Headline: DOC’s role to protect our environment being suppressed
“The quality of our rivers nationally is at stake with this decision as the Ruataniwha dam is the first of many planned by National.”
There are serious questions that need to be answered around the suppression of the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) draft submission on the Ruataniwha dam project, the Green Party said today.
DOC prepared a draft 32-page submission on the proposed Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Plan Change 6 raising serious concerns about the risk of water pollution. However, this draft was suppressed with DOC submitting only two paragraphs on the scheme which didn’t mention the likely water pollution effects.
“DOC’s advice on the Ruataniwha irrigation scheme has clearly been suppressed. The massive expansion of irrigation is one of this National Government’s top priorities, so there are major questions to be answered as to why the Department did not lodge its original submission,” said conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage.
“The quality of our rivers nationally is at stake with this decision as the Ruataniwha dam is the first of many planned by National. The Council’s planning regime for water quality could be copied elsewhere.
“DOC’s suppressed advice shows that the Council’s plan change fails to protect water quality and risks more algal blooms in the Tukituki catchment, harming vulnerable wildlife, and having an adverse impact on the estuary downstream.
“The Board of Inquiry deciding the matter will be getting a one-sided view of the Ruataniwha scheme from government agencies. It will hear an 18-page submission from the Ministry of Primary Industries on why the Ruataniwha scheme should proceed, but only two paragraphs from DOC.
“The only other agency tasked with protecting the environment in the Hawkes Bay is the Regional Council, but in this case, the Council is the developer. DOC’s role to advocate for nature is even more vital.”
DOC’s draft submission raised serious concerns that only managing one nutrient – phosphorus – as Plan Change 6 proposes, is “a new and untested approach in New Zealand”. It said it may not be sufficient to protect the key values of water bodies in the Tukituki catchment and could lead to more algal blooms. Allowing a 300-500 percent increase in nitrogen levels could have unexpected ecological effects.
“DOC’s draft submission is a strong indictment of the current process and the environmental risks it poses,” said Ms Sage.
“Under this Government, the Department of Conservation is failing in its statutory duty to advocate for conservation and our native biodiversity and habitats.
“The Tukituki catchment is ranked as ‘nationally significant’ for native fish with eight of the 18 native fish species found there are at risk of extinction or declining.”
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