Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Every now and then something really surprising happens.  Yesterday was one of those days when news broke that the Government wants to open National Parks, Marine Reserves and Wildlife Sanctuaries to mining. It’s a bit like putting a brothel in a church.

You might think that the whole point to having National Parks, Wilderness Areas, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Marine Reserves is that they wouldn’t be mined. Well, that’s not what the Government thinks. Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced a proposal to allow mining in these areas. Read more »

New Zealand’s environment is bruised. Since National came to power, it has been dealt some nasty blows. Our clean green brand is reeling, black and blue from disrespect and shoddy treatment. And today it was blindsided with the announcement of a ‘reform’ of the Resource Management Act.

Essentially the changes will make it easier for developments to proceed, and harder for individuals and communities to object.
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National’s John Key is looking to be more sizzle than sausage on climate change…

It feels like the 80s, when coal fired power stations were still considered cool and global warming was something to worry about in the 22nd century. At least that’s how the new Government is behaving. Its confidence and supply arrangement with ACT includes the following: ditching the 10 year moratorium on new fossil fuel generation, “reviewing” the ETS (read: either scrapping it or watering it down to the point of redundancy) and maybe even…wait for it….reviewing the science on climate change.

In other words, Key is proposing to drag New Zealand backwards into the mud of global disgrace and irrelevancy. Can you imagine what it’s going to do for our country to be branded the latest climate deniers? I can see it now….as the US steps down from this unenviable dais, Rodney steps up, arms aloft in a yellow splash of victory. Read more »

The National Party is set to announce its Cabinet line up in next two days. Former Shadow Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee is likely to feature as Energy Minister.

This is the same Mr Brownlee that has publicly professed a strange coal fetish. He has gone so far as to call this climate-killing energy dinosaur “sexy”. Best Gerry stays well away from Huntly if that’s the case.

He’s also a big fan of gas, another fossil fuel and contributor to climate change. This was all reflected in the party’s energy strategy, released just prior to the election. The strategy failed to even mention climate change and read like something from the 1970s. Read more »

Now is not the time for New Zealand to be sticking its head in the sand over climate change over climate change, no matter what Rodney says.

Last week, Americans around the world were being kissed by strangers; so happy was the global population that the fine people of the US of A had chosen vision and hope over fear and greed. I cannot say the same feeling prevailed over the Land of the Long White Cloud on Sunday morning. Most people were too perplexed that Roger Douglas had risen from the ashes. (I for one had been certain “80s revival” only extended to garish wardrobes, but seemingly not). Read more »

Proposed site of the new gas fired power station

Yesterday the National Party released its pro-gas energy policy; I think it’s timely to take a look at how planned fossil fuel projects play out in the communities affected….

When the Government announced its proposed climate legislation in October last year, many residents of the Rodney District North of Auckland breathed a sigh of relief, because the proposal included a target of 90 per cent renewable generation by 2025 and a ban on state-owned enterprises building new fossil fuel generated power plants. Then came proposals for an emissions trading scheme (ETS) and ten-year moratorium on new thermal generation for all electricity generators. It looked like Genesis Energy’s proposal for a new gas-fired power station in Rodney would die a quiet death. At the time, Energy Minister David Parker stated on Radio NZ that the moratorium meant Rodney Power Station would not proceed. Finance Minister Michael Cullen said “We do not need that amount of additional thermal capacity given what we are told is available in terms of wind, geothermal and hydro”.
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The party that would govern New Zealand after the next election released its energy policy today. Crude curses and furrowed brows abound at Greenpeace HQ. It’s like National is living in an alternate reality where climate change doesn’t exist.

The new policy reads like something from the 70s, and utterly fails to acknowledge the biggest collective crisis we’re ever faced. It’s heavily reliant on gas, does not support renewables to any significant degree and places little emphasis on energy efficiency and conservation. Also, extraordinarily, it sanctions coal for power generation. Yes, coal – that old dinosaur of fossil fuels, that blatant climate killer. Now, we know from Energy Spokesman Gerry Brownlee’s video newsletter of last year – one chapter of which is entitled “sexy coal” – that this is a man who finds strange things attractive.
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Land conversion happening in the Tahorakuri Forest near Taupo on the North Island. The land is being converted into large-scale intensive dairy farms. Greenpeace/John Cowpland

Today New Zealand is playing host to the UN-sponsored World Environment Day, a day of feel-good publicity stunts and a lot of back-patting over how well behaved New Zealand is when it comes to the environment.

The PR material says New Zealand is hosting the event because we are “among a pioneer group of countries committed to accelerating a transition to a low carbon and carbon-neutral economy”. Really? Why? Because we have a Prime Minister for whom “carbon neutrality” rolls off the tongue with such ease? Because our landscape is naturally characterised by large patches of green? Because we’ve talked the clean green talk for so long that people have forgotten to check if it’s actually true?

It could of course be argued that, far from accelerating anywhere, we’re going into a distinct backward slide when it comes to the environment. You only need to look at the recent State of The Environment Report to see that our scorecard is looking pretty grim and there are some frightening trends that need to be urgently reversed. Read more »

Here is a Greenpeace opinion-editorial running in the NZ Herald today:

National Party Environment Spokesman Nick Smith debates hia party’s climate change policies at a political debate onboard the Rainbow Warrior in April.
Greenpeace/Sharomov

Big business in New Zealand must be rubbing its hands: its plea to MPs has succeeded: “Don’t take any action on climate change, or if you do, subsidise us enough so we don’t feel it.”

It’s hard to think of a message more out of step with the values of ordinary New Zealanders.

Climate change is the world’s greatest collective challenge. The recent cyclone in Burma demonstrates all too starkly the damage and suffering caused by extreme weather events. Expect more of these events in coming years, and expect them to be more extreme if we don’t take action to deal to their root cause.

Despite this ticking clock, we’ve seen an orchestrated attempt by big business to scuttle proposed climate policies. Many aren’t happy to see their polluting plans challenged, including state-owned polluters like Genesis Energy and Solid Energy and the farming lobby. Read more »