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Protests are forming around plans by Texas oil company Anadarko to drill an exploratory well about 200 kilometres west of Raglan this summer.
Last night Oil Free Seas held a meeting in Auckland to discuss the formation of a protest flotilla of ocean-going yachts to be in the area when Anadarko's exploratory ship the Noble Bob Douglas arrives in about 10 days.
There was also a public meeting in Raglan, where people discussed the risks and rewards of any oil discovery.
Meeting organiser Angeline Greensill says local hapu from the harbours along the Waikato coast weren’t consulted about Anadarko’s plans.
She says they don‘t believe the Government’s justification for opening up New Zealand's coasts for the oil industry.
"They’re interested in transforming our economy after we’ve sold all of our assets. They’re going to grow the economy and create all these jobs, and this is from their own oil spill preparedness report, they’re going to do all this stuff, and it’s going to be apparently good for the economy. Well it isn’t. They’ll probably create about 90 highly paid jobs, that’s it. So it’s not many jobs and they’re not the sort of jobs our people are equipped to do," Mrs Greensill says.
She says the seas off Raglan already support and economy of fisheries and tourism that will be lost if there was any oil spill.
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