Oral submission on Fonterra’s application to expand Studholme milk drying capacity Friday 8 April 2016 Dr Alex Macmillan Public Health Physician Senior Lecturer Environmental Health Co-Convenor OraTaiao: NZ Climate & Health Council Advocacy and expertise My expertise Ecosystem health RMA and healthy public policy Role of local government in public health Climate change and health Understanding complex systems Not going to talk about numbers – reallly good specific analyses have already been done and available in the expert evidence – my input is putting it all together in an interacting model that shows how the negative impacts are interacting, compounding severity and uncertainty.

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Scoping the impacts If the application sitting before us was for a factory that required between 8 and 15 million people to live locally and work in the factory, would that be considered “in scope”?

Regional relevant public health trends and targets Water quality – declining (aiming for reversal) Air quality – poor (aiming for improvement) Ecosystem health – declining (aiming for improvement Rural economic wellbeing – oscillating (aiming for stability) Zoonotic illness – increasing (aiming for decrease) Greenhouse gas emissions – increasing (aiming for decrease) Farmer health and wellbeing – increasing economic stress (aiming for good health)

Application contribution to regional trends Water quality – cause further decline Air quality – cause further decline GHG emissions – cause further increase Zoonotic disease – cause further increase Rural economic stability – cause further uncertainty Farmer wellbeing – cause further decline

Problems with the current application Failure to analyse the complex interactions impacting public health Failure to incorporate the impacts of climate change in the assessment of environmental effects Failure to incorporate the inextricable impacts of locking in further regional dairy intensification Failure to incorporate global economic and carbon pricing realities Failure to undertake a thorough analysis of renewable alternatives under Schedule 4 Failure to undertake a proper cost benefit assessment incorporating certainties (increasing carbon costs) and uncertainties (commodity prices, climate impacts) Failure to protect shareholder (farmer)physical, mental and eocnomic wellbeing

Recommendations Reject the resource consent applications Require Fonterra to submit more thorough economic and integrated impact analyses Require Fonterra to submit a thorough assessment of renewable alternative energy supply and transport alternatives