Latest news with #Eggers
Scoop
18-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Trans-Tasman Resources' Taranaki Seabed Mining Project Clears First Phase Of Fast-Track Process
Article – RNZ Trans-Tasman Resources wants to mine the South Taranaki Bight seabed every year for three decades. , Journalist A company's plan to mine 50 million tonnes of South Taranaki seabed every year has cleared the first hurdle in the Fast-track process. Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) executive chair Alan Eggers said he was 'delighted' the company's application for its Taranaki VTM project had been accepted as complete and would now move on to the next stage of the Fast-track process. Opponents, meanwhile, are 'livid' and have vowed to continue their fight against the project. TTR wants to mine 50 million tonnes of seabed a year for 30 years in the South Taranaki Bight. Eggers said the company had identified a world-class vanadium resource that could contribute $1 billion annually to the economy. 'It'll generate export revenues of around $850 million a year which will make it New Zealand's 11th or 12th largest exporter. 'Within the region it'll generate about 1150 jobs. We would spend about $230m annually and it'll generate $190m in government royalties and taxes per annum,' Eggers said. Eggers denied the approval process was a 'short cut' to avoid environmental compliance. 'We still have to comply with the embedded safeguards for the environment in the EEZ Act [Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Act 2012]. The Fast Track Act includes us having to comply with all the conditions and management plans that were approved under the EEZ Act.' He said the project planned to magnetically extract and export 5 million tonnes of heavy mineral sands containing iron ore and the critical minerals vanadium and titanium each year. 'Our research and marine reports have been independently peer reviewed by international experts in their areas in terms of marine ecologies and plume effects,' Eggers said. Opponents warns of harm to wildlife and environment Greenpeace seabed mining campaigner Juressa Lee said dumping the remaining 45 million tonnes of sand back in to ocean each year would threaten marine life such as the pygmy blue whale, Māui and Hector's dolphins and the world smallest species of penguin, kororā – which migrated through the area. 'Investors in TTR's project are trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes, telling us to 'trust the science'. But TTR has never been able to alleviate the courts' concerns for harmful impacts on wildlife and the environment,' Lee said. The head of Kiwi's Against Seabed Mining, Cindy Baxter, said she was 'livid' at the approval. She said there was 'massive opposition' to the project and seabed mining in general. 'A couple of weeks ago we saw 500 hundred people paddle out in Ōpunake against seabed mining. You've got many of the councils who are against it, you've got all the iwi, you've got surfers, you've got people who love their ocean, even the fishing industry is against it,' Baxter said. She said people were angry at being 'shut out' of the approval process. 'We're not allowed to make submissions – and it's the public opposition that has stopped this process so far – so that's why Christopher Luxon's government has shut us out of the process,' Baxter said. Approval risks 'open slather' for coastlines across the country – Baxter Baxter said if the project was successfully approved it would create a precedent for seabed mining on coastlines all across the country. 'When we first started opposing this in 2012 there were companies all waiting in the wings for this first application to get across the line and, if it does, it'll be open slather on our coastlines,' Baxter said. She said activists would continue to oppose the project. 'We will continue to make our voices heard and we're going to fight this all the way – as far as we can – through the courts. 'If we need to get into boats and go out into the ocean to stop them we'll do that as well,' Baxter said.
