Week 8 - AEE Summary

Site:	Unitec Online
Course:	ENGGMG7109 - Resource and Environmental Management 2022
Book:	Week 8 - AEE Summary

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Date:	Tuesday, 5 November 2024, 12:56 PM

1. AEE Summary
2. Environmental Management Plans

1. AEE Summary

An AEE identifies who you should consult and, if required, from whom you should obtain written approval. It is used as the basis for the council’s decision on whether to notify and grant an application, and, if granted, whether to impose any conditions to address any outstanding effects. The final outcome of the AEE process is an accurate and objective statement about the effects of your proposal on the environment. This statement will have taken into account whether the proposal has avoided, mitigated or remedied any adverse effects on the environment and people.

The environment includes-

(a) Ecosystems and their constituent parts, including people and communities; and

(b) All natural and physical resources; and

(d) The social, economic, aesthetic, and cultural conditions which affect the matters stated in paragraphs (a) to (c) of this definition or which are affected by those matters.

And the effects include:: -

(a) Any positive or adverse effect; and

(b) Any temporary or permanent effect; and

(d) Any cumulative effect which arises over time or in combination with other effects

regardless of the scale, intensity, duration, or frequency of the effect, and also includes—

(e) Any potential effect of high probability; and

(f) Any potential effect of low probability which has a high potential impact.

1.1. Types of Consent

AEE steps2 What type of consent do I need?

There are many different types of consent as described below. These descriptions are listed in order of an increasing level of time and commitment to providing a full, detailed AEE.

Permitted Activities

Permitted activities are allowed ‘as of right’ subject to complying with any conditions set out in the plan. A permitted activity is the only category that does not require you to apply for resource consent.

Controlled Activities

A council must grant consent if you apply for a controlled activity unless it has insufficient information to determine whether or not the activity is a controlled activity. The council may grant consent subject to conditions that must be complied with. These conditions may only be imposed when they relate to matters specified in the plan.

Restricted - Discretionary Activities

A council may grant or decline consent for a restricted discretionary activity. If granted, conditions may only relate to matters specified in the plan.

Discretionary Activities (also called unrestricted)

A council can grant or decline an application for a discretionary activity. If granted, it can impose conditions in relation to any matter that helps to control any of the activity’s potential adverse effect.

Prohibited Activities

You cannot apply for a resource consent for a prohibited active

There is one other type of activity: a restricted coastal activity, which is either a discretionary or non-complying activity that is listed in a regional coastal plan as a restricted coastal activity. The Minister of Conservation issues consent for these activities

1.2. Detailed Steps

The first step in the creation of an AEE is the proposal description as described below.

1. A description of your proposed activity should include the following:

Location
Extent
Scale
Construction elements
Physical changes to the build and natural environment.

This section should be followed by:

2. An assessment of the actual and potential effects on the environment of your activity.

positive or negative
temporary or permanent
past, present or future
cumulative (occur over time or in combination - with other effects)
of high probability
of low probability but high impact.

This section may include:

A landscape assessment, a social Impact assessment, CPTED assessment and a number of water and soil quality assessment tools such as Macroinvertebrate Coomunity Index (MCI) or compliance with the ANSECC guidelines for sediment quality.

3. Where the above effects are likely to be significant, a description of available alternatives.

Locations
Scale
Method

1.3. Further Steps

4. A discussion of the risk to the environment from hazardous substances and installations.

Construction
Operational
Storage
Accidental Discharge

5. For contaminants, an assessment of the nature of the discharge and sensitivity of the receiving environment to the adverse effects and any possible alternative methods of discharge, including discharge into any other receiving environment.

6. A description of how the adverse effects may be avoided, remedied or mitigated.

Sediment Control Plans
Noise Management
Landscape Plan
Alternative Methods
Remediation Plans
Environmental Management Plans

An environmental management plan is not an environmental management system. An environmental Plan can:

Form part of an EMS or
A stand-alone action plan.

What is an environmental management system?

Part of an organisation’s management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects and impacts.

(AS/NZS ISO 14001:2004 cl. 3.8)

1.4. Consultation

Consultation is a very important step in the creation of an AEE.

7. Identification of the persons affected by the proposal, the consultation undertaken, if any, and any response to the views of any person consulted.

Where do I start?

Discuss the proposal with the council who may be able to help you list the parties to consult.

Prepare consultation material such as:

a brief written description and plans of your idea/proposal
a tentative assessment of environmental effects
measures you would propose to reduce the extent or impact of those effects.

Consult with identified persons and groups:

by letter (usually) in the first instance with an offer of follow-up contact to discuss the proposal in the following days
by telephone (where possible) to confirm that they have received the information you sent, and to arrange further communication (preferably face-to-face) to determine any issues
at an on-site meeting, where you explain your proposal.

The final step of this process is detailed below:

8. Where an effect needs to be controlled, a discussion of how it can be controlled and whether it needs to be monitored. Where appropriate, a description of how this will be done and by whom.

1.5. Final Points

Waterview tunnel Some final points to remember:

You need to include enough information in your AEE so that the Council can evaluate your proposal. The amount of information should correspond to the scale and significance of the environmental effects that may be generated by your proposal.

