Surfers Take Protest To High Seas

 On Saturday the 13th November a group of locals and surfers will take a flotilla of boats out to the 500 metre exclusion zone around the Kan Tan IV exploratory oil rig drilling off Raglan’s coast. A rally will also be held at Manu Bay, Raglan to voice our opposition. There will be DJ’s, speeches and a BBQ picnic from 12pm-2pm.

 We oppose Origin Energy’s exploratory drilling off Raglan’s coastline.

There is no guarantee from the company involved, or the Government, that current drilling practices are safe.

 The drilling for oil, exploratory or otherwise, puts in jeopardy one of New Zealand’s most iconic areas, and one of the best surf breaks in the country, which is a protected surfing break under the new Coastal Policy Statement. The drilling has begun without any consultation with Iwi or the local community generally.

 The socio-economic and environmental damage caused by a spill could be massive.

 The risks of an oil spill from an exploratory well are just as great as from a production well. BP’s ‘Deepwater Horizon’ rig, in the Gulf of Mexico, which leaked about 4.9 million barrels of crude oil from the 20th April to July the 15th, was also an exploratory well.

 “As surfers and residents of coastal communities we cannot afford to stand by and watch as our coastlines are infested with offshore oil drilling rigs,” says Dominico Zapata, from Board Riders Against Drilling.

 We demand that the company, Origin Energy, immediately stop the drilling and that the Government permanently cease from issuing any more permits to drill off New Zealand’s coast. The Government needs to allocate more resources to the development of clean technologies such as sustainable bio-fuels.

 “Why does the Government continue to put our greatest natural resources at risk? Our clean and untainted natural environments are worth far more than any oil they pull from the ground. We need more investment in the clean technology sector to alleviate our dependence on this non-renewable resource which is quickly disappearing.”

 Board Riders Against Drilling is a collective of surfers made up of Raglan locals and surfers from around the country.

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