February 10, 2013
Oil driller grilled on Kaikoura plans
Ngāi Tahu leader Sir Mark Solomon says his Kaikoura Rūnaka wants to hear more from oil explorer Anadarko.
The New Zealand manager of the American company and Resources Minister Simon Bridges held a public meeting in Kaikoura last week to outline the plan to prospect two blocks 120 kilometres off the coast.
Sir Mark says the community opposes the plan because of environmental risks and the threat to fishing and tourism, and it is unlikely to see any economic benefit.
“If they were to drill in the future and that’s potentially 4 to 5 years away, if they were to go through the consent process and get consent to drill. I seriously doubt whether any flow on effects will come on to the Kaikoura community. It would be more likely that if there was a rig that it would go into Wellington or into the North Island”.
Sir Mark says he invited Anadarko to come back to Kaikoura Mārae to hear the tangata whenua view on kaitiakitanga.
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