Some proposals will require more detail and analysis than others. For example, adding a carport onto the side of a house is likely to require much less information and detail than a multi-storey development in an area that is valued for its natural attributes.

In summary, your AEE should include:

A full description of the proposal, including the site and locality (including a site plan and plans of your proposal)
A description of the environmental effects, including the significance and nature of the effects (address specific environmental effects that you have identified as well as referring to issues identified in the district and/or regional plan)
A description of alternatives to avoid, remedy or mitigate any significant environmental effects.
an assessment of any risks to the environment that may arise from hazardous substances and/or the discharge of contaminants.
A record of any consultation, including names and views of people you have talked with.
A discussion of any effects that may need to be controlled or monitored, how the control or monitoring will be carried out and by whom.

2. Environmental Management Plans

What are Environmental Management Plans (EMPs)?

Plans or procedures to deliver the intended environmental outcomes of construction, operation and maintenance activities undertaken for a civil's project

Developed under RMA to manage environmental effects.
Based on initial understanding of what the effects might be for a particular site or project.
Practical application of AEE and more…
Set up to monitor and inform management decisions on site

Waterview Tunnel, photo kindly shared by Ray Chang, 2020

2.1. Managing Environmental Effects

What is there at the moment?
What is the quality of this resource?
What are the effects likely to be?
What is the nature/timescale of effects?
Check what has changed.
What further action is required?

2.2. Step 1 - Evaluation

36th America’s Cup

Works planned included consenting, design and construction of the infrastructure, sediment dredging, installation of breakwaters and pontoons, Hobson Wharf extension, Halsey Wharf conversion to house Emirates Team New Zealand.

Transforming waterfront, e.g extension to Silo Park & new waka-inspired shade structure, Te Nukuao

America’s Cup Assessment – image kindly shared by Ray Chang, 2020

2.3. AC36 Plans

Air Quality – Design Standards

MFE – Good Practice Guide for Assessing and Managing the Environmental Effects of Dust Emissions (2001)
AS/NZ 3580.1.1: 2007 Method for sampling and analysis of ambient air – Guide to siting air monitoring equipment
National Environmental Standard for Air Quality (AQNES)

2.4. Step 2 -Quantifying Effects

Experts provide their opinion on each of the effects considered relevant.

WVT project produced 30+ technical reports with one or two experts from applicant and Council presenting evidence to committee.

Waterview tunnel plan

2.5. Construction Environmental Management Plans (CEMP)

CEMP

The CEMP defines details of who, what, where, and when environmental management and mitigation measures are to be implemented. The CEMP covers the anticipated construction elements for the stage of work and represents a framework of principles, environmental policy, objectives, and performance standards as well as processes for implementing good environmental management.

Environmental Sub Plans

Detailed environmental management plans (sub-plans) required to manage specific effects (e.g. construction air quality, noise, vibration, etc.) of the proposed work are provided as appendices to this CEMP. Contained within each of the sub-plans are the associated monitoring and reporting requirements and "site specific" plans (e.g. noise, vibration, traffic, and erosion and sediment control). The suite of management plans required by consent conditions under CEMP.3 is shown on figure 2 and table 2.

Identify the likely hazards and risks on the site during construction in terms of potential environmental damage.

CEMP overarching document

2.6. Special Effects Management Plans

Certain effects need even more specificity to provide comfort
Site-Specific Noise Management Plans
Managed by the over-arching Construction Environmental Management Plan and sub plans

2.7. WVT– application docs

2.8. Construction effects vs. Operational effects

Construction effects may include:

Noise

Beeping
Conveyor belt operation
General site works

Air Quality

Dust

Water quality

Sedimentation
pH, nutrients, metals, etc.

Disturbance of soils

Exposure of contaminated soils

2.9. Step 3 - Monitoring

Construction Phase Requirements for AC36 include:

Monthly monitoring of water quality
Monitoring of water quality in response to storm events
Review of ecological assembly within the Inner Viaduct Harbour
Baseline samples
Post-construction samples (Monitor potential change in water quality / ecology as a result of new structures in the CMA)
Technical report evaluating changes

America’s Cup Venue pre-construction – image kindly shared by Ray Chang, 2020

2.10. Partnership with Mana Whenua

Wynyard Edge Alliance (WEA) partnered with mana whenua to construct the infrastructure for AC36.

19 iwi/hapū invited to establish the America’s Cup Kaitiaki Engagement Plan (ACKEP) and had a major contribution to project’s environmental management principles.

Principles of partnership, reciprocity, active protection, and equity honoured.

Activities affecting cultural values

Mana whenua were involved in the preparation and implementation in a range of management plans.

Of particular concern:

Managing water quality
Managing underwater noise as to protect marine animals
Protecting the waters of the area from biosecurity risks
Providing cultural markers within the infrastructure that recognise the historical associations of mana whenua with the whenua and moana.
Enabling the use of infrastructure for cultural activities.

2.11. Benefits of EMPs

Outcomes based solution
Promise to achieve a certain result (might require time)
Allows flexibility in how you achieve compliance with a parameter
Can be altered depending on circumstances

Proposed mitigation plan – image kindly shared by Ray Chang, 2020