Climate Justice Taranaki opposes new oil and gas block offer

1st May 2019

“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.”

ENDS

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