New water regulations mean a Project Hayes-type proposal will not be able to go ahead in the future, Meridian Energy consultant planner John Kyle says.
Meridian, Contact Energy and TrustPower presented their concerns in Dunedin yesterday about the impact of the Otago Regional Council's water plan change 6A on energy generation.
Mr Kyle said the implications of the plan change were more far-reaching than just the intended diffuse rural discharges and would adversely affect a significant number of legitimate activities in Otago.
The proposed prohibited activity rule preventing sediment discharge unless an effort had been made to stop it was too "black and white" and not feasible, he said.
His interpretation of that rule meant, for example, a wind farm project such as the now withdrawn Project Hayes would be prohibited.
The rule should be deleted, as there was doubt any construction or earthwork activity that used measures to manage sediment run-off would be able to meet the requirements of the rule, he said.
TrustPower counsel Lara Burkhardt said TrustPower opposed the plan change, as the company might be "significantly and adversely affected" by it.
The company was concerned about where hydro-electric power generation fitted into the plan change, as it was not clear under what rules its discharges came, she said.
"Despite this, the plan change provisions will continue to apply to TrustPower until the provisions are remedied by way of a plan change at a future unspecified date."
It was not appropriate that the existing permitted discharge rules for hydro-electricity be removed, she said.
TrustPower resource management consultant Claire Hunter said it was unclear whether the removal of those rules would mean TrustPower might have to obtain new consents.
"It would be inappropriate, in my view, if the ability to undertake or consent damming and hydro-electric operations was to be impeded by polluting land-use activities that are undertaken upstream."
She called for the rules providing for operational discharges from dams or hydro-electric generation be reinstated as permitted activities.
It was also concerned about the rules about sediment run-off and contaminant discharge affecting its maintenance work, she said.
Contact Energy counsel Trevor Robinson said Contact was also concerned about the lack of clarity and explanation as to where hydro-electric generation facilities fitted into the plan and therefore which policies and rules applied to its discharges.
If the discharges fell within prohibited activity rules, it could mean the entire Clutha hydro-electric system would be reliant on a future plan change to enable resource consents to be lodged, as discharges from Contact's structures resulted in, among other things, erosion downstream.
"This is not a comfortable position for Contact to be in."
Contact also undertook activities in beds of lakes and rivers that were beneficial to the community, such as flood mitigation, despite potential adverse effects on water quality.
Contact environmental adviser Daniel Druce said while testing had shown nitrite-nitrate nitrogen concentrations were within the plan guidelines throughout the Clutha catchment, it appeared that without a significant reduction in dissolved reactive phosphorous inputs above the Clyde and Roxburgh dams, "Contact's non-compliance with those limits is inevitable".
The hearing continues in Balclutha tomorrow.
Day 5
Where: Dunedin.
Panel: Crs Duncan Butcher (chairman), David Shepherd and independent member Clive Geddes.
Proposal: Changes to Otago's water regulations to prevent run-off in rural areas polluting the region's waterways.
Submitters: James Macdonald Mount Gowrie Station, Meridian Energy consents manager Christine Thomson and consultant planner John Kyle, TrustPower Ltd counsel Lara Burkhardt, environmental adviser Laura Marra, resource management consultant Claire Hunter, Contact Energy counsel Trevor Robinson, environmental adviser Daniel Druce.
Quote of day: "I'd suggest whoever has gone into a dark room to draft this has not got it right. I've not seen a reaction to a plan change quite so viscerous [sic]." - John Kyle
