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The Department of Conservation has been cleared over the way it handled sensitive wind farm negotiations with Meridian Energy, but it needs to be more open about resource consent deals, says Acting Conservation Minister Nick Smith.
The government ordered an urgent report on Monday into DOC's deal with Meridian, which will see the energy company pay out $175,000 to mitigate the conservation impacts of the proposed Project Hayes wind farm in Central Otago.
It was never "hush money", as some media had reported, but was an agreed amount of compensation, said DOC director general Al Morrison in his report to Conservation Minister Tim Groser, released on Friday.
The process is not unusual, he said.
Agreements reached on a number of projects under way around the country was important and involved a range of solutions.
These included research and monitoring, land exchanges, and financial compensation to cover the costs of rectifying any negative impacts.
The money has not been paid, and will not be, unless the project went ahead and the impacts became real, Morrison said.
"The department was not required, and has not been, silent on the issue. It simply sorted its issues with Meridian outside the court." The amount agreed was only kept confidential during "sensitive talks" in a highly competitive market.
Dr Smith said he did not believe DOC had been sufficiently transparent in its involvement with Meridian over Project Hayes by simply releasing the agreement when requested under the Official Information Act.
A more proactive approach was required, he said.
Dr Smith acknowledged that DOC had a "difficult task" in balancing its job as an advocate for conservation while recognising the quite legitimate government objectives of increasing renewable energy supplies and building infrastructure.
Morrison said he believed the department's systems for auditing revenue and expenditure was "transparent and robust" but it will be prudent to review them.
The department is working on developing a more proactive approach to the release of such information.
