11. NICKY WAGNER (National) Link to this
to the Minister for the Environment
Has the Environmental Protection Authority received any resource consent applications under the new national consenting process provided for in the 2009 amendments to the Resource Management Act?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment) Link to this
Yes. The first application has been received, from Contact Energy for its Touhara 2 240-megawatt geothermal power plant. The proposal is nationally significant and would provide power for 180,000 homes, or the equivalent of a city the size of Wellington. The application has been referred to a board of inquiry to be chaired by Environment Court judge Gordon Whiting and to include four other commissioners with relevant skills in geology, geothermal power, the environment, and tikanga Māori.
What are the key differences in the process for considering that project as compared with the process prior to the Government’s amendments?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH Link to this
The first difference is that the application was made directly to the new Environmental Protection Authority, rather than it going to a regional or territorial authority and being called in. Secondly, the application must be dealt with in a timely way, so that decisions are made within 9 months of the public notification. The third key change is that with the board of inquiry process the appeal rights are quite limited. The Government’s objective is to do these major projects once and to do them properly, rather than seeing the years of litigation that have been so typical of major projects of this sort.
Hon Dr NICK SMITH Link to this
It is an objective of this Government to reverse the trend of the last decade in seeing a reduction in the proportion of renewable electricity. The changes we made to the Resource Management Act last year are part of that strategy, and this year we will also be advancing a national policy statement on renewable electricity, to facilitate sensible, viable developments.