Hon Nick Smith MP
National Party Environment Spokesman

22 February 2007

PM’s power station opening more greenwash

The Prime Minister is engaging in more greenwash in opening the new Awapuni power station in Palmerston North, says National’s Environment and Climate Change spokesman, Nick Smith.

“This is a puny, 1 megawatt environmentally friendly station. This month her Government is commissioning the massive 385 megawatt gas guzzling E3P generator in the Waikato.

“A year’s greenhouse gas savings from Awapuni will be wiped out by a single day’s running of the Government’s new gas generator.

“The irony is that the Awapuni project is being funded by Palmerston North City Council and the Austrian Government.

“In contrast, Helen Clark’s Cabinet has chosen to put its funding behind the massive new E3P generator.

“You can bet this cynical Prime Minister will not be opening the E3P generator, despite it being more than 300 times the size, and it being guaranteed of funding by the Government because it does not match her spin over sustainability and carbon neutrality.

“Helen Clark’s record on climate change is abysmal. Emissions have grown in the past seven years by more than six million tonnes and at a faster rate than the United States, Australia or the United Kingdom.

“The Labour Government has overseen the first deforestation in 53 years, with 11,000 hectares a year lost - equal to eight million tonnes of carbon.

“Helen Clark’s talk of carbon neutrality is just hot air when her Government is 40 million tonnes over the modest Kyoto goal of stabilizing emissions.

“This opening is just another sad chapter in Helen Clark’s attempts to hide her Government’s appalling track record on climate change.”

ENDS

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