Planners ‘exaggerate’

Press, 28 August 1982, Page 11

Planners ‘exaggerate’

PA Auckland An environmental group has accused power planners in the Ministry of Works and Development of “consistently exaggerating” their predictions of electricity consumption in order to justify hydro development projects. The executive officer of the Environmental Defence Society, Mr Gary Taylor, said that “the planners have consistently exaggerated their forecasts of electricity load growth to justify unnecessary hydro projects. “These people have a

vested interest in developing dams on rivers — that is their job,” he said. “They have pursued that objective blinkered to the wider implications of their actions.” Mr Taylor was replying to criticism' of the environmental movement by the principal power investigating engineer of the Ministry, Mr G. G. Natusch. Mr Natusch had said that national patience was wearing thin with environmental groups which had frustrated hydro-electric orojects by delaying tactics.

Mr Taylor said, “The -eason for his attack is clearly because the environmental movement has consistently pointed out the errors in the power planners’ assumptions.” The Clyde dam was a prime example, he said. “When their planning forecasts were put to the test by the Planning Tribunal, the need they asserted for the dam was shown to be a fiction. ■ “There is no need for electricity from the Clyde dam and there will not be a need for some years yet.”