Why is it that other coastal regions (Napier City Council) can have instantaneous permanent warning systems but not Hastings?
Xan Harding, Hastings
Consult public
I sat in the Hawke's Bay Regional Council meeting with the Tag Oil representative on January 25.
I am grateful to councillor Liz Remmerswaal, who made great attempts to ask pertinent questions.
I was disappointed by councillor Fenton Wilson, who made it difficult for Liz's questions to be voiced and made value judgments on some of her questions.
The Tag Oil rep was visibly anxious and answered in a round-a-bout way when asked to offer a public meeting so that the public might have a chance to ask their questions and be heard.
I was surprised to discover that a public meeting was not compulsory as the contamination from fracking in Hawke's Bay could destroy our tourism industry, export credibility, property values and our health.
The representative spent most of their allotted time detailing the company's financial risk if start "exploring" (actually it's mining) for oil in Porangahau.
I was asking myself, "Does he think anyone in this room cares about his company's risk?"
Obviously we want to know why we should simply give away our natural resources and let you poison our water, land and air with your toxic fracking fluid and possibly set off a catastrophic earthquake.
I would like to hear from others who think that we, the people of Hawke's Bay, have at least the right to a public meeting on this. (Abridged.)
F. Hope, Hastings
Fracking madness
The oil companies who wish to conduct "seismic activity" in Hawke's Bay to test for oil are most likely going to use the fracking method, which fractures rock deep underground using large amounts of water and chemicals. The water then becomes seriously contaminated, risking pollution to the aquifer and therefore our drinking water. As well as environmental chemical pollution, it is believed to carry earthquake risk.
If they find oil the Government has already told them that they can have it, so we would be left with a weakened geological structure, polluted water and earth, with all the profits going offshore.
The first site they want to test is at Porangahau, where there has just been a 4.2-magnitude earthquake and where ratepayers, if they spill any chemicals into the ground, face the wrath of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.
The council's responsibility is clear - to prevent this madness from happening.
However, we don't hold our breath. As usual, they'll probably just go with the money.
Paddy and Glyn Cooper, Napier