Scoop
18-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Trans-Tasman Resources' Taranaki Seabed Mining Project Clears First Phase Of Fast-Track Process
, Journalist A company's plan to mine 50 million tonnes of South Taranaki seabed every year has cleared the first hurdle in the Fast-track process. Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) executive chair Alan Eggers said he was "delighted" the company's application for its Taranaki VTM project had been accepted as complete and would now move on to the next stage of the Fast-track process. Opponents, meanwhile, are "livid" and have vowed to continue their fight against the project. TTR wants to mine 50 million tonnes of seabed a year for 30 years in the South Taranaki Bight. Eggers said the company had identified a world-class vanadium resource that could contribute $1 billion annually to the economy. "It'll generate export revenues of around $850 million a year which will make it New Zealand's 11th or 12th largest exporter. "Within the region it'll generate about 1150 jobs. We would spend about $230m annually and it'll generate $190m in government royalties and taxes per annum," Eggers said. Eggers denied the approval process was a "short cut" to avoid environmental compliance. "We still have to comply with the embedded safeguards for the environment in the EEZ Act [Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Act 2012]. The Fast Track Act includes us having to comply with all the conditions and management plans that were approved under the EEZ Act." He said the project planned to magnetically extract and export 5 million tonnes of heavy mineral sands containing iron ore and the critical minerals vanadium and titanium each year. "Our research and marine reports have been independently peer reviewed by international experts in their areas in terms of marine ecologies and plume effects," Eggers said. Opponents warns of harm to wildlife and environment Greenpeace seabed mining campaigner Juressa Lee said dumping the remaining 45 million tonnes of sand back in to ocean each year would threaten marine life such as the pygmy blue whale, Māui and Hector's dolphins and the world smallest species of penguin, kororā - which migrated through the area. "Investors in TTR's project are trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes, telling us to 'trust the science'. But TTR has never been able to alleviate the courts' concerns for harmful impacts on wildlife and the environment," Lee said. The head of Kiwi's Against Seabed Mining, Cindy Baxter, said she was "livid" at the approval. She said there was "massive opposition" to the project and seabed mining in general. "A couple of weeks ago we saw 500 hundred people paddle out in Ōpunake against seabed mining. You've got many of the councils who are against it, you've got all the iwi, you've got surfers, you've got people who love their ocean, even the fishing industry is against it," Baxter said. She said people were angry at being "shut out" of the approval process. "We're not allowed to make submissions - and it's the public opposition that has stopped this process so far - so that's why Christopher Luxon's government has shut us out of the process," Baxter said. Approval risks 'open slather' for coastlines across the country - Baxter Baxter said if the project was successfully approved it would create a precedent for seabed mining on coastlines all across the country. "When we first started opposing this in 2012 there were companies all waiting in the wings for this first application to get across the line and, if it does, it'll be open slather on our coastlines," Baxter said. She said activists would continue to oppose the project. "We will continue to make our voices heard and we're going to fight this all the way - as far as we can - through the courts. "If we need to get into boats and go out into the ocean to stop them we'll do that as well," Baxter said.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
LCS board approves moving preschool to Wicker Elementary
With some discussion, the Lee County Schools board on Tuesday approved moving the preschool from Warren Williams School to W.B. Wicker Elementary, effective for the fall semester. The vote was 6-0 with Carla Hooker absent. Board member Eric Davidson made the motion to approve the relocation, and added, 'I just wish we had done this earlier.' Stacie Eggers, assistant superintendent of operations, made a presentation about the proposal, which is awaiting final approval from the state's pre-K office. The move of 144 students would fit in the ground floor at Wicker ES, which has sometimes been referred to as a basement by school officials. Eggers noted that each of 12 classrooms that would be used at Wicker has a restroom, which is an improvement over the situation at Warren Williams. Wicker ES reopened in 2019 and is currently at 61% capacity, Eggers said. With the move, it would be at 79%. The school has a functional capacity of 921 students, she said. Another benefit is that meals would not need to be bused as they are now at Warren Williams. In addition, a planned $4.5 million renovation that was requested at Warren Williams as part of the LCS Capital Improvement Plan would no longer be needed. Some minor improvements at the circa-1950 school could be needed if the school board decides to use the building. Some options mentioned by Eggers include storage for the maintenance department since the old Jonesboro School burned down or as a parent resource center or family engagement center, which are currently housed at Wicker ES. The latter is used to communicate with the area's migrant community, Eggers said. Board Chair Sherry Lynn Womack asked Superintendent Chris Dossenbach if Lee County would want to use Warren Williams School in the future. Dossenbach said he was waiting for approval from the board on relocating the preschool before speaking to the commissioners about it. GRADUATIONS As part of Womack's report, she noted that Lee Early College students will graduate Thursday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at the Wicker Civic Center. Lee County High School's graduation will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29 at Paul Gay Stadium. Southern Lee High School's graduation will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 30 at Cletis Gore Stadium. BUDGET WORK SESSION Davidson noted that the Lee County commissioners are tentatively scheduled to have a budget work session, including discussion of LCS salaries, on Friday, May 30. Davidson did not have a time or location for the meeting.
