Getting used to the ‘new normal’

Cow in dry weather, Wairarapa. Photo Dave Allen, NIWA

As I flew up the country from Wellington to Auckland this week, on yet another beautiful day, I was struck by the colour of our country.

Brown. Burned to a crisp.  The occasional smattering of green forest, but an island suffering from its  worst drought in 70 years, as I’d heard climate scientist Jim Salinger saying on the radio that morning.

Next I’m listening to Bill English saying farmers can’t expect get the same level of support in future droughts, if they continue to happen with more frequency, as NIWA tells us they will.

Meanwhile John Key is in Brazil pleading with oil giant Petrobras to come back, and an industry-written report tells us we should drill all over the East Coast.

Our Land, Our Water, Our Future – Worth Fighting For

Rob McCreath, our main guest speaker at the 2013 Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival, has kindly agreed to speak in Dunedin on his way south - Wed 16 January 7pm at English Language Matters, Level 2 Evan Parry House, 43 Princes St. 

We’re looking forward to hearing how Rob and Friends of Felton stopped the coal mine and chemical plant in their area. And we’re hoping we can apply what he has learned to our own situation – how best to continue supporting our Southland neighbours, as well as protecting our own coastline and Otago region from more mining.

Tea, coffee and nibbles available. Hope you can make it. Here’s the Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/445175345537470/

Ka Nui! Enough! Protest the NZ Petroleum Summit: 19th September, Wellington

Ka Nui! Enough!

Join a coalition of local groups at a protest outside the NZ Petroleum summit 2012, and say “Ka Nui, Enough!” to the oil and gas industry.
Industries are literally counting down to this event, where the Energy Minister will speak on the government’s planned expansion of oil and gas extraction in New Zealand.

At a time when we should be transitioning towards clean energy and a sustainable and more equitable society, this government continues to push its “mine it, drill it” vision for Aotearoa New Zealand. This government is supporting an oil and gas industry which pollutes communities and our rural environment while bullying those who resist; all for the profit of a tiny minority.

With many in local communities across Aotearoa locking their gates to get oil and gas out of their back yards, it’s Wellington’s turn to show our support for the communities affected by the expansion of the oil and gas industries in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sustainable future not climate chaos!

Clean waters not toxic oil spills!

5pm, Wednesday 19th September
Outside the Amora Hotel, Wakefield St, Wellington.
Please bring banners, placards, and noisemakers if you wish.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/257320647720952/

Family friendly. Join us afterwards for a koha dinner and discussion.

The poster is below – if you are able to distribute these to friends/family/workmates/classmates or in local shops or libraries, that would be fantastic.

If you can’t make the event itself, but are willing to make a banner / placard at home, please email frances.mountier@gmail.com. Please see the text above for ideas for wording.

Ka Nui! Enough! Conference, Rotorua, 25-26 August: How To Attend, Why To Attend

In August the New Zealand mining industry is meeting in Rotorua “to celebrate New Zealand mining and the contribution this important industry makes to the future of the community through science, engineering and economic development.”

So we are holding the Ka Nui! Enough! Conference at the same time to discuss the huge negative impacts mining has on our economies, communities, and environment and what we are going to do about it. And we hope you’ll be able to attend.

Ka Nui! Enough!

Website: http://kanuiconference.wordpress.com/

Location: Rotorua

Dates: Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th August

Speakers: Dayle Takitimu (Te Whanau-a-Apanui) Drew Hutton
(Lock the Gate Alliance Australia), Dr Susan Krumdieck (Canterbury
University) and more . . .

Cost: $25 for the weekend or koha on the day.

Registration: to register email your name and contact number to kanuiconference@gmail.com

Kaupapa

The extractive industries, including fracking, mining & oil drilling, have huge negative impacts on our economies,communities & environment.

We must move past this in a way that is just for all. Join us to learn more and strategise together.

Please forward this invite widely. And please register asap to support those communities on the frontlines, to learn, to share, and to strategise.

Do You Want Mining Companies To Have Easier Access To Your Land?

The Government is currently reviewing the Crown Minerals Act 1991, and submissions on the review close on Friday 20 April. We think it’s a good idea for as many people as possible to submit on this review – so, if making submissions is your thing, this is a good thing to submit on.

Why? Well, to address the headline issue first, there have been suggestions that the Government plans to use this review to water down or even remove the provisions in the Crown Minerals Act that currently give private landowners the right to refuse mining companies access to their land. We think this might be quite an unpopular change, not least with farmers.

But there are other, wider matters worth commenting on, as outlined in the excellent submission guide on the Green Party blog at http://www.greens.org.nz/takeaction/submissionguides/review-crown-minerals-act-1991-regime - the following bullet points come from the Green Party submission guide:

• Currently the Crown Minerals Act allows the Government to grant permits for deep sea oil drilling. We suggest amending the Crown Minerals Act to prohibit permits for prospecting, exploration and production of oil in waters greater than 200 metres deep. Deep sea oil drilling is too risky.
• Under the Crown Minerals Act, the Government grants permits for oil and gas exploration that allow companies to use the controversial practice of fracking – pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure deep into the earth in order to extract oil and gas. Please tell the Government that oil and gas exploration permits should not allow fracking until the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment can assure the public it is safe.
• Mining and extraction has adverse effects on landforms, oceans, waterways and ecosystems. It is currently prohibited in National Parks and various other types of reserve, but under the Crown Minerals Act 1991 it occurs contentiously in other parts of the conservation estate. Tell the Government to amend the Crown Minerals Act to prohibit new exploration, prospecting and mining on conservation land and reserves.

