Legal challenge targets revived Tukituki Water Storage Project amid environmental and mana whenua concerns
Forest & Bird has launched fresh legal action in the High Court challenging the extension of consents for the controversial Tukituki Water Storage Project, formerly known as the Ruataniwha Dam, warning the proposal threatens conservation land, waterways and significant natural habitats in Hawke’s Bay.
The environmental organisation has filed judicial review proceedings against decisions made by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Central Hawke’s Bay District Council and Hastings District Council to extend the project’s consent lapse dates by another five years.
The original consents were granted in 2015 and were due to expire in June 2025 after no physical work had begun on the project over the past decade.
Developers sought the extension less than a week before the consents were set to lapse, prompting criticism from environmental groups who argue the approvals should have expired altogether.
Forest & Bird says major environmental and legal changes since 2015 mean the project should be reconsidered under updated protections and modern environmental standards rather than revived through administrative extensions.
The proposed dam would flood part of Ruahine Conservation Park and significantly alter the Mākāroro Gorge area, which has since been recognised as an Outstanding Natural Feature.
The aquifer connected to the river system is also now recognised as an outstanding waterbody, adding further environmental significance to the area.
Forest & Bird argues these developments were not properly weighed during the councils’ recent decisions to extend the consents, alongside concerns raised by mana whenua.
The organisation has long opposed the proposed 83-metre-high dam, warning it would damage rare wetlands and habitats supporting threatened native species including pekapeka long-tailed bats and the kārearea New Zealand falcon.
Unlike many large-scale dam projects, the Tukituki proposal is not intended for hydro-electric generation. Instead, it is designed primarily to provide irrigation water for approximately 35,000 hectares of farmland in a region already facing ongoing water quality concerns.
The project has faced legal and political controversy for years. In 2017, Forest & Bird won a landmark Supreme Court case ruling that a proposed land swap allowing the flooding of 22 hectares of conservation land was unlawful.
Developers have since attempted to progress the project under the Fast-track Approvals Act, which environmental advocates say contains weaker safeguards for conservation land and environmental protections.
Critics also note the latest proposal involves an even larger area of conservation land than the exchange previously ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.
Forest & Bird says the judicial review is aimed at ensuring decision-makers are held accountable and that outdated projects are not revived without proper scrutiny, particularly when environmental protections and ecological understanding have significantly evolved over the past decade.
The legal battle comes amid wider national debate over fast-track development laws, freshwater protection, conservation land use and balancing economic development against environmental and cultural concerns.
#ForestAndBird #RuataniwhaDam #Tukituki #Ruahine #Conservation #Environment #Freshwater #FastTrack #HawkesBay #RadioWaatea
