By Bill Morris, Frank FilmThe Waitaha Run Of River Hydro Scheme will bring energy resilience to the West Coast, supporters say. But is it worth draining one of the last remaining rivers in its wild, unmodified state? Frank Film spoke with critics and supporters of the scheme.When Greymouth-based outdoor recreation student Claire Thomas heard about the Waitaha River hydroelectricity scheme being rushed through under the government's fast-track legislation, she and some friends decided to pay the remote corner of the South Island's West Coast a visit.After a three-hour scramble through dripping rainforest, they stood on the banks of Morgan Gorge and watched, awestruck, as 35 cubic metres per second of white water thundered through the schist chasm."It was just so big," Thomas tells Frank Film. "So much bigger than me, or anyone."Greymouth student and filmmaker Claire Thomas.Supplied / Frank FilmThomas and her fellow students were so moved they made a film about the river, which premiered at Hokitika's Regent Theatre.Another who recently visited Morgan Gorge is New Zealand Geographic photographer Neil Silverwood."The energy inside that gorge is like nothing else I've ever experienced," Silverwood says. "You can put your hands on the walls and feel the vibration from the power of the water."The glacier-fed Waitaha River spills out of a high mountain basin in the Southern Alps, then roars through two gorges on its way to the sea. The second of them, Morgan Gorge, is esteemed by whitewater kayakers as the pinnacle of the sport in New Zealand. Only a handful of people have ever ridden it all the way through.But the river's immense power is also what makes it attractive for hydroelectricity generation. For years, business interests have had their eyes on the Waitaha.A 'run of river' scheme will extract water from the top of Morgan Gorge and feed it through a tunnel to a hydro station, before returning it to the river at the base of the gorge.Supporters say it will generate enough power for 12,000 homes. They also argue it will give the West Coast resilience, providing a source of electricity if the region is ever cut off from the national grid by a rupture of the Alpine Fault.However, Silverwood fears that, rather than resilience, the scheme's one-kilometre proximity to the Alpine Fault might actually make it a massive liability.There's also the dynamic nature of the Waitaha riverbed, he says, which could see one major weather event burying the intake in hundreds of tonnes of gravel."The West Coast is littered with schemes and dreams, failed mines, failed ventures," he says. "In my view, there's every chance the Waitaha Scheme will become the next one of those."New Zealand Geographic photographer Neil Silverwood.Supplied / Frank FilmIn 2019, the Waitaha scheme was rejected by the last Labour Government on the grounds it would significantly undermine the pristine area's intrinsic wild values.However, under the current coalition government's fast-track process, a rebooted version of the scheme has been approved.Community-owned power generator Westpower has been cleared to take up to 23 cumecs of water from the river and reduce the flow of water in Morgan Gorge down to a tenth of its average flow, to 3.5 cumecs. No public submissions were considered on the application.Grey District mayor Tania Gibson is delighted by the result. "The Waitaha is something that our mayors, chairs and iwi, and our councils, have been advocating for some time," she says."We have some of the highest power bills in the country. Along with economic development, local companies will be utilised while it's being built."Grey District mayor Tania Gibson.Supplied / Frank FilmDevelopment West Coast CEO Heath Milne also sees big benefits for the region."There's no dams, so there's no flooding of the environment upstream of the scheme, and the road access that will be put in there will allow more people to access that pristine valley at the top."Poutini Ngāi Tahu is supportive of the project too.Hokitika doctor Justin VenableSupplied / Frank FilmOne of the few who has kayaked Morgan Gorge is Hokitika doctor Justin Venable. He argues that road access will open up much more of the Waitaha Valley to development."Once there's infrastructure in the head of Morgan Gorge, there's nothing to stop the next scheme, the next project," he says."Less than one percent of rivers on earth are in their wild natural unmodified state. It's a vanishingly rare phenomenon. We want places that are unique to New Zealand, to the West Coast, and to the world, to remain able to be enjoyed for future generations."If we squander that wealth for the sake of a filthy dollar in the short term, it's gone forever."