Dam consents would override covenant

Covenants designed to protect land in the Nevis Valley will be worthless if Pioneer Energy obtains the consents required to build a hydro-electric dam.

The revelation was made by Department of Conservation Otago conservator Jeff Connell yesterday at a special tribunal hearing in Cromwell that is considering whether damming of the Nevis River should be prohibited.

Pioneer is the leaseholder of the Ben Nevis and Craigroy stations in Nevis Valley, which are undergoing tenure review.

The electricity-generation company wants to freehold the footprint of a proposed 40-megawatt dam on the Nevis River that would flood up to 8km on the river and create two dams, one the size of Lake Hayes, near Queenstown.

In return for obtaining freehold of about 7800ha, Pioneer plans would vest significant sections of the stations into DOC protection, including 8800ha on the Hector Mountains that would become public conservation land.

DOC has taken a neutral stance on the application by Fish and Game to prohibit dams on the Nevis. This is in part because of a deal done with Pioneer 13 years ago when the electricity generator agreed to support a water conservation order for the Kawarau and its tributaries, which include the Nevis River, in exchange for allowing a section of the river to be flooded for hydro-electricity development.

Mr Connell yesterday told the hearing that if Pioneer did not obtain consents for the proposed dam, then the covenants would protect the land for perpetuity. But, if approval was obtained, the Conservation Minister would be contractually required under the tenure review agreement to move the covenants off to one side and allow the land to be flooded.

DOC could not support an application to prohibit damming the river as that was allowed under the existing water conservation order, which it had agreed to.

Going against that agreement would mean it was acting in bad faith.

Mr Connell said DOC had to constantly weigh up whether the Government's policies and the public interest were better served by making a compromise in a tenure review.

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