Crown to back wind farm with submission on RMA consent
The Government is to make a submission backing a central North Island wind farm to get resource consent, Environment Minister Trevor Mallard said today.
It was important those considering the Resource Management Act application by Meridian Energy had information on the national energy implications and effects of the proposal, he said.
The plan to build 52 turbines near Moawhango on the border between Rangitikei and Ruapehu districts has met with some resistance from local residents.
The Crown’s submission is the third since the law was changed in 2005 allowing the minister to make a submission on consents considered to have national significance.
The other submissions were on Meridian’s Project Hayes and Trustpower’s Mahinerangi wind farms in central Otago.
Mr Mallard said the submission recognised the contribution the wind farm made to the Government’s energy and climate change policy objectives.
The submission also included conditions the Government considered necessary to address the environment effects on the conservation land.
“I have every faith that ordinary Resource Management Act processes and local decision makers can deal with the environmental effects and any community concerns raised by the “Central Wind” proposal,” Mr Mallard said.
NZPA
2 September 2008
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