Congratulations to Pauatahanui Futures Society for lodging a High Court appeal on the lack of public consultation for Puketiro wind farm (May 13).
In Otago, TrustPower and Meridian hope to vandalise a heritage landscape with, at first, 276 turbines, 190km of new roads and 3.65 million cubic metres of cut soil. Meridian has plans for another 113 turbines.
This is quite simply the most outrageous proposal for energy generation since the six dams proposed for the Clutha by the Muldoon government. Yet this Government refused to ‘‘call in’’ the issue, despite requests to do so.
Why does Labour have its head planted so firmly in the sand over the fiercely controversial character of wind generation? It’s because wind is one way to look green from a distance without actually tackling our major emitter of greenhouse gases – agriculture. In fact, electricity generation produces a mere 9 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions.
The profusion of appeals across the country suggests that something is rotten at the heart of the wind industry. At present, the only organisations checking the rampant industrialisation of New Zealand landscapes seem to be highly stressed community groups.
RICHARD REEVE
Save Central and Upland Landscape Protection
17 May 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/05/19/somethings-rotten-at-heart-of-industry/