible. Like other regulatory agencies, we rely on public funding to fulfil these statutory obligations,” McKenzie said.
He confirmed the costs awarded by the court had been paid to the council by the respondents.
“The council will continue to monitor forestry activity across the region and, where necessary, pursue legal action where environmental risks are not adequately managed.”
Call for stronger regulations
During a council meeting last year, council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said about forestry prosecutions that for every $1 million spent on legal and investigation fees, “you may get $250,000 back”.
The environmental group, Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT), served as a third respondent to the case, with Alanya Limmer, a King’s Counsel from Uawa, working pro bono.
Spokesman Manu Caddie said it was a poor way to manage environmental issues and not fair to ratepayers, as it took council resources, including staff time away from other priorities.
“A small community group like ours could never afford to go up against these multinational companies like China Forestry Group if it wasn’t for Alanya‘s generosity,” Caddie said.
He said it was the fifth enforcement order application against forestry companies, four of which have been successful and one of which was awaiting an outcome.
“This is an incredibly costly and ineffective way of trying to reduce risk in catchments across Tairāwhiti and should instead be dealt with through stronger regulations.”
The lawyers of China Forestry Group and Wood Marketing Services said the organisations did not wish to comment.
The court decision, made on April 28, enforced China Forestry Group NZ, its NZ director at the time, Yuxia Sun (who has since resigned), and management company Wood Marketing Services to pay the council $51,000 and MTT $8500.
The council sought various enforcement order applications on September 8, 2023, which were granted nearly a year later on August 9, 2024.
However, “the issue of costs was reserved,” with the court granting leave for the council and MTT to apply for costs.
The council sought half of its expenses incurred in its application, which the court rounded up to $51,000.
The $51,000 will be split, $38,250 for China Forestry Group NZ and Sun, and $12,750 for Wood Marketing Services. MTT’s $8500 will be split, $6000 for China Forestry Group and Sun and $2500 for Wood Marketing Services.
The court found that the respondents contributed to the length of the case management process and the hearing, with “WMS’s contribution to the length of the process less than CFG in terms of the way it conducted itself at the hearing. Further, it complied with Court directions”.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
