Decision process as vital as decision itself
Shock, horror. After “carefully considering” a plea by the Palmerston North City Council to withdraw a request to call-in its wind farm resource consent application, Mighty River Power is sticking to its guns.
As reported in today’s Manawatu Standard, MRP has ignored the PNCC’s view that the decision on the Turitea wind farm should be made locally.
If Environment Minister Trevor Mallard decides to call- in the consent application, it will be referred directly to a ministerially-appointed board of inquiry, or to the Environment Court.
And it seems certain that Mr Mallard will indeed decide to call-in the application. Last month, after an editorial in this newspaper opined that to do so would undermine the democratic process, Mr Mallard quickly fired off a letter to the editor in response. He wanted to “correct the misinformation” and defend the process that would be applied if the decision was called in.
“The call-in process involves public submissions and public hearings just as would happen without a call-in,” Mr Mallard said. As well as indicating what his decision was likely to be, Mr Mallard’s letter revealed a similarly short-sighted outlook to which MRP has taken. They just don’t get it.
Yes, people from Palmerston North will still be able to make submissions if the application is called in, but the symbolism of taking the decision away from the PNCC is stark.
Firstly, MRP’s move to have the decision called in has left its “partnership” with the PNCC in tatters. If the wind farm application is ultimately approved, the welcome mat outside city hall will be whipped away before the ink has dried.
Secondly, the call-in request has galvanised local wind farm opponents but, more importantly, it has been the ideal recruitment tool for anti-wind farmers hoping to rally the apathetic and indifferent to their cause. Opposition has become as much about parochialism as about the pros and cons of erecting wind turbines in our ranges.
What Mr Mallard must appreciate, if he doesn’t already, is that the process by which the decision is reached is as important as the decision itself.
While the number of people opposed to wind farms in Palmerston North’s hinterland is significant and vocal, most residents are comfortable with, or at least acclimatised to, the sight of turbines spinning on the ranges. But MRP’s actions risk undermining that tolerance and, if Mr Mallard agrees to the company’s call-in request, it may well disappear altogether.
9 October 2008
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