Charlie Hutchison: Cleaning up environment must be focus

Charlie Hutchison

It has been said that the failed land swap for the Ruataniwha Dam is a "stake to the heart" of the project.

But for it to die it actually needs to be shot in the head and buried.

It has to be of great concern that at the top of the pile of proponents of the dam are ministers of the Crown.

We have Bill English stating there is government money for the project, and how great the project would be. Nick Smith is prepared to alter the legal limits for pollution levels to make the area that will be affected look better than it is. Then we have Maggie Barry in the mix, who wants to change the law around the classification of DoC land to let the project go ahead.

These three only regurgitate what their advisers and public relations personnel tell them. In reality they actually know nothing of the effects on Central Hawkes Bay that will occur with Ruataniwha Dam irrigation.

The actions of Smith and Barry have to be of extreme concern. That they would be prepared to alter laws to make the dam go ahead shows little concern for our environment or for the health of the population.

With this in mind, after 45 years of being a National Party supporter, my vote will go elsewhere this year, and maybe other people opposed to this project and to these ministers' actions should do the same.

With the announcement that the DoC land swap would not happen, it has become a good smokescreen for what is really wrong with the land and waterways in CHB.

Prior to the Supreme Court's decision, was the review of the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme. Probably prompted by the release of the "extreme" pollution levels at Maharakeke, Hatuma and Takapau areas, it was conceded in the review that another five areas of "extreme concern" existed within the footprint of the proposed irrigated land that would occur if the dam project were to go ahead.

When are we to know where these areas are and how many hectares do we add to the 15,800 that have already been published ?

The acknowledgement that these areas of land existed, prompted the Hawkes Bay Regional Council to change the parameters of the Farmers Environmental Management Plans. Well done to the HBRC for that decision, and great to see that finally it's environment first.

Back when the RWSS was put forward, it was known by proponents of the dam that the DoC land swap was necessary, and that the extreme pollution levels existed and that irrigation on the land would make matters worse. But they chose to suppress the information hoping that the euphoria around the project would see it through, regardless of the major downsides.

Clearly if the pollution problems on the land and waterways was put into perspective 6 years ago, the RWSS would never have got this far and wasted a hell of lot of time and money.

The monetary side of the dam also seems to have been forgotten, for newspaper articles of late state the cost of the dam to be around $330 million. Sorry, the overall project cost is estimated at $950m, and with deconstruction of the dam in 70 years being another $330m then the cost becomes $1.28 billion.

Those currently griping about the probable death of the dam and the "tragedy" that they "see" are not looking in the right direction. It will take decades to clean up the environment we are already living with, cleaning up this problem is where the focus needs to be.

A great start would be the HBRC dismantling HBRIC for it is not required, and the new River First initiative should also go. Put the money into more Regional Council staff and get on with implementing Plan Change 6 to its fullest extent. That plan is our major protection for years to come.

Those who are in positions of influence and are still promoting the RWSS should get their heads out of the sand and find out what needs to be done to salvage the "clean green" image of Central Hawkes Bay.

Charlie Hutchison is a retired farmer living in Central Hawke's Bay.