The Hawke's Bay Regional Council has voted to pull its financial support for the controversial Ruataniwha water storage scheme.
Councillors confirmed the decision at a meeting this morning.
Though the council-controlled company holding rights for the scheme could still seek out other investors, local farmers have said they doubt it will ever go ahead.
Good. The dam would have been an ecological disaster, encouraging dairy intensification in an area utterly unsuited to it and committing Hawke's Bay to dirty rivers for generations. And now its dead, maybe Hawke's bay farmers will start thinking about what they can actually grow in the environment they've made themselves, rather than sticking their hand out for a government subsidy to continue their unsustainable lifestyle?