What You Can Do
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Here is a list of things you can do to help:
- Educate yourself on the issues surrounding solar plants in New Zealand. It's not this oasis we have been promised.
- Read all about the fast track process and how it's stopping you as a stakeholder from being able to object in any way. This is just how many projects are following this loophole in New Zealand: https://www.epa.govt.nz/fast-track-consenting/fast-track-projects/
- Join our action group and submit your concerns to [email protected] and https://www.facebook.com/kiwis.for.responsible.solar/
- Participate in demonstrations against industrial solar plants being located on rural land
- Gather letters for official submission - Engage with the Environmental Protection Agency to submit opposing letters where you clearly outline that when the government is looking for new sites for solar facilities, we believe developers and the district should be in general agreement on locations appropriate for these industrial uses - areas that contain marginal farm soils (at best) that are removed from important scenic and historic resources - prior to any public hearing on an individual application.
- Contact media outlets to share with them your local petition, or reasons/concerns about why industrial-scale solar power plants aren't right for your community. We recommend identifying 1-3 people in your local community to engage with core media publications. Karen Rutherford from TVNZ is following all solar projects closely. You can contact [email protected] if you wish to take part in an interview with her.
- The FastTrack Resource Consent process is NOT appropriate for Solar Plant projects as the process is impossible to stop or object to. As a collective, we must campaign against these stealth practices. It is vital that public opinion is sought so that site specific issues can be raised and addressed, giving the community the ability to place their concerns on the record.
- Industrial Solar Plants should not create any negative visual impacts for the area during or following construction. Residents in the area neighbouring a solar plant MUST be considered and consulted.
- Kiwis for Responsible Solar are not against Solar projects and support the government's commitment towards renewable energy BUT we are against the stealth processes developers utilise to sneak industrial solar plant projects in under the radar.