Delegates at New Plymouth's biennial Oil and Gas Expo had to run the gauntlet of protesters to get into their conference.
About 30 protesters from Climate Justice Taranaki, Frack-free Kapiti, Te Uru Pounamu Action Group, Oil Free Wellington, Frack-free Manawatu and the East Coast whanau were on hand yesterday to show their opposition to the industry.
Emily Bailey from Climate Justice Taranaki says it is irresponsible to keep extracting fossil fuels and better drilling practice will not stop catastrophic climate change.
She says a major system change that dramatically reduces energy use is needed now, because , and it's too late to rely on renewable energy and efficiency measures.
Ms Bailey says companies at the expo attempted to show they were listening to concerns around their poor environmental and worker safety protections but they remained silent on climate change.
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