Power dynamics in environmental decision-making for large-scale infrastructure projects : the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme, New Zealand : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, New Zealand
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Date
2024
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Massey University
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Abstract
Environmental assessment (EA) has been internationally recognised in the last three decades as an important tool for managing environmental damage from development projects and has been integrated into environmental planning and decision-making systems around the world. However, questions are increasingly raised as to whether EA is achieving its intended purpose. A major concern is the technocratic nature of EA that overlooks the socio-political influence of different actors within the process. This research explores power dynamics that enable or constrain stakeholders’ influence on the environmental assessment of infrastructure projects.
Institutions shape large-scale infrastructure projects through highly complex combinations of factors that include the features of political regimes, regulatory frameworks, and the role and flow of resources. By using the theory of power, this research explores how these factors influence large-scale infrastructure projects. A theoretical framework is developed by extending the theory of power into political, technical and social power. Political power examines how institutional relationships, power and finance are influential in large-scale infrastructure projects. Technical power considers methods being used to analyse environmental problems and present solutions. Social power considers how environmental problems are perceived by the local communities affected by large-scale infrastructure projects.
Taking New Zealand’s largest irrigation project, the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS) as a case study, this research highlights how power dynamics enable and constrain stakeholders’ influence on the impact assessment and decision-making. Through in-depth analysis of relevant project documents and an online survey, the research examines the influence of political actors, technical experts and individuals. The applicant’s Assessment of Environmental Effects [the form of environmental impact assessment adopted in New Zealand in the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA)], submissions made by interested groups and individuals, the hearing transcripts and the Board of Inquiry’s report and decisions were examined to determine how environmental assessment information provided by different stakeholders was incorporated and valued in the decision-making process.
First, the research discovers an increasing influence of the Minister for the Environment after ‘streamlining and stratifying’ the consent process in 2009. Therefore, large-scale infrastructures are becoming politicised in order to advance the government’s agenda. The research finds that the RMA is gradually creeping away from the principle of sustainable management towards a form of centralised planning that the Act was introduced to replace. Second, the research finds significant deficiencies in water contaminant modelling, addressing risk and uncertainty, and practicability of proposed mitigation measures. However, these deficiencies have been undervalued under a greater technocratic influence in predicting the environmental impacts of the infrastructure project. Third, the research highlights that the opportunities for the general public to participate in the decision-making for large-scale infrastructure projects are constrained due to the technical nature of the information. Overall, the research concludes that the complexity of the political, technocratic and social dynamics of power hinders the effectiveness of environmental assessment in achieving its intended goal of safeguarding the environment through informed decision-making for permitting infrastructure projects.
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Environmental Impact Assessment, power dynamics, environmental planning and decision-making, large-scale infrastructure projects