Greens urge RMA scrutiny of gas plant

As the deadline looms for a massive gas-fired power plant to be deemed a project of national significance, the Greens are accusing the Government of abandoning its responsibilities on climate change.

The Government has until tomorrow to ‘‘call in’’ a proposed 360-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Waikato, so that it can be subject to national consultation. The proposal is now being considered for resource consent at a local government level.

But while Greens energy and resources spokesman Gareth Hughes said its effects on climate change should be considered under the Resource Management Act (RMA), Environment Minister Nick Smith has fired back calling their position ‘‘mischievous’’.

Nova Energy lodged a land use consent application in September to build the station about 10 kilometres north of Otorohanga.

The site has been proposed as a peak site – to generate power in times where there was insufficient wind or hydro power being generated to keep up with demand.

‘‘This is a substantial project; 360 megawatts, that could release 425,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions,’’ Hughes said.

Those emissions were primarily in the form of carbon dioxide. ‘‘So it’s ridiculous that the Resource Management Act can’t consider climate change. This is the only opportunity that we can even think about the greenhouse gas emissions and I’d be urging Nick Smith to reconsider his position, because it’s out of touch with reality in 2016,’’ Hughes said.

Smith said carbon dioxide emissions were specifically excluded for consideration under the RMA, ‘‘ironically by the Clark Government, with the support of the Greens’’.

‘‘Now that provision was tested by Greenpeace all the way to the Supreme Court, and the court upheld the view that carbon dioxide emissions was not a relevant consideration. Now to be fair to the Clark government, the justification for removing CO2 out of the RMA was that it’s dealt with in the Climate Change Act.’’

It was through the Emissions Trading Scheme that those considerations were dealt with, Smith said. ‘‘So the Greens are being a bit mischievous in suggesting that the Nova Energy gas turbine station proposal is of any major significance over the RMA.’’