COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL MANAPOURI PROBLEMS SEEN, BUT NO REAL ANSWER GIVEN

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32634, 16 June 1971, Page 16

COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL MANAPOURI PROBLEMS SEEN, BUT NO REAL ANSWER GIVEN

(By

C. R. MENTIPLAY

our Parliamentary reporter)

WELLINGTON, June 15.—The five-hour debate which accompanied the tabling of the Parliamentary Select Committee’s report on the six Manapouri petitions had the effect last Wednesday of highlighting the problems without providing any real answers.

If the object was to retain Lake Manapouri at its present level, and so prevent the destruction of native bush and scenic quality, no guarantee has been extracted that this will be done.

There is no real assurance that more than time has been bought for the threatened areas; and there is no obligation on the part of the Government to accept the committee's recommendation that the petitions be given "favourable consideration.”

Short report The report of the committee was incredibly short, considering the length of some other official documents. It took up about half of one side of quarto paper, single-spaced, most of which was devoted to listing the six petitions examined. Apart from the “favourable” recommendation (which is not as strong as the “most favourable” verdict the committee was empowered to give), the report added three short clauses: a. Any dam construction at Mararoa to control the level of Lake Manapouri should be constructed so as to ensure that at this stage the lake should not be raised above its natural level. b. The Mararoa dam should be constructed so as to permit if necessary in the future the raising of the lake beyond its natural level. c \ny provision for the raising of file lake above natural levels in the future should not be undertaken without the authority of Parliament. This is a victory for the conservationists only in the sense that it is not a defeat. The lake level will be preserved only if other means fail to deliver the required amount of electricity to Comalco. There is no possibility that the Government will regard the committee’s recommendation as sufficiently strong to justify the breaking or even the “bending” of the agreement. The way ahead

Some time must elapse before Government action (if any) is decided upon. In the meantime, the aluminiumproducing plant at Tiwai Point (Southland) is already working up to full production. Eighteen "pots” are already in operation, and 24 more will come into production shortly. By the end of the year the plant will have reached its capacity. The report appears to be based on a course recommended by the Nature Conservation Council, the object of which body is as its name states, and which obviously has not been unduly concerned with engineering problems or solutions. The recommendations have already had considerable study, and more discussions with Comalco are inevitable. The Government also has the report of the Commission of Inquiry beside it. This states that “the Crown is contractually bound to Comalco to raise the level of Lake Manapouri to 610 feet or possibly (dependent on current engineering investigations) to 620 feet” High-level discussions with Comalco officials have already established that the company expects the Government to fulfil the terms of its agreement, and that it is reluctant to accept power from any other source. The company has made an enormous commitment based entirely on the New,Zealand Government guarantee to provide massive cheap power. The success or failure of the enterprise on the ■ international market literally depends on the minutest variation in the cost of electrical units used in the process.

Lake levels There must still be discussions to resolve the question of the ultimate lake-

level. The above sea-level r height mentioned by the committee is 583 feet “with ■ provision to go to a level of 610 feet if, after actual ' operations for some considerable time, it is proved that sufficient power cannot be generated or supplied from alternative schemes at a reasonable price.” But the contractual level is 610 feet, and the company still has the right to call for 620 feet. A mass of information relating to foundation conditions, alternative designs and shore line treatment has just reached the company. It is understood that this includes computer studies on relative power outputs. The viability of the several alternatives open will determine what course will be taken. To this the Select Committee has added what the Minister of Works (Mr Allen) has already dubbed the “hybrid” dam high enough to hold the lake at its present level; strong enough to be raised 37 feet, if this is eventually required. These are only some of the details to be worked out Many others, including the fate of the larger Lake Te Anau, have yet to be mentioned. But the grounds for claiming that at this stage anybody has won any battle seem a little inadequate.

Relevant factors Several points, apt to be lost in the emotionalism of the “Save Manapouri” type of appeal, should be remembered by all parties in the continuing argument. CHEAP POWER, or the promise of it, was the only reason why Comalco came to New Zealand from Weipa, in Queensland. The production of one ton of aluminium requires 17,000 kilowatt hours of electricity 5,000 million kilowatt hours for an annual production of 300,000 tons. The product is designed for the competitive international market (which alone makes it profitable to transfer the raw material 1500 miles to the power-source). An increase of 0.1 per cent in the cost of a unit of electricity would increase the production cost of aluminium by $l7 a ton. COMALCO WAS INVITED originally to look over the Te Anau-Manapouri complex as a power-source. It was

not the first company to be so invited by New Zealand Governments seeking development in the South. This invitation was extended in October, 1959, by the then Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr P. N. Holloway). This led to the first (1960) agreement ratified by the then Labour Government without division. THE GOVERNMENT

PLEDGED itself to build the power scheme when Comalco failed to raise sufficient capital to do so. On its part, Comalco pledged itself to establish the aluminium smelter near Bluff. The then National Party Government presented this agreement to Parliament in 1963, and it was ratified once more without division. NO OPPOSITION to the scheme in any force was expressed until nine years after the raising of the lake was first authorised by Parliament There were some isolated comments, but these were small and desultory, considering that both agreements were made with the full knowledge and consent of Parliament Both the 1960 and 1963 agreements were made in the full light of nation-wide publicity. Both agreements, and their amendments, have remained in plain view ever since.

Construction on the Manapouri power scheme began in 1963. It was a special scheme from the outset designed specifically for the smelter and linked by duplicated transmission lines to Tiwa Point. A mistake?

If a mistake has been made, both political parties may claim that their first thought was for the better development of New Zealand. and particularly of the southland.

If a mistake has not been made, then a great deal of non-electric heat has been generated to no avail—and possibly some real damage has been done to future New Zealand relations with international ventures.

But in any case, after nearly 12 years, and with the Weipa-Manapouri-Tiwai Point venture at productionpoint, it seems a little disingenuous for politicians to claim that the game is “back at square one.”