This Government is literally gaslighting us over Gas
Dear NZ
The Right are lying to you!
No new gas likely before 2035 despite government’s plans to un-ban exploration
The government’s own advice on repealing the oil and gas exploration ban says no new gas fields are likely to be discovered and developed in the next 10 years.
The latest modelling, urgently released under the Official Information Act and obtained by RNZ, says in the short term repealing the ban is unlikely to significantly bolster gas supplies from existing fields, either.
That makes the climate impacts of the law change smaller, but also shrinks any expected impact on the energy market.
Resources Minister Shane Jones has sold the law change as being needed to keep gas flowing and “keep the lights on”, after supplies from existing gas fields dwindled sharply this year.
He responded to the latest modelling today by saying the repeal was “long term thinking” and a “contingency” in case big growth in renewable energy did not pan out.
They gave Kiwis days to respond to this change in law.
4 days.
They’ve given ACT 6 months to push their Treaty Principles Referendum that won’t go anywhere, but just 4 days to respond to empower mining and gas exploration.
As for the lies Jones keep spreading about NZ using Indonesian coal…
Shane Jones uses Indonesian coal to defend government policy again – is he right?
Analysis – Resources Minister Shane Jones loves talking about Indonesian coal, and is now using it to justify undoing the oil and gas exploration ban, but do his claims stack up?
In May, Jones used coal imports to justify why New Zealand should open up more coal mining, telling Morning Report that the country should develop more of its own coal, rather than importing “dirty” coal from Indonesia “to keep the lights on.”
It’s always good to fact-check such claims – and when RNZ did, we found the imported coal that Genesis Energy burns at its Huntly power station is of a different, cheaper grade than the stuff New Zealand tends to mine and export.
This week, Indonesian coal is back – and this time it is being used to justify undoing the oil and gas exploration ban.
On Tuesday morning Jones was on Morning Report again, being challenged about whether opening up for exploration was really going to “keep the lights on”, as he had said.
Official advice showed no new gas fields were expected to come online until after 2035 and existing fields would also not push out significantly more gas in the short-term, as a result of the reversal.
Jones has mentioned Indonesian coal repeatedly in defence of repealing the oil and gas ban, a reversal which has outraged Pacific and some European countries and which, according to documents obtained by the website Newsroom, likely breaches New Zealand’s free trade deal with Europe.
He brought it up twice in the first two days of this week alone – first an interview with RNZ on Monday and again, live on radio, the following day, saying: “No-one in 2018 when Jacinda Ardern cancelled the industry told us that we’d be relying on Indonesian coal, but here we are” and “At no time did Jacinda Ardern share with myself or Winston Peters that her decision was going to lead to an increasing reliance on Indonesian coal.”
But is the 2018 ban on exploring for new oil and gas fields off New Zealand’s coasts responsible for the gas shortage facing Genesis Energy and other major gas users today, and the reason Genesis is burning that coal from Indonesia?
Official advice from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) puts doubt on that claim.
…we are a nation of easily led sheep.
We are being manipulated into changing regulations for the Mining Industry, just like TDB warned on day 1 of this new Government.
We are ramming through changes that empower the polluters on a Late Stage Capitalism burning planet.
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The real downturn in oil and gas exploration happened not in 2018 with the Labour ban on new license areas, but in 2015-16 when the price of crude oil plummeted down to around $US50 a barrel. The oil companies virtually shut up shop and walked away from exploration. The major fields in Taranaki, Kapuni and Maui are around 60 years old and we have squandered the opportunity to build national wealth, as Denmark has, from these finds. The failure to find a commercial field in the promising structures off the east coast of the South Island was another major setback, although we would have wasted that resource as well.
So now we move to offshore mining for rare minerals. In South Taranaki the local Iwi have successfully led the legal battle to prevent this devastating practice for many years. Luxon was in Taranaki yesterday virtually giving the green light to this under the fast track legislation. We have learnt nothing over the years so the economic rewards for Taranaki and New Zealand will be smaller than promised and the majority of the profit will go to the overseas company fronted by a Mr. Brown here in New Plymouth. Coincidentally, Mr Brown gave aspiring MP Mr. McCloudy a donation which Davey boy “forgot” about when making his statutory declaration regarding donations. The police decided that there were 178,000 things not to see here so could everyone just move along please.
So sometime soon, Trans Tasman Mining will begin sucking up our sand and taking the good bits to be processed in Australia. This will help save our planet because 6 billion people driving around in electric cars will help end our use of evil oil and gas.
Etc. Etc, etc.
The Government won power on Maori bashing and making vast promises.
We will get the country back on track they said.
One year later the country is literally off the rails and sinking in Cook strait.
The free hospital system they promised to fix they now want people pay for it themselves.
They have destroyed thousands of jobs to cut costs and increase profits.
Sucking up to the tobacco companies and mining moguls prepared to destroy
the environment for little or no return.
They are taking lying to new lows even for the right white wing.
The next step is to blame Maori and minority groups for why Govt can’t deliver on the promises.
Its Muldoon ’75 and Bolger ’90 all over again.
Its what the red necks do have done and always will do..
Appealing to white right wing ignorance, prejudice and power.
And the majority of voters devour the fake promises and blaming like hyena on crack cocaine.
Its how the right wing roll
Business confidence is up,interest rates are falling and inflation is being checked .Unfortunately many public servants who were hired over the last 6 years are being let go but if they are true workers they will be picked up as companies strat to grow again
For goodness sakes when will people realize that if the oil and gas were there in commercial amounts the greedy oil companies would be pumping it hard out right now .Yes holes have been drilled up and down the county ,both on and off shore but NO commercial amounts have been found .I use the term commercial because we always hear ,oh but they found gas off the coast by Oamaru or Raglan or up north .That is the case but it is not of commercial quantity to allow for the millions needed to get it out of the ground and refined for use .
As we all know it is way cheaper and way quicker to set up a battery farm and a solar or wind farm as is the case at Marsden Point announced early this week .It will be up and running inside two years and these can be built where the power is needed .Therefore a massive saving is achieved by not having to build new lines and pylons all over the Motu .
Keeping the lights on rhetoric appears to be more bullshite from NZF.
Jones is a loud mouth blowhard and litte else. A few weeks ago he was ranting about what he was going to do to the electricity regulator. Anyone seen any action there? In other words he’s full of shit.
He also lied and said the last government closed Marsden Point.