"Opening up 2,451 km² of Taranaki land to oil and companies for dirty drilling is fuelling the climate crisis and is the last thing we should be doing in 2020" says Urs Signer, member of community group Climate Justice Taranaki.

"Once again, the government is enabling companies to make bids on vast areas of Taranaki land at a time when everyone is shouting from the rooftops that in order to have a chance of a stable climate for future generations, we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. This week alone, the small Northland town of Otiria was flooded again due to upstream deforestation and swamp draining for farming and increasing rainfall from climate change. China, Nepal, Indonesia and Kenya are again facing massive floods. The fires in Siberia and the Amazon are still burning since last year."

"Last year, our people's bid in defence of the climate was signed by over 2400 supporters, however NZ Petroleum and Minerals failed to even respond to our bid. Jacinda Ardern's 'nuclear free moment' appears to have been just momentary empty rhetoric" concludes Urs Signer.

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