We're on dangerous territory

TAG Oil's Cheal production station in Stratford. PHOTO/FILE

I spent a long day in Taranaki recently, the least fun I've ever had in that beautiful region. Along with a busload of other Whanganui folk, I was on a guided tour of oil and gas well sites in southern Taranaki led by local affected landowners. I was alarmed by what I saw and heard.

We can't afford to think of unconventional oil and gas exploration (including fracking) as a Taranaki issue that doesn't affect us here.

In June this year, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment produced a comprehensive report, which concluded that government oversight and regulation of oil and gas production in New Zealand is not adequate for managing the environmental risks of the industry.

The report warned we could see wells begin to proliferate across the countryside. That includes the East Coast Basin area that stretches from Hawke's Bay to Manawatu.

You may know that you don't own the minerals under your land: ownership is claimed by the Crown, which sells the right to extract them. But did you know that you do not have the right to stop a company holding a permit to drill for oil or gas from coming on to your land to construct a well site?

There are many risks in extracting the resources that lie locked up beyond the reach of conventional drilling. Overseas, communities are protesting the expansion of unconventional drilling, especially fracking and coal seam gas extraction, expressing concerns about falling water tables, groundwater contamination, industrialisation of rural landscapes, noise and light pollution, health impacts and toxic waste disposal.

The biggest risk of all is climate change. As Bill McKibben warned in his Do The Math tour of New Zealand, we can emit 565 more gigatons of CO2 to have a hope of keeping global warming below a 2C rise. Yet burning the fossil fuel that corporations already have in their reserves would result in the release of 2795 gigatons of CO2, nearly five times that amount.

We can't afford to burn what has already been extracted. But still our governments allow and encourage risky exploration on and off shore rather than planning for energy descent and alternative energy generation.

Dr Jan Wright's report is not an impossible read. It's well and clearly written. A Listener editorial called it "a typically balanced report" and its tone is moderate.

It is quite long, and a 90-page read is a stretch for our Internet-addled attention spans, but I encourage you to make the effort.

On Monday, September 1, Taranaki comes to us: Sarah Roberts and Catherine Cheung will speak from their experience about the impact of unconventional oil and gas exploration in Taranaki and its implications for the rest of the country.

Council and Government representatives are also being invited and MP Gareth Hughes is attending. Bring your questions and join us: 7.30pm at the Quaker Meeting House, 256 Wicksteed St.

RK Rose is a writer, permaculture practitioner, community organiser (and member of the Green Party).