15 February 2011

Climate Change Minister Nick Smith should stop pretending his Emissions Trading Scheme is encouraging new renewable electricity generation, says Labour's Climate Change spokesman Brendon Burns.

Brendon Burns said Dr Smith claimed in Parliament today that National's moderated Emissions Trading Scheme is responsible for the 800MW of new renewable generation consented in the last year.

"Dr Smith knows it takes several years to plan and consent for new generational capacity. To pretend new generation can go from concept to generation in less than a year is nonsense.

"Dr Smith also needs to align his answers better with those of Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee," Brendon Burns said.

"Last November, Mr Brownlee said in reply to a written question that to date there was 4221MW of renewable capacity under construction, consented or applied.

"Mr Brownlee's own figures show that as at November 2008, there was 4335MW of renewable capacity. That's some 114MW more --- and all developed under Labour's ETS," Brendon Burns said.

"It's also rich for Dr Smith to claim Labour's ETS would push up costs when his own scheme is costing New Zealand taxpayers billions and billions in subsidies to industry."

ENDS

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