The people’s bid – no more oil and gas drilling in Taranaki

Support our petition! Sign here: https://www.toko.org.nz/petitions/the-people-s-bid-no-more-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-taranaki

We – the people of Aotearoa – are together bidding on the 2,188 km² of onshore Taranaki land made available for oil and gas drilling by the government. We are not bidding to destroy the land. We are bidding in defense of the climate!

We all know, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is very clear, that we need radical change now to prevent climate chaos. This is an emergency and we have to act accordingly. The last thing we should be doing now is to look for more fossil fuels!

Jacinda Ardern and Megan Woods – we are calling on you to do the right thing for future generations and rescind the 2018 Petroleum Block Offer in onshore Taranaki.

Why is this important?
To defend our climate, we need to stop handing out oil and gas permits. The government has opened up 2,188 km² of Taranaki land to oil companies. We are saying: NO WAY! Handing out permits for more fossil fuel exploration while the planet is melting can only be described as ecocide and crime against humanity. Fossil fuel companies have known of their impacts on climate and ocean chemistry for many decades, and have acted to increase their biosphere-destroying activities, not transition to clean renewables.

We are reading reports about the collapse of the glaciers in Greenland and the collapse of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The melting of the ice will lead to sea-level rise of several meters. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere keep rising due to increasing emissions despite politicians saying that climate change is a priority. If we are to take climate change seriously – and we owe it to our children – then we need to stop drilling for more oil and gas or digging up more coal now. Handing out permits to oil companies now is like handing out death certificates to our children.

Support our petition! Sign here: https://www.toko.org.nz/petitions/the-people-s-bid-no-more-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-taranaki

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VIDEO: Protest in Kapuni – Disrupt the climate criminals

Gas >> Synthetic Urea >> Industrial Dairy = CLIMATE CRISIS!

Halt all Block Offers on Oil & Gas

Demand Methane emission targets are the same as fossil fuel emission targets – no letting Fonterra off the hook again in the new Zero Carbon Act.

MEDIA RELEASE: Earth protectors disrupt Taranaki climate criminals

MEDIA RELEASE: Earth protectors disrupt Taranaki climate criminals

“The business operations happening at Kapuni, in South Taranaki, can best be described as a climate crime scene” says Emily Bailey, a member of Climate Justice Taranaki.

Climate protectors disrupted activities at drilling company Todd Energy, chemical fertiliser manufacturer Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Fonterra in southern Taranaki today to make it clear that the time for real climate action is now.

“We strongly object to the new oil and gas block offers announced last week. All new permits must be halted until the climate crisis is averted. It is completely irresponsible to keep extracting more and more fossil fuels. Until this happens there is little incentive for a true transition away from fossil fuels, as can be seen in some proposals to use gas to make hydrogen power. All renewable energy sources must be completely free of fossil fuels.”

“We also want everyone to see the massive dependence of this country’s industrial dairy farming on fossil fuels for fertiliser, machinery, transport, processing and packaging. The government announced today that the new Zero Carbon Act will split agricultural emissions from fossil fuel emissions and only demand a 10% gross reduction on 2017 methane levels by 2030. We say this is not good enough.”

“We have to stop measuring methane on a 100 year scale and think ten years which is what we have left to stop this runaway climate crisis. On a 20 year scale methane is about over 80 times worse than carbon dioxide.”

MEDIA RELEASE: Climate Justice Taranaki opposes new oil and gas block offer

“We completely oppose the government’s 2018 Block Offer for oil and gas drilling in Taranaki released yesterday. To hand out permits to greedy oil and gas companies while the planet is melting can only be described as criminal” says Climate Justice Taranaki spokesperson Urs Signer.

“We are reading reports about the collapse of the glaciers in Greenland and the collapse of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The melting of the ice will lead to sea-level rise of several meters. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere keep rising due to increasing emissions despite politicians saying that climate change is a priority. If we are to take climate change seriously – and we owe it to our children – then we need to stop drilling for more oil and gas now. Handing out permits to drilling companies now is like handing out death certificates to our children.”

“While there are no new opportunities for offshore drilling in Aotearoa, almost all of onshore Taranaki is still up for grabs, or already permitted for drilling.”

“We need radical and collective change to a low-carbon, circular economy that’s based on the principles of justice, equality and long-term survival. We need to say no to the endless cries of these greedy companies who don’t give a damn about the needs of everyone else on this planet, who count the deadly costs of climate change as necessities for their betterment. Humans have become increasingly addicted to fossil fuels and their synthetic products over the past century, a blink in time that is irrevocably impacting the present and future of humanity and our biosphere. To keep drilling now at the cost of killing the planet is the suicidal agenda of the rich and wannabe rich gone mad.”

Media coverage:

Taranaki onshore drilling block offer opens for tender (Stuff, 1 May 19)

“Radical and collective change” needed to stop drilling in Taranaki (Maori TV,  2 May 19)

Taranaki oil block offer defies climate reality (Waatea News, 2 May 19)

 

 

Press release: Taranaki Hydrogen roadmap smoke and mirrors

Climate Justice Taranaki questions the environmental and economic arguments for the Taranaki Hydrogen Roadmap released on Friday.