The Green Party submission guide lists many more aspects of the review that you can comment on, and tells you the ways that you can make a submission. Here is some further information:

Submissions due: 5pm Friday 20 April 2012

Postal address: Resources Policy Group, Ministry of Economic Development, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

Email: CMAReview@med.govt.nz

There are a series of review questions that the Ministry is asking for feedback on, and of particular interest is Chapter 2: Health, safety and environmental (HSE) matters. It is a fairly short chapter to read and worth giving feedback on! Also of interest are Chapter 4: Petroleum, and Chapter 5: Tier 1 Minerals, especially the review questions relating to HSE matters.

Wellington Public Meeting 17/10/11

Say No to Fossil Fools | Panel Discussion | Wellington | Monday 17 October 2011

West Coast Environment Network Inc, Greenpeace NZ, Forest and Bird and Coal Action Network Aotearoa are pleased to invite you to:

Say No to Fossil Fools

A panel discussion with groups campaigning against fossil fool extraction.

Monday 17th October, 6-8pm
Wellington Central Baptist Church, 46-48 Boulcott St, Wellington. 

Panellists:

• Jeanette Fitzsimons (former Green MP, concerned grandmother) on Southland lignite
• Rod Morris (wildlife photographer) on the biodiversity rich conservation land of the proposed Denniston coal mine
• Mike Smith (Greenpeace NZ) on the threat of deep sea oil drilling happening off the East Coast
• Robyn Harris-Iles (Environmental researcher) on fracking (hydraulic fracturing)

All welcome
Free entry; koha appreciated

Each panellist will speak for 15 minutes. There will then be 45 minutes for questions and discussion, followed by time to check out the stalls of groups working on fossil fuel / climate change / climate justice campaigns here in Aotearoa NZ. Tea, coffee, biscuits provided.

Join the movement against the destructive expansion of fossil fuel extraction in the lands and waters of Aotearoa New Zealand. Protect our climate / health / conservation land / farmland / seabeds.

For more information, please email: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

Please note:

• There is a flat entry (no stairs) into Wellington Central Baptist Church via the path to the right of the venue.
• There is free carparking available across the road at the Wilson Carpark – Just say you are at the meeting at the Wellington Central Baptist Church. (The Church has kindly offered for us to benefit from this arrangement with Wilsons Carpark).
• Of course, if you can bus / bike / walk etc to get there, great!

Kind regards,

Frances Mountier

Be Aware of the Grey Wolf Creeping up in the Dark

The sinister oil drilling ship the Noble Discoverer spotted in Tasman Bay

Anadarko, Petrobras, Greywolf - the names are colourful and somehow symbolic. Only a week after hundreds of people were showing their protest by holding hands on beaches in Nelson, Motueka and Golden Bay an impressive armada of oil vessels appeared in Tasman Bay – a coincidence? They were seeking shelter from heavy storms off the Taranaki Coast  in the much calmer waters in the Tasman Bay – an area the mentioned companies are desperate to explore. They have to walk carefully not to stir up the Greenies and nature lovers and other activists. One year after the disastrous accident on the Deepwater Hori in the Gulf of Mexico oil companies around the world happily continue to explore new terrains. It took BP several months to close the leakage, and more than a year later the company is still trying to clean up the mess in the Mississippi Delta. The beaches are heavily polluted, fisheries severely affected – but BP & Co are allowed to continue their business in the Gulf and elsewhere. Greenpeace experts and independent scientists warn that there is no “emergency plan” that can prevent the dramatic consequences of future accidents.

To explain this appearance of the petroleum drilling ship the Noble Discoverer, Fairfax Media reported in May that the ship, which had been drilling the Ruru exploration well off the South Taranaki coast for operator Shell Todd Oil Services, had its mooring system and drilling equipment damaged when anchor lines snapped in a storm.

The company said that as a precautionary measure the crew disconnected the vessel from the wellhead before the storm hit, and closed in the well. When some of the eight anchor lines holding the vessel failed the remaining lines were disconnected and it was moved into deeper waters to ride out the storm.

Noble Discoverer was built in 1966 and was originally a bulk carrier called the Matsuhiro Maru. In 1976 it was converted for the energy exploration operations and renamed Frontier Discoverer. The name was changed again to Noble Discoverer last year when drilling company Frontier Drilling merged with fellow driller Noble Corporation.

