More than 200 jobs are on the line as Winstone Pulp International looks set to close in October. Photo: Alexa Cook/RNZ
The community surrounding a forestry products mill is desperately trying to save it from closing, launching a petition urging the government to intervene.
Winstone Pulp International is proposing to close from October, resulting in 230 jobs being lost, and there are fears the closures of the Tangiwai Sawmill and Karioi Pulpmill will decimate the rural community.
It's been an anxious couple of weeks for the hundreds of people who rely on the mill for work. With a decision over the mill's future expected on Monday, Liz Brooker says everyone is on edge.
"There is an extreme sense of fear and nervousness in this community, there are families here who are really worried whether their marriages will survive," she said.
Brooker has launched a petition on Change.Org called 'Rescue Ruapehu', urging for New Zealand's electricity 'gentailers' and the government to 'stop putting multi-million dollar profits ahead of communities and the manufacturing sector'.
"We're going to go down fighting for our communities," she said.
* Are you being affected by the mill closures? Contact RNZ with your story at alexa.cook@rnz.co.nz
The company is expected to either confirm its closure - or announce an alternative - in five day's time, and it said it had not ruled out any options and was still open to a commercially viable solution.
Brooker said the wait was having a huge toll on people's mental health.
"Our wahine don't want to leave their men at home alone, there is this weight that's sitting really heavy in our hearts here... and it's not just our mill workers, it's every single business here," she said.
Raewyn Sinclair's husband works at the mill, and she told RNZ that it had been a long two months since they were first told about the proposal to close.
"It's just hard on our families, people don't know if they need to start looking for jobs and making plans, so it's a bit scary at the moment. Everyone is hurting big time, everyone is making plans to move to Australia," she said.
She is urging people to sign the petition.
"At the moment we need more people to sign it because then it shows who is affected. I'm just hoping people will see it and sign it, we're all trying to do our best to share it amongst our community but it's bigger than our community, it's so many communities when you look at the big picture," she said.
Resources minister Shane Jones met last week with manufacturing companies - including Winstone and Pan Pac - in a bid to help them. Mayor Weston Kirton said the government must intervene to help bring whole sale power prices down, but they were yet to do anything.
"No word at all from the Minster or government in terms of what they can do to help. They're making noises to intervene but nothing tangible, nothing has come about that I'm aware of that's going to see some light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
Kirton said Mercury and Winstone Pulp Mill were currently negotiating their contract, which will hopefully result in the mill staying open.
"They are obviously discussing pricing so that they can move on. The mill is closed at the moment waiting to see whether or not they can start the business again with a new pricing mechanism that allows them to progress," he said.
Winstone told RNZ normal operations have been halted since it announced an operational pause last month and the team have been onsite doing maintenance and other tasks, but neither site was operating.
The company said it had not ruled out any of its options and were still open to any commercially viable solution.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown said the government is committed to reversing the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, remove barrier to constructing facilities to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a stop gap, ease restrictions on electricity lines companies owning generation, ensure access for gentailers to hydro contingency and improve electricity market regulation.
"New Zealand's wholesale electricity prices are now much lower than several weeks ago. I expect that these continued low prices will influence negotiations between Winstone Pulp and their electricity supplier, and remain hopeful that a suitable arrangement can be found for all parties," said Brown.
A Mercury spokesperson said they are still negotiating with Winstone.
"We completely sympathise with those individuals who are impacted by the current process that Winstone Pulp International are working through. We have continued to engage with Winstone over the past week and still want to work with them to find a solution," they said.
