Fitzsimons Jeanette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Fitzsimons Jeanette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:608;Page:5176] 
6.  
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: Why has she conferred the power to compulsorily acquire land to Meridian Energy for Project Aqua when Meridian stated in April 2001 that land purchases would be on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Acting Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 The Minister has not conferred upon Meridian Energy the power to compulsorily acquire land. The Minister has instead granted Meridian Energy requiring authority status. Before any compulsory acquisition could occur Meridian must apply to the Minister for Land Information to have that Minister compulsorily acquire land if any affected by the designation under the Public Works Act of 1981. 
David Parker 
: As a requiring authority will Meridian Energy still have to apply to regional councils for resource consents? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: It most certainly will. Resource consents are still needed for all matters that fall within the control of relevant regional councils such as the taking of water and approval for any discharges that might be required. Those consents will also go through the normal assessment processes including public notification hearings and rights to appeal. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Can the Minister explain to the House the contradiction of supporting the giving of the power for compulsory acquisition of land from private landowners to the requiring authority for Project Aqua while point-blank refusing to consider the use of 5 percent of one of hundreds of reserves on the West Coast for the TrustPower hydro scheme or are this Government’s priorities so perverted that the taking of land from private citizens is considered of lesser importance than using land that is—in the department’s own words—an area of little conservation value? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The conferring of requiring authority status followed an earlier decision of according Meridian Energy the status—if I remember the language correctly—of network utility operator. That decision is based almost entirely on the geography of Project Aqua and nothing else. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Given that the application to the Minister for Land Information is merely a technicality and will not be refused can the Minister explain why there has been a change of policy from Meridian Energy being perfectly willing to buy land from willing sellers at a price agreed by negotiation to the Government now being prepared to grant Meridian the power to override that unwilling seller and acquire land compulsorily once it has been through this next technical step? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I do not have responsibility for Meridian’s statements. However in its latest statement in the  
Otago Daily Times 
 this morning Meridian’s preferred option was still to negotiate a settlement for the land needed for the proposed scheme. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Have any studies been done for either Minister on how much energy-efficiency solar and wind generation the $1.2 billion to be spent on Project Aqua could buy between now and 2008 when Project Aqua may come on stream; if not how can it be claimed that that promotes sustainable management? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The Minister for the Environment has not undertaken any such study as far as I am aware. However the Minister of Energy has and the long and short of it is that Project Aqua is cheaper than almost any other form of generation available to this country. The reason it has not gone ahead until now is simply that the engineering solution had not been worked out as well as it has now been done.