Environment Minister Nick Smith's decision to call-in the Turitea Wind Farm proposal is being questioned after official documents revealed the proposal failed to meet most of the criteria. In December last year, Dr Smith called-in Mighty River Power's consent application because it was "nationally significant".

Environment Minister Nick Smith's decision to call-in the Turitea Wind Farm proposal is being questioned after official documents revealed the proposal failed to meet most of the criteria.

In December last year, Dr Smith called-in Mighty River Power's consent application because it was "nationally significant".

But information obtained by the Manawatu Standard under the Official Information Act undermines Dr Smith's reasoning.

The documents reveal the Kyoto Protocol was used to justify the call-in of the Turitea Wind Farm after it failed to meet other national significance criteria. And Dr Smith said the decision to call-in the application was "consistent" with changes he plans to make to the Resource Management Act.

The documents include a list of criteria for national significance, with an Environment Ministry staff assessment of how the Turitea project rates.

The breakdown was given to Dr Smith before he made his decision, and shows the project fits only two of the eight criteria: that it is in more than one district, and it is "likely to affect, or is relevant to New Zealand's international obligations to the global environment".

In most other categories staff judged the Turitea Wind Farm to be locally but not nationally significant.

Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor said the ministry's report reinforced what the council had argued since the call-in issue was first raised it was a local issue that should be decided locally.

"The Ministry for the Environment staff, in that report, are merely confirming what we've been saying all along."

The decision to call the project in was a political one, motivated by the National Government's push to change the RMA, he said.

"I don't question for a moment that we are the guinea pigs for this process.

"The new government ... has said before the election they were going to bring legislative changes to the Resource Management Act. This was an opportunity for them to try out their new process."

Dr Smith is out of the country and was unable to be contacted yesterday.

But, in a memorandum to Cabinet informing it of his intention to call-in the project, he said the decision was motivated by the RMA changes.

"The call-in is consistent with my intention to amend the RMA to provide for priority consents for larger-scale infrastructure."

A spokesman for Dr Smith said call-ins were at the minister's discretion, and only he could explain his decision-making process.

Web link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/2360...