Contact Energy is seeking a 12-month adjournment to an
inquiry into its proposed 180-turbine wind farm on Waikato's
west coast.
It will request the break at a board of inquiry meeting
tomorrow, to allow it to carry out more research,
geotechnical assessments and surveying work for the project
south of Port Waikato, the Waikato Times reported.
Contact's decision was "a significant victory" for opponents
as it showed the project was "underdone and undercooked,"
said Te Akau farmer Ross Townshend.
A 12-month adjournment gave opponents more time to fight the
project and he would be demanding the power company forfeit
its right to the board of inquiry and go through the usual
Resource Management Act process "just like everybody else",
he said.
Contact spokesman Johnathan Hill said the company was still
committed to the project but would not commit as to whether
the adjournment would be granted.
Mr Hill said the viability of the project was not in doubt
and the company was "absolutely not" stalling for time.
It was "a good project, and a very important one for Contact
and the country", he said.
For a project of this size there was a need for a very high
level of detail and the adjournment, if granted, was not an
effort by Contact to strengthen its case, he said.
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