New Zealand to Big Oil: Beat It
New Zealand’s ban on offshore oil drilling serves as a reminder that our civilization is making solid progress in phasing out fossil fuels. Humankind is coming to grips with the fact that it’s locked in a desperate battle to save the planet’s environment from climate change, ocean acidification, and other forms of eco-disaster, and that its success hinges on telling the oil companies to take a hike.
Yet there is another aspect of this momentous decision that is noteworthy: it derived, at least in part, from environmental activism. The petition that Greenpeace circulated garnered 50K signatures, indicating to the new Prime Minister that New Zealanders were on board with her plan to make their country carbon-free by 2050.
I know there are a few who think that activism doesn’t work–or that it’s counter-productive–yet there is zero evidence to support that view. From the abolitionists to the women suffragettes, to the civil rights activists to the war protesters, we see confirmation of Fredrick Douglass’s insightful comment that “power concedes nothing without a demand.”
Anybody want to bet that the NRA maintains its stranglehold on the Congress in the face of the enormous public pressure for common sense gun laws? There isn’t a chance.
Craig,
The new Labour government is a shaky collision minority administration.
The move will not affect existing permits for exploration or extraction, meaning the industry will continue in NZ several more decades.
The announcement is largely symbolic since currently no demand for further permits exists. The cost of expanding off shore exploration is very high and in the current market not economically very feasible.
Greenpeace and the Green-left have always had a strong presence in NZ, a nation with a long history of environmental activism dating back to protest French Nuclear Testing in the Pacific.
The problem the new Labour government will face in trying to implement a policy to restrict domestic oil production is the increasing domestic consumer and industrial demand.
NZ has the most efficient and environmental domestic refining industries in the world. . Sulphur is recovered as a by-product and sold as a feedstock to the fertiliser industry while processed carbon dioxide is sold to the beverage industry.
All NZ’s export industries (including tourism) are heavily dependent on oil. Unemployment has begun to rise as the impact of the new government on the economy is beginning to match the loss of confidence and slow down in investment.
The domestic oil industry is highly efficient, but an increase in imported oil production from Australia would see NZ carbon emissions actually increase while the local industry would slowly become uneconomic and loss the investment to maintain the current high environmental standards.
NZ has about 4 million vehicles with only 2,500 electric vehicles, despite the new governments rhetoric NZ’ers have not taken to EV’s.
NZ has abundant renewable electric power, but in the wrong locations. Not only is the cost of transmission very expensive, but the existing infrastructure is aging and operating at full capacity.
Like many idealistic decisions taken by new and inexperienced governments, (especially when catering to small coalition partners) this decision will have electoral consequences.