MEDIA RELEASE
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9 September 2008
Farmers say no to transmission line proposal
Transpower’s proposed transmission line between Whakamaru and Auckland will result in significant and unnecessary
adverse effects on the environment, Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson said today.
Mr Nicolson was presenting Federated Farmers’ submission to the Board of Inquiry appointed to hear Transpower’s
proposal. Waikato president, Stew Wadey and Auckland Federated Farmers representative, John Sexton were also present.
“The impact on rural landscapes is huge. Many farmers along the route of the line will lose production,” said Mr
Nicolson.
“More particularly, many farmers will find future production opportunities are curtailed. Transpower is not offering any
compensation for ongoing production losses.”
Waikato president Stew Wadey said that Transpower had not given adequate consideration to alternative routes, sites and
methods of achieving its objective of ensuring the continued security and certainty of electricity supply to Auckland,
Northland and parts of the Coromandel and Waikato.
“Transpower has not looked at whether the impact on farm production might be less if the transmission line was to follow
other possible routes,” Mr Wadey said.
“Neither has Transpower properly considered the option it has of commissioning generation close to the point of
consumption in Auckland.”
Auckland representative for Federated Farmers, John Sexton, a farmer whose farm is in the path of the proposed
transmission line, said the consultation that Transpower has undertaken has been inadequate, particularly given the
scale of the project
“The restrictions and conditions placed on private landowners by the designations sought are unreasonable,” Mr Sexton
said.
Mr Nicolson said overall, the adverse effects of Transpower’s proposal on local and private interests are significant
and greater than any national benefit it might bring. Mr Nicolson called on the Board of Inquiry to decline Transpower’s
proposal.
ends