The Waitaki Protection Trust has added its name to the list of appeals at the Environment Court opposing a power scheme Meridian Energy wants to build on the lower Waitaki River.
It brings to five the number of appeals lodged against the granting of four water-only resource consents for Meridian to take up to 260cumecs from the lower Waitaki River for its proposed $900 million north bank tunnel power scheme.
Late last year, Environment Canterbury (ECan) granted resource consents for the scheme - a 34km long tunnel between the Waitaki dam and Stonewall with one powerhouse generating between 1100 and 1400GWh a year of electricity a year, enough for up to about 180,000 homes.
ECan's final decision on the consents was made on December 19, giving parties until Friday to file appeals with the Environment Court.
By that deadline, the court had received appeals from Ngai Tahu, Ngati Mamoe Fisher People, the Lower Waitaki River Management Society and Black Point farmer Garth Dovey.
The appeal from the Waitaki Protection Trust was received on Monday.
The trust said it did not receive the decision until January 12, giving it until then to file.
A pre-hearing conference to consider the appeals has been set down for March 13 in Oamaru before Judge Jon Jackson at the Kingsgate Hotel Brydone.
That hearing will consider the appeals and whether mediation can settle them.
It will also look at a timetable for presentation of evidence and a possible date for a formal hearing, if that is needed.
Meridian applied for the water-only consents in October 2006, and an ECan panel of three commissioners heard those in Timaru in 2007 and in Christchurch last year.
Apart from the water-only consents, Meridian will have to apply to the Waimate District Council for land use consents to build and operate the scheme.
Meridian has yet to make a formal decision on whether it should build the scheme - that would be based on an economic assessment.
It estimated that, if the scheme was built, it could be completed by 2020.
