planning to exploit

The government are ramping up the oil exploitation and have recently made an area the size of Te Waipounamu available for this, that is a total of 1,500 square kilometres of onshore exploration territory and 190,000 sq kms of offshore territory. When you look at the map of these areas being opened up you can really see how big their plans are. 

Prime minister key has said that he thinks the regulations will keep the cowboys out and Economic Development Minister steven joyce has said that the poorest regions of this country, the 'backwater regions' should rethink their opposition to mining and get on board because it will boost economic growth. Well firstly key is a liar and cannot be trusted so anything he says must be taken with many grains of salt - gives us something to rub into the wounds and as for joyce, I'm afraid he is cut from the same cloth - cannot be trusted and he proves this with his myopic focus on the mythical benefits of growth. This government is only concerned with making more money for them and their mates - do not be under any illusion - and the absurd aspect is that the potential growth is just that, potential and not even likely, just made up numbers that bolster the exploitation and potentially increase the profits of the international mining companies.

The opposition to these moves will need to remain focused to stop them and we must stop them because as shell says it would take 14 days to cap a major oil leak but remember the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico  took 87 days to contain and the Montara oil spill and gas leak in the Timor Sea, off the northern coast of Western Australia took 74 days to contain so those assurances mean little, they are just dreams and hopes. My dream and hope is that tangata whenua with like-minded people will work together to halt their plans.

We will not listen to their bland promises of growth or environmental protection, we will fight them all the way. I look at that map and see how close to Farewell Spit Nature Reserve they will drill and I am very concerned, very concerned indeed because that beautiful, important area will not be able to take 70 days of oil spewing near it. The only way to ensure protection of Onetahua is to make sure they are not able to begin.