“The roadmap is full of fanciful ideas and technologies that are unproven and still at the experimental or development stages. They are fine if we have lots of time, but we are in a climate emergency. With just 12 years left to turn things around, we need to act fast by upscaling proven renewable energy technologies, and investing in energy conservation and resilience,” said Catherine Cheung, spokesperson for Climate Justice Taranaki.

MEDIA RELEASE: Climate defence protest against oil drillers – New Plymouth

On Wednesday 20th February members of Climate Justice Taranaki will be restarting ongoing protests at the headquarters of climate polluters in Taranaki. This week, the group is going to Todd Energy and OMV from 12pm, at 32-38 Molesworth St, New Plymouth to demonstrate continued opposition to oil and gas drilling.

“We are currently witnessing an unprecedented global youth movement in defence of the climate. Students from across the world are going on strike and taking inspiring actions to demand urgent system change. If we want to have any chance of a stable climate for future generations, we have to stop extracting fossil fuels now” says Urs Signer, spokesperson for Climate Justice Taranaki.

“Despite the government’s law change to ban new offshore petroleum permits, existing permit holders continue to drill on- and offshore, and new permits may be issued onshore in Taranaki. We are currently finding ourselves in the sixth mass extinction event with current rates of extinction of species estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background rates.”

“What we need is an urgent and just transition away from fossil fuels, industrial agriculture and a greedy economic system that is based on destroying the environment, communities and people’s livelihoods for the benefits of the one percent. Our message to the companies and the rich and powerful is this: your time is up. We can now choose between extinction or rebellion – and the striking students across the globe are telling us – it’s time to rebel in defence of our climate” concludes Urs Signer.

Media coverage:

Taranaki leaders determined to help region grow despite oil industry woes (TDN, 21Feb19)

Media release: Just Transition plan not just or workable

Climate Justice Taranaki is skeptical of public workshops beginning this week on a ‘Taranaki 2050 Roadmap’. The workshops continue the Tapuae Roa strategy and action plan recently written by the Ministry for Business Inovation and Enterprise (MBIE), the four councils and business heads with only some iwi input.

“The idea of this just transition plan sounds great but in reality it’s the same old profit-driven, environmentally and socially destructive global capitalist model. This is the exact model that in only a few generations brought us to the crisis we now face. What’s more, the community is only getting a say once they already agreed on the core of the plan and the workshops are being held during work hours when most people can’t participate. It’s unworkable and unjust.” says spokesperson Emily Bailey for Climate Justice Taranaki.

“The problem with the plan is the focus remains on growing the economy and increasing international shipping and tourism. There is still a complete lack of understanding that economic growth typically comes from social and environmental degradation. It is highly unlikely alternatives to the huge energy-guzzling ships and numerous planes we now use will come online by 2050. Importing and exporting goods is also incredibly wasteful and shifts profit from the poor producers to the rich traders. Remaining reliant on this market model leads us blindly to a collapse of global dairy markets and international tourism – this country’s two largest earners.”

“Our current gas fields are quickly running out and we less than 12 years left to turn the tide on climate change. More efficient use of gas such as the new H2 project is just too little too late and still too polluting given the massive CO2 emissions when burnt, fugitive methane emissions from numerous leaks and nitrous oxide emissions from the urea fertiliser they want to make – not to mention the burping cows. When you calculate methane not in a 100 year cycle but in a 20 year cycle like we do for CO2, it is actually 84 times worse than CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times worse.”

“Millions of public money should not have been given to “high risk” energy development projects for big business. It should be supporting thousands of small-scale, diverse and sustainable local projects run by communities who know what needs to be done. Just transition economies exist but the government has chosen to put our country’s future in the hands of those who created the mess we are in: profiteers.”

“We have to face the fact that a just transition involves much more than phasing out fossil fuels. A just transition must address the fact that all natural resources and ecosystems are on the brink of collapse due to our modern take, use and trash lifestyles. We need to shift our economic focus to the local community level. We need to rehabilitate native ecosystems such as fisheries and decentralise and connect communities with diverse farms and workshops that provide food and other products for locals. This is just transition. Our current trajectory is extinction and the only alternative is rebellion to the status quo.” concludes Bailey.

As Naomi Klein said “the answer is far more simple than many have led us to believe: we have not done the things that are necessary to lower emissions because those things fundamentally conflict with deregulated capitalism, the reigning ideology for the entire period we have been struggling to find a way out of this crisis. We are stuck because the actions that would give us the best chance of averting catastrophe — and would benefit the vast majority — are extremely threatening to an elite minority that has a stranglehold over our economy, our political process, and most of our major media outlets.”

Cartoon source: https://www.theselc.org/building_just_transition_with_a_pcec

Media coverage:

Phony transition claim as Taranaki looks to the future (Waatea News, 14/02/2019)

Taranaki transition: ‘There will be new forms of energy’ (RNZ, 15/02/2019)

Taranaki plots course to low emissions economy (RNZ, 15/02/2019)