Grant Hewison: chair of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ on Glenbrook Steel Mill wanting to keep operating despite climate concerns - Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Glenbrook Steel Mill is in the process of applying for a consent to operate in their current form until 2056. 

This is despite environmental concerns surrounding the mill, as it has been linked to causing 15 percent of Auckland's annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The council has to decide if the mill can keep operating, but they can't consider any climate change impacts, because the laws requiring climate change impacts have been delayed from coming into effect.

Until these laws come through, the council is currently forbidden from taking the environmental impacts of a coal-burning steel mill into account.

The chair of Lawyers for Climate Action, Grant Hewison, explained his displeasure with the current situation, as it seems inconsistent for a steel mill that contributes to 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions to be able to keep operating the way it does for the next three decades.

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