Lengthy Hearing Over Wind Farm
AN ENVIRONMENT COURT hearing into a $1.5 billion wind farm proposal for Otago will take up to six weeks and involve about 80 witnesses.
The court convened in Alexandra yesterday for a pre-hearing conference into state power company Meridian’s controversial Project Hayes wind farm, which would see 176 turbines, each 160m tall, on the Lammermoor Range, 30km south of Ranfurly.
The Central Otago District Council and the Otago Regional Council issued a resource consent to Meridian in October for the proposed wind farm, said to be the biggest in the world, a decision which was appealed to the Environment Court.
Twenty-four lawyers, planners and representatives appeared yesterday and registered their intention to call between 78 and 81 witnesses, according to a count by Central Otago District Council lawyer Graeme Todd.
Environment Court Judge Jon Jackson, who will sit with three commissioners, discarded an initial plan to sit for three weeks from mid-May, settling on two weeks from May 19 and four weeks between July 28 and August 29.
Dates for exchanging evidence were framed to avoid a possible conflict with an earlier appeal into Trustpower’s proposed wind farm near Lake Mahinerangi.
Meridian counsel Andrew Beatson said the company had not expected as many witnesses, to which Judge Jackson replied: “A lot of them are yours.” Meridian intends to call 30 witnesses, including six on ecological matters and five to deal with the project’s benefits, with the Crown calling two expert witnesses on the latter.
Transpower and the Electricity Commission will be asked to provide expert evidence about the capacity of the grid and power transmission.
On the topic of noise and amenities, Judge Jackson asked if the Central Otago District Council intended to provide expert evidence.
“Surely people who live in a remote area of the Maniototo are entitled to some use of public money,” Judge Jackson said. — Fairfax (Christchurch)
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