Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
NZOG and OMV: No Future for you in Canterbury/GSB
NZOG and OMV: No Future for you in Canterbury/GSB
Oil Free
Otago will use the worldwide Hands Across the Sand event at
St Clair Beach Dunedin to sign letters to company directors
of NZOG and OMV explaining why it is not worth their while
to continue prospecting in the Southern Ocean.
Open
letter to NZOG and OMV on the anniversary of the Deepwater
Horizon disaster,
Dear New Zealand Oil & Gas and OMV,
This year the NZ government banned new oil and gas permits in Aotearoa NZ (except for three more years in Taranaki). This ban is the culmination of many years of resistance and opposition to oil and gas exploration from grassroots groups around New Zealand.
New Zealanders have a strong history of resistance wherever we see injustice. The people of Parihaka practiced peaceful civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action in Taranaki long before Gandhi. We were the first country in the world to fight for women to get the vote. We opposed nuclear testing in the Pacific and made New Zealand nuclear free. We rose up to help end apartheid in South Africa.
The biggest injustice facing us today is the breakdown of our climate system. We know we cannot burn most of the fossil fuels already discovered if we are to retain a liveable climate for our children, so drilling for more is both unjust and immoral. Now we have all but ended fossil fuel exploration here. Despite our government not yet banning current permits such as PEP 52717, PEP 55794 and PEP 50119 in the Canterbury and Great South Basins, we will continue our proud history of resistance until you surrender this permit.
It would be better for you to withdraw now rather than waste any more money attempting to find reluctant farm-in partners for this and other of your New Zealand ventures. Anadarko, Shell, TAG, Greymouth Petroleum and Woodside have all withdrawn from the Canterbury/Great South Basin region. Your company should too. On balance this would represent the best possible outcome for your shareholders. New exploration at this time risks them pouring good money into worthless stranded assets.
The NZ government’s ban of new permits
represents a line in the sand. Today in Dunedin along with
people in Christchurch and all around the world, we made a
human line in the sand to say NO more fossil fuel
exploration and YES to a clean low emissions
economy.
Your companies are not welcome here.
Yours
sincerely
Oil Free
Otago
---
Hands Across the Sand is a
worldwide event began after the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater
Horizon disaster, where people join hands across the beach
in a symbolic gesture to say No to more fossil fuel
exploration and YES to clean
alternatives.
Gordon Campbell: On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
NZCTU: Inflation Data Shows Need For A Plan On Climate And Population
Statistics New Zealand: Annual Inflation At 4.0 Percent
Brendon McMahon - Local Democracy Reporter: West Coast Swim Spot Testing Clear Of E-coli
Green Party: Government Throws Coal On The Climate Crisis Fire
Labour Party: Public Transport Costs To Double As National Looks At Unaffordable Roading Project Instead
The Treasury: New Paper On A Framework For Assessing The Economic And Fiscal Impacts Of Climate Change