Otago Daily Times
17-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Opponents livid as seabed mine project clears fast-track hurdle
By Bill Hickman of RNZ A company's plan to mine 50 million tonnes of South Taranaki seabed every year has cleared the first hurdle in the Fast-track process. Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) executive chair Alan Eggers said he was "delighted" the company's application for its Taranaki VTM project had been accepted as complete and would now move on to the next stage of the process. Opponents, meanwhile, are "livid" and have vowed to continue their fight against the project. TTR wants to mine 50 million tonnes of seabed a year for 30 years in the South Taranaki Bight. Eggers said the company had identified a world-class vanadium resource that could contribute $1 billion annually to the economy. "It'll generate export revenues of around $850 million a year which will make it New Zealand's 11th or 12th largest exporter. "Within the region it'll generate about 1150 jobs. We would spend about $230m annually and it'll generate $190m in government royalties and taxes per annum," Eggers said. Eggers denied the approval process was a "short cut" to avoid environmental compliance. "We still have to comply with the embedded safeguards for the environment in the EEZ Act [Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Act 2012]. The Fast Track Act includes us having to comply with all the conditions and management plans that were approved under the EEZ Act." He said the project planned to magnetically extract and export 5 million tonnes of heavy mineral sands containing iron ore and the critical minerals vanadium and titanium each year. "Our research and marine reports have been independently peer reviewed by international experts in their areas in terms of marine ecologies and plume effects," Eggers said. Opponents warns of harm to wildlife, environment Greenpeace seabed mining campaigner Juressa Lee said dumping the remaining 45 million tonnes of sand back in to ocean each year would threaten marine life such as the pygmy blue whale, Māui and Hector's dolphins and the world smallest species of penguin, kororā - which migrated through the area. "Investors in TTR's project are trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes, telling us to 'trust the science'. But TTR has never been able to alleviate the courts' concerns for harmful impacts on wildlife and the environment." The head of Kiwi's Against Seabed Mining is "livid" at the approval. Cindy Baxter says there is "massive opposition" to the project, and seabed mining in general. "A couple of weeks ago we saw 500 hundred people paddle out in Ōpunake against seabed mining. You've got many of the councils who are against it, you've got all the iwi, you've got surfers, you've got people who love their ocean, even the fishing industry is against it." People were angry at being "shut out" of the approval process, she said. "We're not allowed to make submissions - and it's the public opposition that has stopped this process so far - so that's why Christopher Luxon's government has shut us out of the process." If the project was successfully approved, it would create a precedent for seabed mining on coastlines all across the country, Baxter believed. "When we first started opposing this in 2012 there were companies all waiting in the wings for this first application to get across the line and, if it does, it'll be open slather on our coastlines." Activists would continue to oppose the project. "We will continue to make our voices heard and we're going to fight this all the way - as far as we can - through the courts. If we need to get into boats and go out into the ocean to stop them we'll do that as well," Baxter said.
Los Angeles Times
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The best books of the last 30 years: Honorable mentions
There are those who write well, and there are those who write well and often. These prolific literary giants have all published work worthy of inclusion on our list of the greatest novels since 1996, but their fecundity perhaps made it difficult for voters to narrow it down to just one book. Atwood started the millennium winning the Booker Prize with 'The Blind Assassin,' a nested novel of historical fiction. If that seems like a change from the feminist speculative fiction of her breakthrough, 'The Handmaid's Tale,' Atwood has refused to be pigeonholed. Since 1996, she has published books of poetry, short fiction, essays and graphic novels; she wrote the libretto for an opera; and she wrote a novel that will remain unread for nearly 100 years. The closest literary kin would be the MaddAddam Trilogy (2003-2013), feminist speculative fiction plus capitalism and genetic engineering gone wrong — and a pandemic. Eggers has been an outsized cultural figure for the past quarter-century. His 2000 debut, 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,' was a lightly fictionalized memoir that introduced readers to Eggers' ironized yet deeply moving storytelling. Since then, genre-bender