Environment risk of oil drilling being weighed up
Prime Minister John Key has sought to ease concerns about deep sea oil drilling off the East Cape, saying nothing will go ahead if environmental risks can not be managed.
Prime Minister John Key has sought to ease concerns about deep sea oil drilling off the East Cape, saying nothing will go ahead if environmental risks can not be managed.
Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras is planning to conduct seismic testing for oil sediments in the Raukumara Basin after it last year bought a five-year permit to explore the area.
Over the weekend, swimmers from a protest flotilla of five vessels forced the oil survey ship the Orient Explorer to divert off course by swimming close to the ship.
Greenpeace climate campaigner Steve Abel said protesters were sending an "emphatic message" to the Government that deep sea oil drilling would not be tolerated in the country's waters.
"If we don't stop this initial deep sea oil exploration, rigs could be off coasts all around New Zealand in the near future, each one increasing the risk of spills and fuelling climate change as the oil is burnt."
Mr Key said the Government needed to weigh up the environmental risks with potential value of allowing drilling.
"No one's arguing that there are not environmental issues to consider, everyone's aware of what happened in the Gulf of Mexico, but at the end this is very early days and we want New Zealanders to have better jobs and better incomes, and there's a real opportunity here," he told TVNZ today.
Petrobas had legal rights and should be able to complete their exploratory work, he said.
"Of course we have to be conscious of the environmental risks that presents.
"We're not going to progress unless we can manage those environmental risks but I believe we can."
NZPA
Mon, 11 Apr 2011
Mon, 11 Apr 2011
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Environment risk of oil drilling being weighed up
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