Christopher Luxon wants more dams. It’s an admirable goal, but belies the fact that it usually requires other people’s money to do it and so, like the zombie apocalypse, the undead of socialism rise again to stalk the land.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wants to remove “red tape” preventing large-scale water storage projects from being built in Hawke’s Bay, and nationally.
Speaking to Hawke’s Bay Today, Luxon said dams were “absolutely critical” to ensuring land was productive and his coalition Government was united on their importance.
“We have an abundance of water that is desperately needed in different place.
“And when you think about how it can help transform regions or make land use more productive, that’s all good for us because it means we’re enlarging our economy.
“And when we enlarge our economy, we get higher wages and salaries for regular Kiwis and that’s what it’s got to be all about.
“So we’re very pro water storage.”
Luxon said dams were “key pieces of infrastructure” and the need for them was part of the reason the Government had repealed the Resource Management Act before Christmas.
“We think it gives local resilience, enables more productivity, all of that stuff.
“We want to consent and make those things much easier to achieve and to do.”
NZ Herald
That’s nice Chris. But the last dam project was illegal and the ratbag socialists who proposed it have risen from the dead to start pushing for it all over again.
Hawke’s Bay’s last bid for large-scale water storage, a project known as the Ruataniwha Dam, was stopped in the Supreme Court.
The court ruled the then-minister of conservation acted illegally by trying to make 22 hectares of Department of Conservation land in the Ruahine Forest Park available for exchange to Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company Ltd (HBRIC) for the $330-million dam project.
Even before the ruling, the dam, and the question of who would benefit from it, caused deep divisions in the region.
The Makaroro Storage Scheme has since been revived from the ghost of the Ruataniwha Dam.
It is the brainchild of Water Holdings Hawke’s Bay, a private group that purchased the Ruataniwha Dam consents from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
The group says its dam would store 105 million cubic metres of water and ensure a minimum environmental flow runs through the river to preserve its ecosystem even during the dry season.
The consents expire in 2025 and the group is pursuing the support of an MP for a local member’s bill that can help it work around the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd expressed support for water storage in her first speech to Parliament, noting it was one of her priorities for the term.
NZ Herald
Brainchild? More like an undead zombie socialist.
So, Catherine Wedd, when she isn’t bullying constituents or annoying local councils, now wants to change the law to allow an illegal dam…interesting approach to her job. I guess she can be said to be leading with her ‘Chin’.
Christopher Luxon may want to build dams across the country but what he must not do is ride rough-shod over our laws and regulations to do it.
The big problem these socialist bludgers have is that none of the local councils have any money to pour into this folly so they’ll have to go cap in hand to Shane Jones, as he is the minister who has the money and I doubt if he will entertain funding such a dog of a project that can’t even wash its face.
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