The Daily Blog Open Mic – Thursday 30th May 2019

1. Clean up your act New Zealand.

   • Yes Kim I agree that NZ is noiw a dirty and corrupt country in every way.

     http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1905/S00587/ceac-calls-for-a-rail-inland-port-for-hb.htm

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     CEAC Calls for a Rail Inland Port for HB
     Monday, 27 May 2019, 8:55 pm
     Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
     “CEAC Calls for a Rail Inland Port for HB.”
     Why is an “inland port” needed?
     After talking with Kiwi Rail Management recently they advised our centre that why they were building an “inland port” at Palmerston North costing many millions, – they advised that the plan was to have a supply chain from the trucking industry feeding there new logistics Inland Port with export freight that Kiwi Rail were offering to send by rail to other export Inland Ports to transfer onto regional export ports, so HB does not yet have an ‘Inland Port’ hence there needs to be a “connectivity” between other Inland Port centres to each export regional export Port.
     After the latest warning that “Current 2030 emissions targets unlikely to be met”
     This week we saw this stark warning to Government that was received on 16th May but it was kept quiet, but now needs the light of day.
     http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1905/S00132/current-2030-emissions-targets-unlikely-to-be-met.htm
     First published in Energy and Environment on May 16, 2019.
     Quote; “Officials have told ministers NZ is not on track to meet is current commitments under the Paris Agreement.
     NZ has agreed under the Paris Agreement to a Nationally Determined Contribution of reducing emissions by 30% below 2005 levels (equivalent to 11% of 1990 levels) by 2030.
     In the climate change legislation Regulatory Impact Assessment, Officials said: “NZ cannot rely on afforestation to deliver the necessary offsets over the next twelve years to meet its NDC, or on major innovations being market-ready and adopted (such as a methane vaccine or widespread adoption of electric or autonomous vehicles).” ; Unquote.

     So; we already know that rail freight can lower freight emissions five to eight times less than road freight, moving the same size and weight of freight, so we are now requesting to Government to use rail more actively now to lower our emissions.
     Government already know that rail is the answer here and the right thing to do when they received the hidden document that the National government had requested from (EY) Economic & Financial consultants for Kiwi Rail in 2016. – That document showed that Rail saved our economy $1.5 Billion Dollars every year then. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11948096
     Quote The benefits far exceed what the taxpayer is spending on rail, KiwiRail chairman Trevor Janes says. The largest contribution rail was making was the reduction of road use, he said.
     “Rail is taking cars off the road and it’s taking trucks off the road. That is saving the country $1.3 billion a year because it cuts congestion for all road users, including other freight movers,” Janes said.
     “Using rail cuts New Zealand’s carbon emissions by 488,000 tonnes a year. That is the equivalent of taking 87,000 cars off the road, saving millions of dollars,” he said.
     “Rail freight has 66 per cent fewer carbon emissions than heavy road freight which is useful for New Zealand reaching its ambitious climate change targets.”
     The study found that without rail there would be an additional 100,000 daily car trips on the road each year – the equivalent of 76 million light vehicle hours reduced through rail, and 57 million of those hours were on Auckland roads. Unquote

     National instead kept encouraging yet more trucks onto our roads, so If we continue on this path to use more trucks at 10% more trucks every year instead of using less, who will pay for the carbon emissions if we exceed our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) emissions target?
     Government are now buying overseas ‘carbon credits’ to keep our emission target within the limits and the cost per carbon credit is about to massively increase shortly according to warnings sent in the brief to Government.
     Whereas each tonne of carbon was about $25 to $85 dollars in the past, it will rise to over $850 a tonne in the future, claim the report so we as taxpayers will wind up being bankrupted by subsidising truck freight companies continuing to use roads to move freight.
     So our governments best plan should be to offer the road freight companies an incentive to use rail to move their customers freight to our export ports rather than road freighting it, which causes many negative effects of road noise and pollution for residents to contends with.
     Especially when we are witnessing the crazy plan by some Port Directors to still plan to expand truck freight yet more as Napier port had wrongly stated last January 2019 in this article.
     https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12230001
     This 187% increased expansion of truck freight by 2027 being announced by Napier Port Board last January 2019 when in partnership with NZTA is now threatening to our Napier residents and our NGO.

     Our HB Port Napier Port must have complete modal freight ‘connectivity to Palmerston North to the NZ network for us all to thrive in a rail rich future.

     As to the road safety side of this issue remember this;
     We are now calling for urgent action be taken by Government over the spiralling truck volumes causing danger and accidents plaguing NZ today.
     • Government needs to force a total “reset” of NZTA because they are now clearly dysfunctional after many cases of wellbeing;
     • failing truck brakes.
     • Warrant of Fitness.
     • trailer hitches.
     • Truck drivers found cheating of log books, & drivers found working outside of regulatory hours,
     • Several trucks catching fire.
     • Increased fatalities showing no sign of being lowered.
     • Lack of NZTA acting for residents reasonable resolutions for community ‘wellbeing’ mitigation.
     end

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