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notices and features - Date published:
9:24 am, February 22nd, 2021 - 6 comments
Categories: climate change, Mining -
Tags: deep sea oil drilling, greenpeace
Press Release from Greenpeace NZ 16 February 2021
Nick Young
3 minutes
Greenpeace is celebrating the announcement that New Zealand Oil & Gas and its partner Beach Energy will relinquish their oil and gas exploration permit off the Oamaru coast as “another win for the climate, for wildlife and for people power”.
Known as ‘Clipper’, the huge 1,787 square-kilometre permit contains the Barque prospect, which the industry estimated to contain 11 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.5 billion barrels of light oil and condensate.
“It’s a relief to know that this carbon bomb will not be released into the atmosphere and that Aotearoa’s seabirds, whales, dolphins and other precious wildlife are safe from the risk of a catastrophic oil spill,” says Greenpeace Campaigner, Amanda Larsson.
“Climate change, and the polluting companies causing it, are putting our wellbeing at risk. We’re seeing more storms, floods and droughts that are threatening coastal communities, food security and health.
“The world cannot afford to keep burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal if we are to avoid total climate breakdown.”
The announcement comes with little fanfare, but marks another huge moment for people power, for iwi, hapū, environmental groups, and the hundreds of thousands of people who for the last decade have maintained one of the most relentless campaigns of the modern era to put an end to deep sea oil exploration in New Zealand.
“Burning dirty fuels like oil, gas and coal is causing a climate crisis. Fortunately, we don’t need to do this anymore. We already have the technology and the tools to power our homes, transport and businesses with clean energy from the sun, wind and water,” says Larsson.
“We can have homegrown and locally-produced energy that doesn’t pollute the air or the ocean. We can power our homes with our own energy, from the sunshine that beats down on our rooftops or the wind that blows through our farms.
“It’s time to stop talking about finding more fossil fuels to burn. Now is the time to build the world we want with the huge opportunity that the Covid recovery presents to realise a more resilient Aotearoa. This starts with a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, and towards a society powered by clean, renewable energy.
“We challenge Grant Robertson and Jacinda Ardern to make good on their election promise to Build Back Better and prioritise funding transformational projects in the May 2021 Budget.”
ENDS
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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Excellent!
Pretty Pyrrhic until such time as we make actual progress on imported oil.
don't see how. It's all heading in the right direction, and such victories shift public understanding so that they will be more amenable to a post-carbon economy. Plus environmental protection.
Methanex is closing for lack of natural gas. Methanol is 10% of the entire Taranaki economy.
All very well for Greenpeace to crow about hundreds of workers thrown on the scrapheap, but mostly transformation = pain
"They employ more than 270 people and are renowned for their high wages, but Taranaki’s methanol manufacturing plants may not see the decade out."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/124109926/climate-change-commission-sees-no-future-for-methanol-production-in–taranaki
!0%?…Id be pretty dubious about that claim…and they run 3plants , 2 of which remain in operation so how many jobs exactly are being lost?….Taranaki's workforce is 60,000 strong.
Sounds like a beat up .
Known as ‘Clipper’, the huge 1,787 square-kilometre permit contains the Barque prospect, which the industry estimated to contain 11 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.5 billion barrels of light oil and condensate.
however the industry never extensively explored the prospect so the trillions of feet of gas and billions of barrels of oil are simply guesses or estimates or hunches and might have amounted to nothing, or may have proven hugely expensive to tap. It's similar to me saying I relinquish the option of buying future lotto tickets which might have yielded me a fortune, or nothing at all