Wairau hydro scheme

Cost scuttles hydro appeal

PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Groups and people who opposed TrustPower's plans to build a power scheme in Marlborough's Wairau Valley have decided not to go to the High Court.

Who owns TrustPower

The Marlborough Express

TrustPower, which won consent last month to build a hydroelectric power scheme along the Wairau River in Marlborough, is about 88 per cent New Zealand-owned.

Decision shakes faith in the system

The Marlborough Express

Landowners John and Joan McLauchlan and Alison Parr have twice appealed TrustPower's plans to build a hydroelectric power station on the Wairau River and lost. They must decide by Friday next week whether to continue their fight in the High Court.

Battle for land not over yet

The Marlborough Express

Thirty-seven of 60 properties that will be crossed by the TrustPower hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River have signed up with the power company, according to its community relations manager, Graeme Purches.

'We will not be moved'

A Wairau Valley couple vehemently opposed to TrustPower's plans to build a hydro scheme on the Wairau River are vowing to remain on the property.

Wairau power decision 'good news for irrigation scheme'

The chairman of a group piggybacking an irrigation scheme on to TrustPower's Wairau River power scheme is confident Wairau Valley landowners will be reaping the benefits of improved irrigation in "four or five" years.

Wairau power 'to stay in province'

Electricity generated from TrustPower's hydro scheme on the Wairau River will stay in Marlborough, according to the Tauranga-based power company.

Hydro opponents consider options

Save the Wairau, a group opposed to the TrustPower hydro scheme in the Wairau Valley, will meet on Wednesday to discuss their next move.

Hydro opponents weighing appeal

BLAIR ENSOR - The Marlborough Express

Opponents of Trust Power's hydro-electric power scheme on the Wairau River are weighing up whether they can appeal the Environment Court ruling

Six stations on 49km canal

The Marlborough Express

The Wairau River hydro scheme will divert up to 60 per cent of water from the river through 49km of canals to generate 70 megawatts of electricity.

Hydro scheme gets green light

The Environment Court has said yes to TrustPower's Wairau River power scheme.

Long wait on Wairau hydro plan

The Environment Court decision on whether to grant TrustPower resource consent to build a hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River has been further delayed.

MDC plans hydro monitoring

Extra council staff needed for Wairau Valley project

BY CLAIRE CONNELL - © Fairfax NZ News

The Marlborough District Council will be able to regularly monitor conditions attached to the TrustPower resource consent for its Wairau Valley hydro scheme and charge the cost back to the power company, a council spokesman says.

Save the Wairau River's work is not over

BY RON TANNOCK - The Marlborough Express

OPINION: Save the Wairau River is a community-based group dedicated to protecting the integrity and sustainability of the Wairau River.

Save the Wairau gets new head

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Ron Tannock was elected unopposed as the new chairman of Save the Wairau last night.

'Warrior' turns focus to Wairau

North Canterbury "water warrior" Sam Mahon will speak at a Save the Wairau meeting on Wednesday, June 30.

Court weighs pros and cons

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Lawyer Mike Hardy-Jones says Save the Wairau has three grounds for opposing TrustPower's plans to build a power scheme on the Wairau River; planning issues, adverse effects and the adaptive management approach proposed.

Strong divisions

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Arguments for and against TrustPower building a hydroelectric power station on the Wairau River have shaken down to highlight major issues dividing the applicants and appellants.

Battle for the Wairau

The Marlborough Express

The future of TrustPower's proposed hydroelectric power scheme is now in the hands of Environment Court judge Gordon Whiting and three commissioners.

Ruling in August

The Marlborough Express

The Environment Court decision as to whether TrustPower will be issued resource consent to build a hydroelectric power station in the Wairau Valley could be released by the end of August.

Farm couple oppose TrustPower plans

A spanner in the works of TrustPower's plans to build a hydroelectric power station in the Wairau Valley is Wairau Valley farming couple John and Joan McLauchlan.

Passionate last appeal on behalf of locals

Wairau Valley landowner Alison Parr has made a final appeal to the Environment Court to turn down TrustPower's application to build a Wairau River hydroelectric power scheme.

