MOKIHINUI – A WILD RIVER SAVED
Meridian withdraws its application – By Jenny Baker
The Department of Conservation, Forest & Bird and others appealed the decision. The Appeal was expected to be heard in 2012. Meridian had planned to build an 85 metre high dam on the West Coast’s largest river. More than 330 hectares of river gorge and forest will disappear under a 14 kilometre long artificial lake.
Forest and Bird’s Top of the South Field Officer, Debs Martin, described the proposal as”the greatest inundation of conservation land for a hydro scheme that New Zealand has ever seen. It is a tragedy for the native blue ducks, giant land snails, long fin eels and other creatures that live in or beside the Mokihinui. They will be wiped out by Meridian Energy’s massive hydro dam flooding their homes.”
Meridian also needed the approval of the Minister of Conservation, Hon. Kate Wilkinson to build the dam because the river is on public conservation land. Meridian has offered to swap other land for that needed for the Mokihinui project. This land would need to be of equivalent (or greater) ecological value and the Department of Conservation has indicated that it would decline such an offer due to the irreplaceable value of the river.
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act have revealed that DOC was intending to turn down Meridian and believed “the public conservation land within the Mokihinui River has such high value that it is most unlikely to be suitable for exchange at all.”
Forest & Bird ran a successful campaign to give New Zealanders the chance to urge Meridian Energy to withdraw its proposal. One irony was that Meridian was a recent sponsor of Project Crimson but the Mokihinui project would have drowned the very rata forests it pledged to protect.
Although water may be renewable a wild river is definitely not. The argument of proponents for the project is that the Mokihinui project is required to provide a growing demand for power on the West Coast. Such a demand, perceived or real, could be satisfied by newly approved and more environmentally-friendly hydro projects. Solid Energy withdrew its appeal in October 2010 to Hydro Developments Limited’s Stockton scheme. This project aims to generate power using polluted water from the acid drainage of the Stockton coal mining area and will actually enhance the water quality of the Ngakawau River.
MOKIHINUI – A WILD RIVER SAVED
Meridian withdraws its application – By Jenny Baker
ECO welcomed the decision of Meridian Energy to withdraw its application for a dam on the Mohikinui River. Meridian Energy initially received resource consent for the Mokihinui dam in April 2010 when the hearings committee found the issues difficult and the commissioners were split 2:1.
The Department of Conservation, Forest & Bird and others appealed the decision. The Appeal was expected to be heard in 2012. Meridian had planned to build an 85 metre high dam on the West Coast’s largest river. More than 330 hectares of river gorge and forest will disappear under a 14 kilometre long artificial lake.
Forest and Bird’s Top of the South Field Officer, Debs Martin, described the proposal as”the greatest inundation of conservation land for a hydro scheme that New Zealand has ever seen. It is a tragedy for the native blue ducks, giant land snails, long fin eels and other creatures that live in or beside the Mokihinui. They will be wiped out by Meridian Energy’s massive hydro dam flooding their homes.”
Meridian also needed the approval of the Minister of Conservation, Hon. Kate Wilkinson to build the dam because the river is on public conservation land. Meridian has offered to swap other land for that needed for the Mokihinui project. This land would need to be of equivalent (or greater) ecological value and the Department of Conservation has indicated that it would decline such an offer due to the irreplaceable value of the river.
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act have revealed that DOC was intending to turn down Meridian and believed “the public conservation land within the Mokihinui River has such high value that it is most unlikely to be suitable for exchange at all.”
Forest & Bird ran a successful campaign to give New Zealanders the chance to urge Meridian Energy to withdraw its proposal. One irony was that Meridian was a recent sponsor of Project Crimson but the Mokihinui project would have drowned the very rata forests it pledged to protect.
Although water may be renewable a wild river is definitely not. The argument of proponents for the project is that the Mokihinui project is required to provide a growing demand for power on the West Coast. Such a demand, perceived or real, could be satisfied by newly approved and more environmentally-friendly hydro projects. Solid Energy withdrew its appeal in October 2010 to Hydro Developments Limited’s Stockton scheme. This project aims to generate power using polluted water from the acid drainage of the Stockton coal mining area and will actually enhance the water quality of the Ngakawau River.
