KEY POINTS:
Rodney District Council has refused to process an application for an electricity-generating plant in north-west Auckland. It says it is a job for the Government.
The council was yesterday asked to publicly notify Genesis Energy's bid to have a special zone for a gas-fired station in the countryside midway between Helensville and Kaukapakapa.
Before the meeting, 20 people, including Green MP Keith Locke, protested against the idea of a power station burning fossil fuels, saying they preferred wind farms and tidal power generators.
Councillors considered a staff report which said Genesis had supplied enough information to trigger a process where the council would call for public views on planning and resource consents sought for the station.
These would be heard by a panel of independent commissioners who would present recommendations to the council based on its findings.
However, councillors ignored the urging of Mayor John Law to "have the guts to make a decision rather than let someone else make it".
They voted to seek a ministerial "call-in"of the application because it was of national rather than local importance.
The Resource Management Act allows the minister to call in a project by directing that the matter be referred to either a board of inquiry or the Environment Court to decide, instead of the relevant local or regional councils, though councils and the public could make submissions.
Early this month the Environment Minister announced a call-in of Transpower's application for a new electricity transmission line from South Waikato to Auckland.
That proposal affects more than one region or district - crossing the jurisdiction of two regional, one city and six district councils.
Rodney councillors reckon the effects of the Genesis station plan go beyond the district boundaries.
Councillor Colin MacGillivray started the move for a ministerial call-in. He told the Herald: "I want the council to confront the ministers and say: "This is your baby, not ours."
He said he was frustrated at the number of council hearings of plans where the decision was appealed against to the Environment Court and the judge decided. "So, the so-called local input is not local at all."
Mr MacGillivray said a minister-appointed board of inquiry would be vigorous and get the process done more quickly and cheaply.
Councillor Bill Smith said Genesis had given an "unbelievable"estimate for carbon dioxide emissions from the station.
This was between 0.76 million and 1.74 million tonnes - between 1 per cent and 2.3 per cent of the country's total annual greenhouse gas emissions, including transport and agriculture.
Council chief executive Vijaya Vaidyanath said she expected to know within a week whether the minister would agree to call in the application.
Genesis Energy spokesman Richard Gordon said the state-owned generator expected to put its application to a public hearing, regardless of who arranged it.
Mr Locke said he hoped the Government would respond with a clear message that it was serious about fighting climate change and that a gas-fired station would not do.
Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) chief executive Alasdair Thompson said Rodney could fairly claim that the project's importance went beyond its borders, because it would secure Auckland and Northland's power supply.
"[However] a call-in is more appropriate for something on a much bigger scale, with much more of a controversial flow-on effect.
"It's not coal-fired or nuclear-powered, nor does it dam a big river and upset the trout."
The Environment Minister refused a call-in for Mighty River Power's aborted plan to refire the Marsden Point B power station with coal. But the minister agreed to in the case of the Stratford power station in the 1990s and Project Aqua in the Waitaki River, North Otago, which was later axed by Meridian Energy.