TrustPower plan fails resource tests

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

TrustPower's application to build a hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River does not meet Resource Management Act requirements and should be declined, an expert witness said.

Birds could become better off

Black-fronted terns and black-billed gulls could be better off if TrustPower builds its hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River, a Dunedin-based resource management consultant told the Environment Court yesterday.

Existing consents in spotlight

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

"As simple as A, B, C" did not apply to the cross-examination of Marlborough District Council hydrologist Val Wadsworth at an Environment Court hearing in Blenheim this week.

Hearing told of failure to check consents

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Marlborough District Council's failure to enforce conditions on resource consents issued in the district came under the spotlight at an Environment Court hearing in Blenheim this week.

Expert explains value of trees

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Remnants of kanuka and kowhai as well as willow stands growing alongside the Wairau River are ecologically valuable, TrustPower expert witness Ruth Bartlett told the Environment Court in Blenheim yesterday.

Fish & Game says TrustPower data shrinks wetland

Ecologist Vaughan Keesing yesterday told the Environment Court in Blenheim that little vegetation of value would be lost if TrustPower built its hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River.

Effects on trout counts predicted

Expert recalled to give evidence

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

A river modelling expert yesterday told the Environment Court in Blenheim that he had enough information and knowledge about TrustPower's proposed Wairau River hydroelectricity scheme to predict the effects on trout.

Trout in pool point to consent change

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Ross Dungey's observation of 77 trout in a pool of the Wairau River prompted the Otago consultant biologist to recommend an addition to conditions of consent for TrustPower to operate a hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River.

Field work backs river model

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

"There is no substitute for good field work," river management consultant Henry Hudson said on his second day of defending the computer model he used to predict how TrustPower's proposed hydroelectric power scheme would change the Wairau River.

TrustPower defends water flow model

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

A computer model used to predict the impact of TrustPower's proposed Wairau hydroelectric power scheme is unreliable because the river was surveyed when flows were too high, it has been claimed.

Expert witness stood down

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

In a surprise development at yesterday's Environment Court hearing into TrustPower's application to build a hydro-electric power scheme on the Wairau River, Marlborough District Council expert witness Peter Constantine was stood down part way through his evidence.

Algae volumes on rocks predicted to double

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

TrustPower's proposed Wairau hydroelectric power scheme could double the amount of algae growing on rocks in the affected reach of river, aquatic biologist Brian Coffey, of Whangamata, told the Environment Court in Blenheim yesterday.

'This is the wrong scheme on the wrong river'

Save the Wairau witness Robin Blackmore spoke of the power of the Wairau River at yesterday's Environment Court hearing to consider whether TrustPower should be granted resource consent to build a hydroelectric power scheme on the river.

Unity may be a bridge too far

Fish & Game accepts that there may be room to move in designing a hydroelectric scheme for the Wairau River which would satisfy concerns about effects on fish, game birds and angling.

Wairau River hearing set to continue

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

The Environment Court hearing to consider whether TrustPower will be granted resource consent to build a hydro-electric power station on the Wairau River will continue in February. The hearing was expected to end last Friday.

Experts argue river's status

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Marlborough's Wairau River rates high on natural character, but is not outstanding enough to warrant protection from development for hydroelectricity generation, landscape architects employed by TrustPower told an Environment Court hearing in Blenheim last week.

Fish & Game says mesh size not right

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

Fish screens planned for TrustPower's proposed hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River would not work, an Environment Court hearing heard yesterday.

Experts at odds over riverbed level

Removing water from a 47-kilometre reach of the Wairau River could result in a riverbed rise of one metre in 18 years, an expert witness had told the Environment Court.

Wairau water clarity disputed

BY PENNY WARDLE - The Marlborough Express

The engineer who designed the intake for TrustPower's proposed hydroelectric power scheme on the Wairau River yesterday assured the Environment Court that fishing would not suffer due to reduced water clarity.

Scheme will 'ruin' river - anglers

The Marlborough Express

Changes in the flow of the Wairau River if TrustPower's hydroelectric power scheme goes ahead would ruin a good fishing river, experienced anglers Roger Winter and Peter Boyes told an Environment Court hearing in Blenheim, which was considering whether the project should be approved.