Otago Peninsula

Quarantine Island Fight for Their Right to Oppose Deep Sea Drilling

Press Release

In late October 2013 the St Martin Island Community Inc erected a NO
DRILL sign on our jetty on Quarantine Island, Otago Harbour. The sign
was provided by Oil Free Otago on our request after we initiated a
meeting between the two groups.

On the 10th January 2014 we were issued with an abatement notice from
the Otago Regional Council to remove the NO DRILL signage from the jetty
on Quarantine Island. We are appealing this abatement notice.

In the abatement notice ORC state that the signage is advertising and
that the coastal permit for the jetty does not allow this, but SMIC
believe the signage provides a prudent safety message.

The RMA legislation is effects based – this signage is all about
reducing our environmental effects’ SMIC spokesperson Francine Vella said.

The St Martin Island Community have lodged an appeal against the
abatement notice with the Environment Court.

Francine Vella on Behalf of the St Martin Island Community Inc,
Quarantine Island, Otago Harbour.

Beach Cleaners Protest Shell

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Oil Free Otago staged a ‘beach cleaner’ protest outside Community House on Thursday, where Shell Oil were meeting with environmental groups about their plans for drilling off our coasts in the Great South Basin.

This meeting was part of Shell’s campaign to legitimise their claim that “Environmental concerns are very close to our heart.” To this, we say “Fui”, something Dave’s nana used to say to mean “bullshit”. Shell have a terrible safety and environmental track record. For example, Shell spilled nearly 14,000 tonnes of crude oil into the creeks of the Niger Delta in 2011, they have also recently had to cancel their plans to drill for oil in the Arctic this year.

Our first objective for the day was to engage with members of the public to make them aware of the deep-sea oil risk that is being posed to our coasts. We had an overwhelmingly positive response, with many members of the public joining us in protest for various periods of time.

It was our goal to ensure that Shell is aware that they, and any other oil companies, are unwelcome to drill off the coasts of Otago. We achieved this by, very ‘vocally’, escorting’ the Shell representatives to their car (which we noted was parked in the Countdown carpark, rather than in legal pay-and -display parking 😉 ). They were certainly in a hurry to leave.

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Derek Onley, who attended the meeting on behalf of the Ornithological Society, said,

“There was little new information.Shell have back-pedaled on their ’empty-ocean’ stance, and are now accepting that yes, the ocean is full of creatures. In fact, they now agree that their drill site is in the middle of a whale migration zone. They mentioned that if there was an oil blow out, it would take relief response at least 14 days to arrive here from Singapore.”

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Shell said that they have still not decided whether or not they will go ahead and drill.

Oil Free Otago will continue to oppose Shell and Anadarko at every step of the way.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/267143/oil-free-otago-protest s-outside-meeting

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What’s in the Pipelines

This summer Texan oil giant, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, intends to begin their test drilling program in the Canterbury Basin, NZ. The Caravel prospect is located off the coast of Moeraki, and the Carrick prospect is directly off the Otago Peninsula. The global oil giants Shell and OMV are also currently exploring the Great South Basin for new oil and gas reserves (exploration permit PEP 50119) with the intent to extract these resources in the near future, also just off the coast of Dunedin.

– Anadarko had a 25% share in the project that caused the Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill, Gulf of Mexico in 2010, spilling over 600,000 tonnes of oil into the sea.
– Shell spilled nearly 14,000 tonnes of crude oil into the creeks of the Niger Delta in 2011.

Deep-sea oil-drilling is of major concern in the Otago region of New Zealand because of the alarming environmental and economic risks that it poses to our people, our climate, and our land and sea. There are currently no adequate protection measures in place to protect our environment from a deep sea oil disaster. Aotearoa stands to gain just 5% of the profits from the drilling, yet we will bear 100% of the risk involved. History tells us that it is only a matter of time before we pay the price. Global oil giants are not welcome to drill in our coastal waters.