Some owners close bores voluntarily

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 6

Some owners close bores voluntarily

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

People in Rotorua are changing their attitude towards the closing down of geothermal bores to save the Whakarewarewa geysers, according to the Minister of Energy, Mr Tizard. He is now confident that most people in Rotorua support the Government’s actions and oppose efforts by the Rotorua Bore Owners’ Association to fight the closing through legal action.

“Most people in the area consider the association is speaking for a wealthy minority,” Mr Tizard said.

As evidence of this, during the last fortnight there had been a steady increase in the number of applications for bore licences and voluntary offers to close bores. This was because of a growing recognition of both the need for action to save the resource, plus the futility and selfinterest of the Bore Owners’ Association in op-

posing the plan, he said. There had been 600 applications for licences so far, most of them received in the last 14 days.

These had come because of general support for the Government’s plan. April 1 was approaching rapidly and the Ministry of Energy’s locally-based publicitycampaign had informed people of the next stage in the plan.

The first of the voluntary bore closings within the I.skm zone occurred last week with the quenching and plugging of the bore at the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute at Whakarewarewa, Mr Tizard said.

This was an unselfish attitude — agreeing to forego access to a bore which the institute could probably have continued to use because of its intrinsic association with Maori cultural activities. A similar attitude had been taken by the trustees of the Wahiao Marae at Whakarewarewa who had offered to close the bore

used for steam cooking at the Te Rau Aroha dining hall, he said. He said six bores were also scheduled to be closed in the next few weeks. Their owners had all volunteered to opt for alternatives.

Government agencies within the I.skm crisis area round Pohutu Geyser were making good progress on switching from geothermal to alternative energy forms, Mr Tizard said.

Two schools within the I.skm zone were programmed for conversion to natural gas heating.

The Forest Service was looking at the conversion of its big geothermal scheme at the Forestry Research Institute to natural gas, where it had been agreed the licence would be relinquished.

Mr Tizard said this conversion would mean the permanent closing of a big bore on the perimeter of the Whakarewarewa geothermal field. Legal advice is being sought by the Rotorua Geothermal Users’ Association over comments made by Mr Tizard, the Press Association reported. The association president, Mr Roger Brewster, claimed the comments were a slanderous attack on bore users.

He objected to Mr Tizard’s claim that the association had shown it was -concerned only with the selfish interests of a privileged few and was not concerned about the preservation of the geysers at Whakarewarewa.