Save the Wairau, a group opposed to the TrustPower hydro scheme in the Wairau Valley, will meet on Wednesday to discuss their next move.
Their options include an appeal against the decision to allow the project, estimated to cost $280 million.
Chairman Ron Tannock said the group would meet with their legal adviser to talk through whether there might be grounds for another appeal on the Environment Court's decision to allow the power company to build a canal taking water from the Wairau River.
Asked whether the group would mount a protest, Mr Tannock said it was unlikely. "I don't think our group is going to chain themselves to Mayor [Alistair] Sowman's railings," he said.
The group was satisfied the conditions imposed by the Environment Court were more stringent than if Save the Wairau and other groups had not launched an appeal to the original resource consent granted by the Marlborough District Council.
TrustPower still had "major obstacles" ahead, including property rights and the safety of Wairau Valley residents if the canal ruptured, he said.
The Environment Court said its decision was "finely balanced", meaning the claimed benefits of the hydro scheme were marginally greater than the adverse effects, he said.
Wairau Valley landowner and Save the Wairau committee member Alison Parr said the decision was "not entirely unexpected but still disappointing".
The fight against the scheme took a toll on family life and was a cloud over residents in the valley, because they could not plan for their future, she said.
The group was taking stock and needed time to digest the 190-page decision [plus appendices] before deciding a course of action.
"I personally do not want to stop until I have exhausted every avenue, and after I've exhausted every avenue, I will still not sell my property to TrustPower," she said.
"We're ordinary people defending ourselves. We don't want to live under a dam – it's dangerous."
The court process was not fair because the decision seemed to be weighted heavily towards the side with the most money and expert witnesses, she said.
"We haven't produced experts, because how could we possibly produce experts to tell [the Environment Court] about our lives? We're the experts on our lives."
However, Ms Parr took solace in the fact the court acknowledged the effect of the 49-kilometre canal through landowners' properties would be significant.
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