Greenpeace ban would be lose-lose

“A ban on oil and gas exploration as proposed by Greenpeace would put 11,000 jobs at risk and could harm the environment”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

The oil and gas industry creates thousands of jobs, contributes $2.5 billion to the New Zealand economy and $500 million to the Government in royalties each year.

“Not only would a ban on exploration make us poorer as a country, it would drive production of oil and gas overseas which will harm the environment.

“Natural gas has about half the emissions of coal, and New Zealand-produced oil has lower emissions than oil produced overseas

"This ban would force New Zealand households and firms to buy higher-cost and dirtier energy from foreign sources.

“Are Greenpeace going to stop consuming all products derived from oil and gas? Or do they simply want to force production of these goods offshore? The former is the principled stand, but we suspect they will take the latter, hypocritical approach.

“This is a lose-lose policy and the Government should consider very carefully how it will impact New Zealanders”, says Mr Seymour.

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