Timing of Wairau hydro review questioned

BY CLAIRE CONNELL

A commissioner on the hearing panel during the resource consent process for TrustPower's multimillion-dollar hydro scheme has criticised the timing of a review of the case, saying it is wrong to publish it before the judicial process had been completed.

The review on the hearing process, commissioned by the Ministry of Environment, was released last week by aquatic ecologist Brent Cowie.

The review said it was difficult for smaller councils like the Marlborough District Council to process major infrastructure consents and outlined the importance of having a mix of skills and experience on consent hearing panels.

Appeals on the council decision in August last year to grant consent for the $275-million hydro scheme will be heard in the Environment Court next week.

Anthony Willy, a commissioner on the hearing panel, would not comment specifically about the TrustPower proposal as it was before the courts, but said he was surprised at the timing of the review.

"I've been a judge for 20-odd years. I have never known a minister of the Crown [to] commission and publicly issue a report on the conduct of a hearing while an appeal is pending."

Under changes to the Resource Management Act, the Environment Court now had to consider past decisions of the commissioners provided there was a hearing, when previously it did not.

Mr Willy said that in general terms parties involved in cases were entitled to an Environment Court hearing free of any views expressed in documents. Such documents risked adversely affecting the judicial process or how the Environment Court used a decision, he said.

He said the report "unfairly criticised" the Marlborough District Council: "It is fair to say I have never sat with a panel that has been better than this one."

The review also confirmed there was no conflict of interest with Mr Willy being on the hearing panel and owning shares in a company with links to the energy industry.

Save the Wairau chairman Hugh Steadman argued against the review, continuing to claim there had been a conflict of interest.

Wairau Valley Action co-convenor Alison Parr shared that view.

But Mr Willy would not comment on that aspect of the review, saying it had been resolved in public at the hearing.

Ms Parr added that the resource consent should have gone straight to the Environment Court rather than be put before a district council.

She said the Marlborough District Council should have asked the commissioners to present the decision with a recommendation, with the hearing panel being given the power of veto.

Instead, by giving "absolute power" to the hearing panel, the council had "totally washed their hands of responsibility".

She claimed the hearing panel did not have technical skills surrounding engineering, something "very pertinent" to many people in the Wairau Valley who had concerns about the potential dangerof the design and the proximity of the scheme to the fault line.

However, Mr Willy said it was "out of the question" to have several experts on the hearing panel.

TrustPower community relations manager Graeme Purches said before the initial resource consent was lodged, TrustPower met Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman and chief executive Andrew Besley to discuss the option of having the resource consent heard locally or going straight to the Environment Court.

He said TrustPower's preference was to involve the local community, and the council "agreed with the scenario".

Nelson Marlborough Fish & Game regional manager Neil Deans said the Marlborough District Council did not have the capacity to deal with an application of this scale.

He agreed with the review that splitting the decision – first to grant the consents without conditions, followed by a separate hearing on conditions – was not appropriate.

However, Mr Willy said there was no point spending weeks dealing with conditions if the panel was going to refuse an application.

The Environment Ministry could not be reached this morning for comment.

- The Marlborough Express