Iwi unsure on turbines in Kaipara Harbour

Iwi Te Uri o Hau is questioning Crest Energy’s decision to place power turbines in the Kaipara Harbour.

The proposal for 200 turbines to generate power to 250,000 homes was given the go ahead two weeks ago.

But the Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust sees the move as being a problem for the controversial foreshore and seabed legislation.

Trust chairman Russell Kemp says each turbine is the size of an average three-bedroom house.

"The ownership of the Kaipara seabed is still largely contestable in Te Uri o Hau eyes," he says.

"And that is putting aside the right of public access and transit that we believed was protected at the cost of Te Uri o Hau ownership of the seabed under the controversial foreshore and seabed legislation," says Mr Kemp.

"We will be excluded from our own taonga – the Kaipara – for 35 years, at the expense of what can best be described as a mad scientist’s experiment when the benefits are not conclusive."

Mr Kemp says he’s unconvinced there will be any benefits for the people most affected – the Pouto community, let alone the effects on the mauri of the harbour as a whole, including fish and marine mammals.

He says examples of affected areas include the harbour being a nursery for more than 90 percent of the West Coast snapper fishery from Taranaki to North Cape.

It is unknown if the 200 turbines will affect fish harbour migration, noise, electromagnetic frequencies, metal anodes and biocides as a result of this development may affect the navigation and health of fish life and birds.

"The trust will take stock of the council’s decision during the coming days and review our position from there. We are bitterly disappointed that, as kaitiaki and owners of this area, our property rights have been impinged once again," says Mr Kemp.

In its decision, the hearings committee acknowledged some effects on the environment from the proposal that were as yet "unquantifiable".

But it believed the applicant was proposing an "adaptive management" approach enabling the development to go ahead in a "cautious" manner in order to ensure the effect would be minor.

- © Fairfax NZ News