Greenpeace Pledges Continued Fight Against Seabed Mining As Australian Miners Lodge EPA Application

Greenpeace says it will continue the fight to stop seabed mining starting in Aotearoa after Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) announced it has reapplied to the Environmental Protection Authority via the Fast-Track Act to start seabed mining in the South Taranaki Bight.

Greenpeace is urging the EPA to throw out the seabed mining application without delay.

Greenpeace spokesperson Juressa Lee says, "With our allies in the Taranaki community and beyond, Greenpeace has opposed TTR’s seabed mining application for more than 10 years. We challenged them all the way to the Supreme Court and won. TTR failed to show that seabed mining wouldn’t harm the environment and pulled out of the EPA hearings in March 2024.

"Now these wannabe seabed miners are grasping at the lifeline thrown by the Luxon government’s fast-track process to revive their zombie project, but fast track or not, we will not let it happen without a fight.

"The EPA should reject the TTR seabed mining application without delay, and throw it in the bin. They have already heard overwhelming expert evidence against this dangerous new industry and should take it into account now.

"More than 53,000 people have signed a petition to stop seabed mining. The EPA must recognise Greenpeace’s long-running opposition and civil society advocacy and allow these thousands of supporters some representation in an otherwise non-transparent process. Alongside iwi, hapū and our allies, we will make sure to stop seabed mining before it ever gets a foothold in the moana around Aotearoa."

More than 20,000 people marched for nature against the Fast Track in June 2024, showing their opposition to the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory.

Trans-Tasman Resources is planning to extract 50 million tonnes of iron sand from the South Taranaki Bight every year for 35 years and dump 45 million tonnes a year back into the ocean.

Seabed mining in the South Taranaki Bight would damage rich ecosystems and threaten precious marine life such as the pygmy blue whale, Māui and Hector’s dolphins and kororā.

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