 

 

Action Alert from PMA: Iwi fishing skipper detained on navy warship

Kia ora koutou,

Here’s an opportunity to help out a campaign that CAN Aotearoa supports – with thanks to Peace Movement Aotearoa for the action alert, received yesterday.
Regards

Tim Jones

— original message from pma@xtra.co.nz —

Please forward on through your networks

Act now: Iwi fishing skipper detained on navy warship 23 April 2011

This action alert has four sections: what happened today, background information, what you can do, and where you can get more information. This message is available on-line at http://www.facebook.com/PeaceMovementAotearoa

What happened today

Elvis Teddy, skipper of the Te Whanau a Apanui tribal fishing boat San Pietro, was arrested at sea and detained on a navy warship while fishing in Te Whanau a Apanui ccustomary fishing grounds in the vicinity of the Orient Explorer, the deep sea oil survey ship ship currently conducting seismic testing in the Raukumara Basin on behalf of Brazilian oil company Petrobras. The arrest came the day after Maritime NZ withdrew the exclusion orders that police officers, assisted by the navy, issued to boats in the vicinity of the Orient Explorer last week.

This morning, Rikirangi Gage, CEO of Te Rununga o Te Whanau (Te Whanau a Apanui), radioed the Orient Explorer from the San Pietro as follows: “This is the San Pietro calling the Orient Explorer. You are not welcome in our waters. Accordingly and as an expression of our mana in these waters and our deep concern for the adverse effects of deep sea drilling, we will be positioning the Te Whanau a Apanui vessel directly in your path, approximately one and a half nautical miles in front of you. We will not be moving, we will be doing some fishing. We wish to reiterate that this is not a protest. We are defending tribal waters and our rights from reckless Government policies and the threat of deep sea drilling, which our hapu have not consented to and continue to oppose. We have a duty to uphold the mana of our hapu here in our territorial waters.” – the radio broadcast is available at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=216640131680960&oid=190815517606834

In response, two navy warships – HMNZS Taupo and HMNZS Hawea – sent inflatables with navy personnel and police officers to board the San Pietro and threatened to arrest all on board. Elvis Teddy was arrested, detained on one of the navy vessels, and taken to Tauranga while the others on board were left to crew the San Pietro.

Background information

On 1 June, the government awarded Brazilian oil company Petrobras a five-year exploration permit for oil and gas in the Raukumara Basin.

The first two stages of exploration involve seismic surveying – firing compressed air from the surface to the seabed, and measuring the acoustic waves bouncing back to the sonar array trailing 10 kilometres behind the Orient Express. Seismic surveying can have an adverse impact on marine life, especially marine mammals. The current surveying is taking place during the season of whale migration along the East Coast.

The permit includes permission for Petrobras to drill an exploratory well. The massive oil and gas spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, which took three months to cap and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the ocean, was from an exploratory well at a depth of 1500 metres.

In the Raukumara Basin, the proposed depths for drilling an exploratory well range from 1500 to 3000 metres. The Raukumara Basin sits on a major and active fault line, and a simple search of geonet – http://www.geonet.org.nz – shows there are frequent earthquakes in the area. It is therefore particularly risky to place any sub-sea installation, such as an oil well, there.

Te Whanau a Apanui were not consulted about the exploration permit, nor did they give their consent for the seismic survey.

What you can do

Contact your local MP as soon as possible and express your concern about the exploration permit, the lack of consultation with Te Whanau a Apanui, the arrest of the skipper of a vessel exercising customary fishing rights, and the protection of the interests of a foreign oil company at the expense of the rights of the local iwi.

Contact details for all MPs are at http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/5858C8A5-ACDF-4B35-8D7A-3ABB7B19ACDB/190664/listofmembers130413.pdf

Where you can get more information

You can get more information on the No Drilling site at http://nodrilling.org.nz the Te Whanau a Apanui page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_190815517606834 and the Stop the Drilling on Our East Coast at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=130406690316831

Some photos from the Te Whanau a Apanui protest in Wellington on 20 April are at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.182818825098828.41171.116517195062325&l=c7c0026ef0

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <><> <> Peace Movement Aotearoa the national networking peace organisation PO Box 9314, Wellington 6141, Aotearoa New Zealand Tel +64 4 382 8129, fax 382 8173 email pma@xtra.co.nz Website – http://www.converge.org.nz/pma Not in Our Name – http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/nionnz.htm <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> >> war on terrorism? war is terrorism << <> <> <> <>

Coal Action Network in Solidarity with Iwi fight against Oil Exploration

 

East Cape Iwi Te Whanau a Apanui have put out a call to groups who want to stand in solidarity with them against oil exploration off their coast.

Coal Action Network has lent its name to the many voices who are calling for a call to end offshore oil drilling.

As fossil fuels become rarer companies are moving into more and more unconventional sources, and into riskier territory. The Deepwater Horizon, and Pike River disasters last year are both examples of high risk projects which have had a high environmental impact and high social impact. It is the same flawed logic and pursuit of profit at any cost that created these disasters which drives the fossil fuel industry. Southland lignite is another such disaster in waiting which if given the go-ahead will substantially contribute to our ever growing climate crisis.

Coal Action Network stands alongside Te Whanau a Apanui in their call against the expansion of the fossil fuel industry and ask that everyone supports their struggle to defend their coastline from international oil.

for more info check out the website http://www.stopdeepseaoil.org.nz/