But wasn’t there a power station there before?

Yes, there was, but that was before the highway was built (click on the image for a larger view). It used the same amount of water as the Mill Stream power plant does today and generated 245 Kilowatts.  The new one would  be 20 times bigger and require 20 times as much water making it incompatible with the surrounding community.

The highway is ugly enough (the Stone Church used to have a beautiful view of the Moon River).

“Progress” and cars used to be the most imporant thing – now we want to protect what natural beauty is left (apparently more than the Ministry of Natural Resources does!).