Anglers, Kayakers & Gollum Vs. Pioneer in the Environment Court

Well, finally the decision in the Environment Court looms, deciding the outcome of Pioneer Generation's bid to dam the Nevis River. This week, the recreational users get their days in court. The reference to Gollum relates to a small native Galaxid fish, native only to the Nevis. Its presence, and the fact that it is both rare and distinctive, led the High Court to allow the Environment Court hearing.

Hydro is an easy power generation option in NZ - we are blessed with an abundance of water. Hydro power is relatively sustainable and in terms of CAPEX relatively cheap. What's not in abundance however (despite what films such as Lord Of The Rings show) is almost untouched wilderness area. What's also hard to understand about Pioneer's stance is that there is currently no shortage of power generation in NZ... if the general populace were to take measures around being more efficient with their consumption we in effect would have a massive generation surplus. This is not life and death stuff at all as far as humanity is concerned; for the environment and Gollum it is though.

Check these (borrowed) images out.



Image credit: Peter Sundstrom: http://www.flickr.com/photos/psundstrom/



Image credit: Oreti River House

This is a truly stunning part of the world, and neither divine influence or the hand of man is creating more truly stunning wilderness areas.

Most anglers try to keep their spots secret or at least hush hush. Bizarrely enough, in this case, the more anglers and other recreational users who avail themselves of the river the better - recreational value is pretty much a coefficient of the amount of use. (I feel a trip coming on).

We need to stop taking the easy options in this country. I truly hope that the Environment Court makes the right decision and kills this thing (the dam, not Gollum) dead.