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

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

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.

Greenpeace has welcomed the preliminary results of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council election, saying the new council's top priority must be to ditch the Ruataniwha dam.

Greenpeace is calling on the new Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to abandon its fight to the Supreme Court over conservation land needed for the Ruataniwha Dam.

New Zealand taxpayers are again being forced to prop up the Hurunui irrigation dams and will get dirty rivers and increasing rural debt in return, Greenpeace said today.