Loose lips sink ships.

Summary of the RadioLive interview which was hacked and deleted during January and February 2009.
This interview was broadcast live on National radio and heard by 10’s of thousands of people as they made their way to work at 8.15 in the morning on 3/9/08.

Host Marcus Lush.
Lush began the interview with Mighty River Power CEO, Doug Heffernan, by discussing the successful commissioning of MRP’s new Kawerau geothermal plant. Heffernan showed considerable knowledge of the plant and its operation. Lush then introduced the topic of the proposed call in of the Turitea wind farm. There then followed a convoluted discussion about the merits or otherwise of a call in versus the use of the conventional process ,with Lush opining that if it was such an important project then the conventional process was the right one. Heffernan had no credible response to that statement. Heffernan then went on to show that he had detailed knowledge of the proposed wind farm and talked about how contracts had been signed with landowners for both turbines and transmission lines. Lush asked when the project was likely to be started if consent was given and then he specifically asked how big the wind farm was. Heffernan replied that it was similar in size to Meridian’s Te Apiti wind farm.

(NB Turitea is four times larger )

Click this image. Use the control key and mouse wheel to enlarge further

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigC8mcWxlKqOnjRhadVphrli_dSwqW1IcHnVAq6RAbTuG4WH9Hok6nFZZezH1cWrqVHoNomb132Gxein0npFyHil6uWYa650y5SYiB2xkquRDvP-7CMvj-5mlcc6X4UUxFJmfouCJesoA/s1600-h/wind.jpg

At this point the interview switched to me and I was introduced as an opponent of wind farms. I politely corrected that statement by saying that we had wind farms in the Manawatu and that they had been accepted by the public but that the proposed Turitea wind farm was “so in your face, so out there” that it would arouse strong opposition. I recommended that listeners go to www.palmerston-north.info to look at the photomontage, a secret until then, (and which at the time was at the top of the website). I then said that “I didn’t need to say anymore” (meaning that a picture is worth a thousand words). I was asked what the Turitea call – in meant and I said that it gave the project an unmerited national status which would override local interest. I stated that under the conventional RMA process the wind farm was unlikely to be approved and that this was the reason that MRP wanted to call-in the project. I also said that this was grossly unfair as a whole level of public consultation would, under a call-in, be removed. I praised MRP for their new geothermal project which provides base load, something a wind farm can never provide as it needs backup. I then discussed the documentation which Mighty River Power had filed in its Resource Consent Application, which repeatedly stated that the wind farm was 10 kms South East of the city. I told the radio audience that this was a lie and that 10 kms from the nearest turbine meant that the wind farm was 10 km from a point near the top of Rangitikei Street on the other side of the city. Lush knew Palmerston North well and knew what I was talking about. I then went on to say that there was absolutely no wind in Palmerston North that morning. Lush stated that the initial enthusiasm for wind farms as our saviour had abated as their shortcomings had become obvious. Lush, who was very familiar with the proposed wind farm on the Lammermoors, then described wind farms as “wind factories “saying that during winter when the hydro lakes were low the wind did not blow meaning that these “wind factories” were useless. I then quoted Transpower’s publicly released statement to the press where it was revealed that over the past three years the three Manawatu wind farms had ,during the winter evening peaks, been producing at less than 1% of their installed capacity. I opined that that was an extraordinary statement. I stated that ”the city would be damaged irreparably by the wind farm and would make us look like idiots” and that “Palmerston North was being sacrificed for the Emissions Trading Scheme.”Lush was enthusiastic about interviewing me, calling me “a good man “and then promoted the website www.palmerston-north.info before closing.

Footnote:

This podcast in the RadioLive archive, which could be accessed freely from www.palmerston-north.info , showed MRP to be underhand and duplicitous, but, like Macbeth with blood on his hands, a little sabotage would clear them of their deeds. The podcast was first deleted in late January. It was placed in an archive. I was able to google search it and restore it on the website. Shortly after that the audio was deleted completely. Finally the webpage, which the link from the website pointed to, was itself deleted, although the evidence of the podcast still remains on the RadioLive website. See appendix 1.

Appendix 1

LUSH~Mighty River Power's new Kawerau geothermal power station up and running Doug Heffernan, CEO of Mighty River Power, followed by Paul Stitchbury, detractor of wind farms in Manawatu. 03-Sep-2008

http://www.radiolive.co.nz/AudioArchive/tabid/109/language/en-NZ/Default.aspx?filter731=0&cat=2

.................................................................

Appendix 2
NZ faces security threats, SIS says
Last updated 19:32 31/03/2009

New Zealand continually faces threats from espionage, sabotage, subversion and terrorism, the Security Intelligence Service says in its annual report.
The consequences of "realised threats" could include death, injury, very substantial property damage, compromise of government and private sector information and intellectual property.
The report for the year to June 2008, tabled in Parliament today, gives no details of the threats the country faces or where they come from.
It says those details have been omitted for security reasons.
Source
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2305431/NZ-faces-security-threats-SIS-says

--------------------------------------------------
Well, there we have it. Palmerston North, its water supply, the amenity values cherished by residents, its only universally visible landscape, and the natural environment are under threat from within and incredibly it’s an arm of the government which is doing it. My submission makes this clear and I have provided the evidence.

Paul Stichbury.