KEY POINTS:
Genesis Energy's plan to build a gas-fired power station north-west of Auckland reaches a major milestone today nearly two years after it was mooted.
It's the step where bundles of information on the station's possible impact on rural communities pass from the desks of engineers, scientists and council officials into the public domain.
Rodney District Council is to meet this morning over the state-owned generator's application to establish a special zone for a station with a 240 megawatt capacity that may grow to 480 MW.
Residents of the Helensville-Kaukapakapa area say they will attend because they are unhappy about a plant that burns fossil fuels going there and a lack of facts about its effects.
Today, councillors do not need to vote on whether they support the proposed station on a 48ha site near State Highway 16.
But they must decide whether Genesis Energy has given enough information for its planning request to be publicly notified.
Senior council officers reckon it has, though they expect further technical information.
They recommend the council hire five independent commissioners to hear the company's case and what people think of it, and then say whether the council should approve it.
The public hearing will consider the company's request for a private plan change to the district plan to create a spot zone for the station between Helensville and Kaukapakapa.
Officers recommend that the hearing also deals with resource consents needed from both the district council and the Auckland Regional Council.
Rodney's consents would cover construction and the ARC's ones would include taking water, disposal of stormwater and trade waste and air discharges.
Genesis Energy spokesman Richard Gordon said yesterday it could take months to get all the planning and resource consents and then two years to build the station.
"Building the station is not a given. If we get consents, then the board of Genesis will consider a business case for the station taking in capital cost, gas supply and electricity price path, before making the final investment decision."
He said residents should support the station because it would improve security of supply in an area which had problems with power cuts and where power demand was growing by 4 to 5 per cent annually.
Mr Gordon said the company was trying to reach a commercial agreement with the district council where it would help upgrade Helensville's waste water treatment in return for re-use of treated effluent for cooling the gas turbines. That prospect of financial benefit, officers say, means that councillors must leave it to independent commissioners to consider submissions on the development.
If the plan to use the town's recycled water is called off, the station has a Plan B - to draw from the Kaukapakapa River.
This means building a 26m intake jetty structure. Kaukapakapa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Neville Miller said he was unhappy about the possibility of any impediment to the river's frequent flood flows.
Resident Pip McAlwee said the council gave little notice of the meeting. "Why the rush to debate an application, the content of which is yet to be made available to the public?"
Judi Candy, of Residents' Action Group for the Environment Society, said there was concern that the matter would be taken out of the council's hands and the Government asked to fast-track the project - without the public having a say.
