The tragedy is that more of these dams are planned around the country - the Wairarapa Water Use Project is already in progress. This shows that the functions of regional councils in NZ are in the process of being usurped by the intensive farming lobby.
Dr Brown states that "regional councils have primary responsibility under the Resource Management Act to protect and manage freshwater ecosystems". Can we say this about our regional council considering the dam debacle and their opposition to last year's Ngaruroro Water Conservation Order application?
It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, considering the HBRC is the major promoter of the recently launched Hawke's Bay Biodiversity Strategy. It underscores what's written in May/June's BayBuzz magazine, that the HBRC through HBRIC and subsidiary companies has become the fox guarding the hen-house. There is a crisis of confidence in the HBRC, for which councillors Wilson, Pipe, Dick, Hewitt and Scott must bear primary responsibility.
The council's goals say it all - a prosperous region, a vibrant community, and a clean and healthy environment, in that order. This clearly conflicts with its responsibilities under the RMA, and shows again that its priority is prosperity and profit first, with a healthy environment last.
What's more, the loss of native bush for irrigation dams will increasingly impact on NZ's reputation as a clean, green country, adding to our abysmal record on climate change. More than 85 per cent of NZ's original native forest cover has either been burnt or cleared since man first arrived here, and it's still continuing. Why is it still acceptable? When does it stop?
Regarding the ethics of building dams, Shaun Barnett, writing in the FMC Bulletin of August 2008, speaks to the then-proposed Mokihinui hydro dam. What he said has relevance to our situation: "We can't continue to make bloated demands that are beyond the Earth's capacity to meet. It is time for restraint, for energy efficiency and for saying no." I agree, and say it's time for Hawke's Bay ratepayers to confront the HBRC and HBRIC with a resounding "no" to the Ruataniwha Dam.
It is time we turned the tide from environmental exploitation to restoration and conservation, for the sake of future generations.
Environmentally, scientifically, economically and morally the dam does not stack up. Yes, it's cost $16 million so far, but how much more will it cost in the long term if we let it go ahead? Vastly more, arguably, mostly for environmental cleanups as evidenced with Lakes Taupo and Rotorua, where tens of millions are being spent to mitigate nutrient leaching into the lakes. To clean up the Waikato River alone will cost an estimated $7 to $8 billion. And how does one put a value on our precious wildlife taonga? Once they're extinct, they're gone forever. And it will happen, if we let it.
- Dan Elderkamp is a past co-chairman of CHB Forest & Bird.
- Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
