Yesterday, Mr Hayes said he had not had the opportunity to speak to many people in the area about the details of the proposals released by the power company, but he expected there would be a range of opinions.
Understandably, the people at Beaumont, a town which would disappear under the Tuapeka Mouth proposal, were not happy when the company announced it was reconsidering the old plans last year.
There were others who thought a dam would be a wonderful asset for the district.
There were also those who thought the South should not be providing wind or hydro power for the rest of the country, but it just happened that the lower end of the South Island had the ability to do that.
Mr Hayes said he was committed to working with anyone affected to ensure they got the best they could out of the process.
Otago Conservation Board chairman Hoani Langsbury said the board would be very concerned if Contact Energy took the proposed hydro projects any further, especially the Tuapeka proposal.
Past conservation boards had singled out Rongahere Gorge and Tuapeka Mouth for special protection and it had been included within the region's conservation management strategy formed in 1997.
Birch Island, which was likely to be fully submerged by the proposal, had important botanic values - plant species found only on that particular island. The indigenous forest at the end of Rongahere Gorge was also under threat.
The board would await more substantial information on the proposals before taking the concerns any further.
• Responses to Contact Energy's call for public opinion on the four dam options on the Clutha have been both for and against, hydro project manager Neil Gillespie says.
He had spent yesterday dealing with a steady stream of telephone calls and checking responses to the special website set up by the company to allow public feedback.
However, yesterday afternoon the postings on the discussion board section of the website could not be viewed.
Mr Gillespie said he hoped the glitch would soon be rectified.
The company is seeking public opinion on the four proposals for dams near Tuapeka Mouth, Beaumont, Luggate and Queensberry before it makes a decision next year on whether to proceed with any of them.
