Meridian's dam vexes lobbyists
Related Rivers
By SANDRA COX
The Press
A planned $250 million hydro dam on the West Coast that would meet the electricity needs of the region and elsewhere has angered environmentalists.
State-owned power generator and retailer Meridian Energy has lodged resource consent applications to build a 65-megawatt to 85MW scheme by damming the Mokihinui River.
The Mokihinui, 40km north of Westport, flows through a long gorge that opens into a large valley.
The dam would be at the seaward end of the gorge, 11km from the sea.
Meridian chief executive Keith Turner said the project would secure power for the region.
The scheme would significantly reduce the supply problems in the upper South Island of the past two years, providing "breathing space" until major planned transmission upgrades came through in 2015.
The Mokihinui construction programme is over 2<<1/2 to three years, with construction costing between $200m and $250m.
It was the "economically right" answer for the West Coast, given current transmission constraints and the cost of losses.
"It is remote and it's a reasonably challenging geological area, so we hope there are no big earthquakes," Turner said.
Major Electricity Users' Group executive director Ralph Matthes said new power schemes were needed and had to be geographically dispersed to meet users' needs.
Of the group's 22 members, two had significant interests on the West Coast -- Holcim New Zealand's cement works near Westport and OceanaGold's goldmines at Reefton. Environmentalists and some recreation users say the scheme is a travesty in an untouched environment.
Forest and Bird South Island field co-ordinator Chris Todd said the environmental cost of damming the Mokihinui was too high. "This is an unmodified river valley essentially -- completely undeveloped above the dam site."
He described the gorge as having pohutakawa forest and being home to several endangered and threatened species, such as blue duck, western weka, kaka, kereru, kakariki and giant snails.
Forest and Bird were also concerned that an earthquake could send waves over the top of the dam.
"I don't live underneath it, but I think if I did I'd be very concerned," Todd said.
Buller Conservation Group spokesman Pete Lusk said the Mokihinui was a "wonderful, wild West Coast river", with great forests in the valley floor.
The 1929 Murchison earthquake had devastated the gorge, including the proposed dam site. Among threatened species were great spotted kiwi, Lusk said.
In its application, Meridian presented a range of measures to offset the environmental effects of the dam.
