Government giveaways to ExxonMobil
green-party
Thu Jul 19 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Government giveaways to ExxonMobil
Thursday, 19 July 2007, 3:56 pm
Press Release: Green Party
19 July 2007
Government giveaways to ExxonMobil in Great South Basin
The Green Party today expressed its consternation that the Government proposes giving away New Zealand's oil and gas returns from the Great South Basin for little return, while exposing us to the risk of huge environmental damage in a sensitive ecological region rich with endangered marine and bird life, Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.
"Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoeven has proudly told the Otago Daily Times that New Zealand will be offering to ExxonMobil and OMV Consortium one of the cheapest oil and gas royalty regimes in the world. Not only has the Government not done any Strategic Environment Assessment of the environmental risks involved, as would happen in Europe. It is not even requiring a liability bond to be posted, to cover the clean-up costs of any spillage in this sensitive region," Ms Fitzsimons says.
" On the liability question, the Associate Minister said that Exxon Mobil will be subject to the provisions of the Maritime Safety Act - thus raising the ludicrous prospect of a gigantic multinational such as ExxonMobil quaking in their boots, and being admonished into paying their clean-up bill by a visit from a few bureaucrats from Maritime New Zealand.
"In addition, the Government has given away for free the multi-million dollar seismic information for the region to none other than ExxonMobil, a company that funds climate change denial groups.
"It is not as if New Zealand motorists stand to gain a concession price for oil from any oil strike in the Great South Basin, as some countries do from strikes in their region. As the Associate Minister confirmed, we will be paying the full world price for any oil or gas discovered.
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"The Associate Minister's statement in the House that we will progress towards climate neutrality by using gas from the project at the Huntly power station is absurd, and contrary to the Government's own Energy Strategy, which says that power stations in future should be fuelled by renewable resources.
I challenge the Minister to table in the House for public scrutiny the full deals negotiated with these companies, in both the exploration and the production phases of the projects,'' Ms Fitzsimons says.
ENDS
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