Anger mounts as Kaipara tidal power plan gets nod | Northland News | Local News in Northland

An Environment Court ruling which could see Crest Energy getting a green light for its controversial tidal turbine electricity generation scheme at the Kaipara Harbour entrance has alarmed harbour users.

The court appears satisfied the $600 million plan to put 200 huge turbines generating about 200MW on the seabed at the harbour mouth would cause only minor problems. But local boaties think differently.

Des Subritzky of Dargaville - awarded a Queen's Service Medal in the New Year honours list for his lifetime involvement with the harbour - said yesterday the anchors of boaties fishing the Graveyard at the harbour entrance would drag across the turbines.

An expert on river channel drainage, he predicted the turbines on the sandy seabed at the harbour mouth would cause the entrance channel to alter.

 He also wanted to know what would happen when huge logs drifting down the Northern Wairoa River when it flooded ran into the turbines.

But what most concerned Mr Subritzky was the possibility of the power generation plan ruining the Kaipara spawning grounds, which provide 98 per cent of snapper in the North Island west coast fishery.

"How will they put it right if they ruin the snapper fishing?" he asked.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira said yesterday he would be happy to invite Prime Minister John Key and Environment Minister Tim Groser north to discuss harbour concerns with locals.

Mr Harawira planned to discuss the issue with Maori resource management people next week to line up the best time and place to hold the discussions.

The possibility of the National Party leaders being invited to the Kaipara was first raised at a hui the Tai Tokerau MP organised at Ruawai in July last year to air the Crest plans.

Mr Harawira said he had arranged the hui because of concerns raised by Maori but he had found most Kaipara Pakeha were not keen on the scheme either.

The Environment Court has indicated it could give the Crest scheme a positive recommendation to the Minister of Conservation.

The court has said many factors in the Crest plan "point powerfully in the direction of consent being granted".

But in an interim decision on appeal hearings held at Whangarei in June last year, the court warns that "areas of uncertainty could tip the balance if not dealt with to the court's satisfaction".

Crest had a lot more work to do, mainly on effects on commercial fisheries and on developing an environmental monitoring plan,  Director-General of Conservation Al Morrison said yesterday.

"We don't expect a final decision until mid-year," he said.

Mr Morrison had appealed against conditions imposed by the the Northland Regional Council when it approved the Crest scheme in 2008.

Another appellant, Environs Holdings Ltd - a division of the Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust - yesterday expressed disappointment over the court decision.

Settlement Trust chairwoman Mihi Watene said Te Uri o Hau was reviewing the ruling, including conditions imposed on Crest by the court.

 A course of action would be worked out later.