After walking from the southern branch a couple of years ago, it’s fantastic to see that the Mokihinui River has been saved from flooding by a hydro dam. The project was granted resource consent in 2010 pending a likely appeal and further permission from DoC and the Minister of Conservation. It’s been dragging through the Environment Court for some time now, but today Meridian Energy decided not to pursue it further. Further details are available on Stuff, or via the NZ Herald.
Tag: mokihinui river
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New documentaries on New Zealand Rivers
I’m not normally one for watching television, but there are a couple of worthwhile television documentaries out right now that document various New Zealand Rivers, and may be worthwhile watching.
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A Tale of Two Rivers is a 30 minute documentary that looks at power schemes and the west coast, focusing on Meridian’s plan to dam the Mokihinui River, and HDL Stockton’s plan to dam and generate power from polluted mine water.
The documentary is currently screening on the digital only TVNZ 6. At this time of writing, the two remaining screenings on TVNZ6 are Thursday 16th September (7pm to 7.30pm), and Saturday 18th September (7.30pm to 8pm). The documentary is also available on DVD for $15.
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Rivers is a new series presented by well-known New Zealand scenic photographer, back-country explorer and calendar salesman, Craig Potton. For each one-hour episode, Craig travels the length of a major river in New Zealand, talking to people and examining its past, present and future. The five episodes screen on Prime TV, Sunday nights between 7.30pm and 8.30pm. (The first episode, looking at the Clutha River, screened last Sunday.)
Enjoy.
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Meridian, DoC and the Mokihinui River
Just to add to some of happenings around the Mokihinui River (historic references: a trip report about walking it, a decision to allow damming it, and the Department of Conservation’s appeal to that decision), it looks as if there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes earlier this year.
Claire Browning (over at Pundit) has made use of the Official Information Act to obtain communications between DoC and Meridian which make some weird reading. It’s an insight into how these large project applications can work. It gives an idea of the strong differences of opinion between DoC experts and Meridian over use of the land, and also shows Meridian as trying to evade the Official Information Act, essentially by trying to stop DoC from writing certain things down.
More politics. I’m going back to the Ruahines this weekend. It should be fun.
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Mokihinui decision appealed
Following from this decision, it’s interesting to read on Stuff that the Department of Conservation is now appealing the decision to allow damming of the Mokihinui River. (That’s the river we went for a walk along back during new year.) I assumed the decision would be appealed, but was more convinced the appeal would come from an organisation affiliated with the Wild Rivers campaign. [Update 22nd May 2012: Meridian has now withdrawn its project from the Environment Court and will not proceed.]
Even if the appeal is turned down, the Minister of Conservation (Kate Wilkinson) still has to finally approve Meridian’s plans to dam the river because it happens to be on conservation land, and she would have to do so in the face of her main advising department giving strong advice about how bad-an-idea they think it is. On the other hand, Kate Wilkinson ordered a review into the advocacy role of her department a couple of months ago.
Anyway, enough of this, politics is boring. I’m going tramping this weekend, or possibly swimming depending on how things go.
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Mokihinui to be dammed
Well, probably. Several months ago I wrote about our trip along the Mokihinui River, which has been under threat of being dammed by Meridian Energy for some time. A few months later than planned, the Official Commission has finally released a (very long) report in favour of the decision to allow a dam. This will be a surprise for some, because late last year Gerry Brownlee (Minister of Energy and Resources, and Minister for Economic Development) let slip that he didn’t think it would go ahead, before he pulled back and claimed he didn’t get involved in local politics. [Update 22nd May 2012: Meridian has now withdrawn its project from the Environment Court and will not proceed.]
The decision was majority rather than unanimous, with two of the three commissioners (John Lumsden and Terry Archer) finding in favour of the consents, but the other commissioner (Greg Ryder) considering “that the effects of the proposal on the ecology of the Mokihinui catchment were not only adverse but could not be satisfactorily mitigated”. Their full decisions can be read from page 296 of part one of the document linked from above.
It is very likely that this decision will be appealed before anything happens. The New Zealand Wild Rivers campaign more or less echoes my thoughts on this.
A media report from The Press is here.
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Trip: Walking the Mokihinui River, Southern Branch
The Mokihinui River, near the south-west side of Kahurangi National Park, has a large catchment. Our new years’ walk along the river was inspired by recent plans of Meridian Energy to build an 85 metre dam, which would flood the river with an artificial 14 kilometre lake for the purposes of electricity export from the region. This would be at the expense of a unique landscape that can only be formed by a wild river, and of the flora and fauna that inhabits the region. A recent unofficial statement suggested that the current government is unlikely to allow this to occur, although Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee has since complained that his comment was taken out of context and he’s not interfering. The official commission doesn’t expect to reach a decision until February 2010, and nothing’s certain in the current climate. This is why we wanted to go out and see the Mokihinui River, because its future seems quite uncertain.
[Update 7th April 2010: The dam has been given approval, pending a likely appeal.] [Update 22nd May 2012: Meridian has now withdrawn its project from the Environment Court and will not proceed.]
Sue crosses one of
many side creeks.Dates: 31st December, 2009 – 5th January 2010 (one day late)
Location: Mokihinui River, Mokihinui Forks Ecological Area and Lyell Range-Radiant Range Conservation Area (south-east of Kahurangi National Park).
People: Steve, Allen, Sue, Dmitry, Mark, Robert and me.
Huts visited: Mokihinui Forks Hut (0 nights).
Route: Start at Lyell, walk up the gold mining route to the head of the south branch of the Mokihinui River, follow the river to Mohihinui Forks Hut, then out along the route on the river’s true left to Seddonville.
[Photos]
[map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/20100105-mokihinui-south-branch.gpx%5DThis post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.