EDS has a long history of responsible environmental litigation. The Society was formed in the early 1970s and with a brief break in the mid 1990s, has been appearing in court and before councils and tribunals since its inception.
The caseload has been substantial. In the early years there was a focus on establishing useful precedents in what was then untried environmental legislation.
Prior to the Resource Management Act, environmental law was found in literally dozens of different acts of Parliament. Water, land and air uses were all treated differently and legal standing to bring proceedings under the many acts was varied.
Early cases EDS was involved include the Huntly water rights case, litigation concerning LPG terminals, the Aramoana Smelter, the Clyde High Dam, several think big projects and a proposed resort development at Karikari in the Far North.
During the 1980s EDS began a substantive involvement in mining cases and was instrumental in persuading the government to change the law to enable better public involvement and more emphasis on environmental effects of mining. There was a special focus on the Coromandel Peninsula where EDS was instrumental in preventing a proposed large-scale open-cast mine from proceeding at Otama Beach.
EDS has had a long history of involvement in cases concerning water. The Society was involved with other groups in an effort to get water conservation orders established in law after a successful opposition to a series of dams on the Motu River. Indeed, EDS assisted the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust to obtain the first ever national water conservation order for that wild and scenic river and went on the support similar orders over the Ahuriri and Rakaia Rivers in the South Island.
In more recent years EDS has been a defender of the coastline and of our lakes. Rampant and badly planned development has the potential to degrade the qualities that make our coast so special. EDS works through local council plan preparation to get good rules that allow development in certain locations and that encourage high quality outcomes. Our current litigation programme is extensive and is often supported by professionals giving their time for the public good on a voluntary basis.
In the past 3-4 years there has been an effort to train other local groups to better advocate for the environment through a series of guides and other publications, through EDS's on-line Guide to the Resource Management Act and through locally presented workshops. These days EDS sees itself as "wholesaling" environmental advice to local groups that then "retail" that in their area.
