Energy and natural resources law in New Zealand: an eventful forty years

Abstract

The development of energy law, natural resources law and climate change law in New Zealand is considered over the period from the early 1980s to the early 2020s. The political and economic background of the period is described in order to understand the evolution of these fields of law. Specifically examined are the Māori dimension, oil and gas, mining, electricity, environment and climate change. In respect of legal practice, legal education and research, the particular characteristics of law in these fields is discussed and compared with the equivalents in other countries.

Keywords:

• energy law
• natural resources law
• climate change law
• New Zealand
• history of law

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 B Easton, Not in Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand (Victoria University of Wellington Press 2020) 463.

2 Brought in by the Electoral Act 1993, the mixed-member proportional voting system’s basic rule is that each political party’s share of the seats in Parliament should correspond to its share of the vote nationally. Under the old ‘first past the post’ system, concentrations of voters in particular constituencies were poorly represented, and smaller parties struggled to obtain any representation at all.

3 Māori are 17.1 per cent of the total population: Stats NZ, ‘Māori Population Estimates: At 30 June 2021’ https://www.stats.govt.nz accessed 18 November 2021.

4 Ngati Rangi Trust v Genesis Power Ltd [2009] NZCA 222 held that the Environment Court could not give the company a short-term renewal of 10 years to encourage the parties to reach a meeting of minds.

5 Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd v Taranaki-Whanganui Conservation Board [2021] NZSC 127.

6 Barry Barton, ‘Electricity Regulation in New Zealand: the Early Stages of a New Regime’ (2008) 26 JERL 207.

7 Michael C Blumm and David H Becker, ‘From Martz to the Twenty-First Century: A Half-Century of Natural Resources Law Casebooks and Pedagogy’ (2007) 78 U Colo L Rev 647; Robert L Fischman, ‘What Is Natural Resources Law?’ (2007) 78 U Colo L Rev 717.

8 Terence Daintith, ‘A Mirror of Change? The Journal and the Development of Energy Law’ (2012) 30(4) JERL 469. Earlier Adrian Bradbrook explored the difficulties in ‘Energy Law as an Academic Discipline’ (1996) 14 JERL 193; and so more recently did Iñigo del Guayo Castiella, ‘Concepto, contenidos y principios del derecho de la energía’ (2020) 212 Revista de Administración Pública 309.

9 Raphael J Heffron and others, ‘A Treatise for Energy Law’ (2018) 11 J World Energy L & Business 34.