Greenpeace NZ is launching a legal challenge against a controversial plan to build a dam that’s set to cost close to $1 billion and will pollute a region’s rivers.

New Zealanders in their thousands are calling on the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) to scrap the Ruataniwha Dam, in the wake of the gastro outbreak.

The shambles that is water management in Hawke’s Bay is another reason the Ruataniwha Dam must be scrapped, says Greenpeace.

In response to the Court of Appeal’s ruling in favour of Forest and Bird over the DOC land swap for the Ruataniwha Dam (1) Greenpeace Agriculture Spokesperson Genevieve Toop said:

Greenpeace NZ Executive Director Russel Norman has written to ACC Investment Manager Nicholas Bagnall, warning him against investing in the controversial Ruataniwha Dam.

Greenpeace has uplifted the site office of the proposed Ruataniwha Dam and delivered it to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council offices in Napier.

Greenpeace is demanding an end to public subsidies for large-scale irrigation projects, after a report revealed the Government has thrown millions of dollar at a proposed irrigation project in the Wairarapa that doesn’t stack up financially.

Greenpeace is erecting anti-Ruataniwha billboards around Hawke’s Bay this morning, two weeks out from the close of voting in regional council elections.

In an extraordinary move, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment company has said it’s taking the first step in the process of acquiring land needed for the Ruataniwha Dam under the Public Works Act.