Eggers has turned his hand to sociopolitical satire ('A Hologram for The King,' 'The Circle'), book-length portraiture ('Zeitoun') and fictionalized autobiography ('What Is the What'). As the pasha of the McSweeney's literary empire and founder of the 826 National literary nonprofit, it's a surprise that Eggers has time to write books at all (two or three dozen, so far). A master of plotting and characterization, French uses the tropes of the detective novel to explore greater themes of class and cultural imperialism. An American who's lived in Ireland since the 1990s, French's 2007 debut, 'In the Woods,' kicked off her six-book (so far) Dublin Murder Squad series. The fourth, 'Broken Harbor,' won the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for mystery/thriller. In recent books, French has borrowed elements of the western genre to explore corporate rapacity in the era of climate change and looked at life in a small Irish village with the ear to both insider and outsider. The greatest science-fiction writer of his generation, the man who coined the term 'cyberspace,' Gibson has been very busy. An American who moved to Canada and drifted into writing in the 1970s, he has written avidly and brilliantly during the last 30 years about the power and peril of technology. In novels such as 'All Tomorrow's Parties' and 'The Peripheral,' Gibson anticipated the present state of our wired world — in which a simulacrum of reality has overtaken everyday life via technology controlled by the creepy and the power-mad, and rebel outsiders try to fight back. Groff emerged fully formed with her 2008 debut, 'The Monsters of Templeton,' a dark family saga that leaps across time and space with formal daring and wit. A novelist with a sharp social conscience, whether setting her fiction in the present or past, Groff burrows under the bedrock of culture to explore the moral rot underneath. Her novel 'Fates and Furies,' the story of a long marriage as told from the perspectives of both spouses, was a breakout bestseller and Barack Obama's favorite book of 2015, and she remained on his favorites list with her latest, 2023's 'The Vaster Wilds.' Jones is a bold experimentalist in his fiction, employing a mashup of literary genres, often with horror as a key element. He's written novels, short stories and comics about alienation and disenfranchisement and revenge. In his latest book, 'The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,' a Blackfoot vampire who is murdered during the Marias Massacre of 1870 returns; 2016's 'Mongrels' is a coming-of-age-meets-werewolf story. Jones has published about 35 books since his 2000 debut, 'The Fast Red Road,' and is an unstoppable literary force. With her blockbuster 2014 novel 'Everything I Never Told You,' Ng reinvented the suburban novel for our present age of anxiety, with its status-signaling, subtle racial tensions, teenage secrets and tone-deaf parents. Her follow-up, 'Little Fires Everywhere,' was a huge bestseller, guaranteeing Ng a devoted readership. The Hulu adaptation by Reese Witherspoon's production company, which elevated the questions of race, power and blind spots, landed co-star Kerry Washington an Emmy nomination. The novelist's latest, 'Our Missing Hearts,' imagines a near-future in which a son's search for his mother unfolds against a country whose leaders have pledged to preserve culture by destroying it. Rooney's moving, witty and whip-smart millennial fiction has struck a resonant chord with readers worldwide. The Irish novelist, perhaps unwillingly, has become a fictional voice of her generation, examining the power relationships and politics of her characters. Her first two novels, 'Conversations With Friends' and 'Normal People,' were published before she turned 30. Her latest, 'Intermezzo,' was met by critics hoping she might finally stumble, but fans were satisfied. Rooney's young adults, hyperarticulate and conversant in seemingly everything, are yet tripped up by the mysteries of the human heart. Senna has artfully explored what it means to be a biracial person in America, and the dark comedy of in-betweenness. She launched her career with 'Caucasia,' an award-winning bestselling novel, in 1998; it has been translated into 12 languages. So far, she has published four novels, one short story collection, and one memoir. Her most recent book, 'Colored Television,' is a seriocomic exploration of race and creativity and the haves and have-nots of Hollywood. Matters may be all too serious, but Senna is able to shine a smart, funny light on them. Beginning with her 2000 debut, 'White Teeth,' which racked up more awards than we can list here, Smith has explored the spaces between us — ethnic differences, economic disparities, art and longing. Smith is a maximalist who likes to work with a large canvas, a social observer with a sharp and unflinching eye. While she has also published plays, short fiction, criticism and essays, Smith is primarily a novelist whose books include 'On Beauty,' 'Swing Time,' 'NW' and 'The Fraud.' She's one of the leading writers of our time.
