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Email: gerry.brownlee@national.org.nz Email hekia.parata@national.org.nz
or write to the above ministers at
Parliament Buildings, Wellington. (No stamp required)
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Your address here
Ministers for Energy and Resources
Rt. Honourable Gerry Brownlee and Hekia Parata
Parliament Buildings
Wellington.
Add the date
Dear Ministers.
We, the undersigned would like to request a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. There are moratoriums on fracking in many places around the world at the moment, including NSW, Quebec, parts of the USA, and France. If fracking is safe then we wonder why this is so.
Fracking is known to contaminate groundwater. The fracking chemicals can get into groundwater if the casing around the fracking bore leaks, or if the fracking fluid comes back up the outside of the casing, or if the fracking itself results in a connection between the target rock and the aquifer. Once there is contamination it is impossible to reverse the situation.
We are most disturbed that the Taranaki Regional Council is allowing this practice in their district. The government must prevent companies from fracking while the practice is not proven to be safe.
We gather that New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals received two permit applications from New Zealand-based company L&M Energy for coal seam gas extraction at onshore sites in South Canterbury and the Canterbury Plains. Although the links between fracking and seismic activity aren’t entirely proved, you only have to look at the many examples from around the world where links have been made, such as in Blackpool in the UK, to know that in New Zealand with our sensitive seismic environment we should approach this with very great caution.
Recently your government gave permission to Petrobras to drill in the absence of a robust, EPA-based environmental framework, and without the capacity to deal with a catastrophic deep water oil spill in waters that are stormy and inaccessible. This was most irresponsible. Who would be responsible for the ongoing costs of a fracking catastrophe in this country?
We are very unhappy about many of your government’s policies on mining exploration. At the very least we call for a moratorium on fracking until the risks involved are properly understood. Until the moratorium is in place, we need the Ministry and the EPA to enforce National Environmental Standards to the industry (I refer to sections 43 and 44 of the RMA).
Lastly we would like to emphasise that the way to long term economic prosperity for New Zealand is absolutely not by destroying our environment – not for us nor for future generations. Rather than investing in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, we should be strategically positioning ourselves to benefit from the global shift to a more sustainable, low carbon, green growth by utilising clean and green solutions.
Yours Sincerely
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