TL;DR: The Labour Government has brought forward plans to start building and/or drilling a second Waitematā harbour crossing that focuses first on creating new roads for cars, double-cab utes and trucks, with cycling, walking and rail lesser priorities, and a resulting surge in climate emissions ignored.
The Government also didn’t mention a potential cost of up to $25 billion, or that all five options would vastly increase climate costs because of the emissions embedded in the concrete, steel and tunnel drilling needed for the projects starting in 2029, just when the world needs to cutting emissions the most to reduce warming.
Meanwhile, National has just announced a new Electrify NZ policy to reduce consenting times for keeping and consenting renewable energy projects and lines infrastructure, saying it would double of wind, solar, hydro and geothermal generation. However, the policy again pushes responsibility for faster consenting down to councils by using National Policy Statements without extra resourcing, and risks creating a new wave of court action as the easier consenting rules are tested again the Resource Management Act’s principles.
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