KEY POINTS:
A power company that has the go-ahead to build an Otago wind farm says payments to the Department of Conservation are a pragmatic way of getting projects moving.
TrustPower says it will pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to the department to help set up a visitor centre near its Mahinerangi wind farm, when it goes ahead.
Yesterday, taxpayer-owned Meridian's $175,000 payment to DoC in return for taking a neutral stance on the $2 billion Project Hayes prompted questions from politicians and opponents of the project.
The department's director-general, Al Morrison, said it was incorrect to suggest DoC accepted money in a secret deal to remain quiet over the wind farm, which is still before the Environment Court.
"It is no secret that we have negotiated directly with Meridian Energy to resolve local conservation issues - we publicly released the details of the agreement in July 2007," Mr Morrison said.
The department had concerns about the impact of the proposal on water quality, some bird and plant species and access to neighbouring conservation land.
Money set aside from Meridian would pay for improvements to public access to nearby conservation land.
Meridian was also required to deal with DoC's concerns over impact on water quality and native fish.
Meridian spokeswoman Claire Shaw early yesterday said the state-owned enterprise could not comment on the deal because the resource consent application was still before the Environment Court. However, yesterday afternoon she said the deal had twice been publicly disclosed during the consent hearings and was part of normal mitigation process.
Prime Minister John Key said it was "totally legitimate" for Meridian Energy to give DoC money, if the payment was made to offset the environmental impacts of a wind farm.
But it would not be acceptable if payments were made to any Government department to keep quiet about their concerns. Mr Key said DoC had been asked for a full report.
"I'm not opposed to agencies accepting money in the way that DoC has if it is offsetting environmental impacts," Mr Key said.
"It is not acceptable for a Government agency to accept hush money."
TrustPower spokesman Graeme Purches said his company had agreed to pay DoC a sum "in the low five figures" every year for a decade for a visitor centre near its Mahinerangi proposal and do some earthworks to improve access to a conservation reserve.
"It's well publicised, DoC doesn't have the money to do this sort of stuff. If we give them the opportunity to do what they would otherwise do then I don't think that's a bad thing... it's a good thing," Mr Purches said.
"It's a sensible pragmatic approach where everybody wins."
The economics of building wind farms were now likely to delay most big projects with the exchange rate pushing up the cost of imported equipment and the cost of upgrading the inter-island power link falling on new power stations in the South Island.
Contact Energy is seeking permission to build wind farms in Hawkes Bay and near Raglan. A spokesman said the company worked closely with DoC in all its projects.
Conservation Minister Tim Groser told Radio New Zealand yesterday that the Government would reserve its position until it had all the facts.
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the issue of bartering over developments was not new, and was an ongoing saga of development and conservation clashing.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: NZPA
