Oil Free Otago Press Release 27 April 2015
Kayaktivism in Otago Harbour

Oil Free Otago were out on Otago Harbour today practicing kayak formations and ready response manoeuvres.
“We’re practising so that we can safely and effectively protect our oceans when we need to” said Oil Free Otago spokesperson Rosemary Penwarden.
Anadarko, NZ Oil and Gas and Woodside, Australia’s biggest petroleum company, have been seismic testing off the Otago coast all summer.
“We want Anadarko, NZ Oil and Gas and Woodside to know we don’t like what they are doing in our ocean.” Ms Penwarden said.
“Our ready response kayak team is in solidarity with the kayaktivists of Port Angeles, Washington, where local people took to the water last week to blockade Shell’s giant drill rig on its way to the Arctic.”
“Global warming is melting the Arctic. Now Shell wants to drill in the newly exposed ocean and cause more global warming. That’s the definition of insanity” said Ms Penwarden
We can’t even burn most of the oil and gas we already have and stay within two degrees of global warming. The easy oil is gone, but now oil companies are going to extremes to get what’s left, like the Arctic and our frontier southern region. Lower oil prices make short cuts and accidents more likely than ever.
On the fifth anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon disaster, Oil Free Otago are demonstrating it’s up to the people to say “No more. Such a catastrophe must never happen again.”
“We will oppose Anadarko, NZ Oil and Gas and Woodside every step of the way,” said Ms Penwarden.

“They should expect resistance. New Zealand’s future is not deep sea drilling. Our future is clean energy”