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National environmental standards for electricity transmission

Since 2005, the Ministry for the Environment has been working on developing two national environmental standards (NES) to provide national guidance and direction for managing electricity transmission infrastructure. The originally proposed standards were:

transmission activities NES
transmission risks NES

The transmission risks standard would have established buffer zones around transmission lines to protect them from activities which could damage the lines or put the national grid at risk.

However, due to large opposition expressed by submitters (see the Report on submissions), we are currently re-examining whether to proceed with the proposal.

In the meantime, the Ministry for the Environment is further developing the national environmental standards for electricity transmission activities. The Ministry investigated national environmental standards and other options for providing national direction.

On 3 September 2008, Cabinet decided the National Environmental Standards for Transmission Activities should proceed and agreed that regulations should be drafted to give effect to the standards.

For detail on the policy background for the NES, refer to the Cabinet Paper: National Environmental Standards for Electricity Transmission Activities under the Resource Management Act 1991

The Cabinet paper was accompanied by a regulatory impact statement, presenting the costs and benefits of the policy - Regulatory impact statement: National environmental standards for electricity transmission activities

The proposed NES for electricity transmission activities will:

specify that transmission activities are permitted, provided that terms and conditions to ensure that these activities do not have significant adverse effects are complied with
specify resource consent requirements for transmission activities which do not meet the terms and conditions for permitted activities

The proposed standards will complement the National Policy Statement on Electricity Transmission, which was gazetted on 13 March 2008, and took effect on 10 April 2008. The standards will do this by providing national consistency in how electricity transmission activities are managed, assisting councils in implementing the NPS rules, and providing for an increased national security of supply by protecting the national grid.

For more information about the proposed standards refer to:

Questions and answers on the proposed Electricity Transmission National Environmental Standards

What’s next?

The Minister for the Environment will now issue drafting instructions to the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) to develop national environmental standards under the RMA for electricity transmission activities.
We will be working with PCO, departments and local authority representatives to prepare the regulations. We will also prepare detailed guidance on the NES for councils and the public.

Transmission Risks NES

We are currently re-examining whether to proceed with the proposal for regulations to protect transmission lines from inappropriate third party activities (Transmission Risks NES) to take into account concerns raised during the submission period (see report on submissions).
As outlined in the October 2007 discussion document, this proposed standard would have established buffer zones around transmission lines to reduce risk to the lines.

Background to the standards

A discussion document setting out details of the proposed national environmental standards for electricity transmission was released for public comment on 13 October 2007. Public notices of the submission period were placed in major newspapers on the same day.

Media release: New electricity transmission standards proposed
During the submission period four public workshops were held in Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch and Wellington between 15-24 October 2007.

The submission period closed on 30 November 2007. The Ministry for the Environment received eighty-four submissions, and the issues raised are reflected in the summary of submissions.

To read more about the proposed National Environmental Standards for Electricity Transmission Activities and the process by which it was developed see:

Summary of submissions

The summary of submissions presents an overview of the comments received on the two proposed national environmental standards for electricity transmission.

Proposed National Environmental Standards on Electricity Transmission – report on submissions

This report provides a concise summary of the views expressed in submissions. It does not analyse those views or make recommendations in response to the submissions, as this will be done in a separate report.