Teenager to officials: ‘You have failed me’

The EPA invited Russel Norman to speak about oil drilling in the Great South Basin. What they got was a Kiwi Greta Thunberg, reports Charlie Mitchell.

They were expecting a speech from the head of Greenpeace but government officials at a private event were instead lambasted by a teenage climate activist who told them to ‘‘do their goddamn jobs for once’’.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had invited Greenpeace executive director Russel Norman to speak at a private event in Wellington yesterday.

After a brief statement, he handed the microphone to Sorcha Carr, an 18-yearold climate activist, who criticised the agency for not holding public hearings on a contentious oil and gas drilling application.

The EPA is deciding whether to allow Austria-based oil giant OMV to drill exploratory wells off the east coast of the South Island.

OMV has had since 2007 a permit to explore for oil and gas in the Great South Basin, off the coast of Dunedin.

To keep the permit, it must drill one well by July 2021, and two further wells by July 2022. If the wells are successful, the permit could be extended to 2030.

The basin has long been thought to contain a trove of oil and gas but the extent of that supply – and whether it would be economic to extract – cannot be known until an exploratory well is drilled. For its first well, OMV has proposed to drill in waters 1300 metres deep, about 140 kilometres off the coast of Balclutha.

The company needs a host of consents from multiple agencies, the most significant of which come from the EPA, which regulates activity in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone.

Under the law, however, exploratory drilling consents are handled on a nonnotified basis, meaning they are not open to public submissions. The EPA can hold a public hearing but only OMV would be

Climate activist

allowed to submit evidence.

In a speech that echoed Greta Thunberg’s address to world leaders in September, Carr said it was irresponsible not to allow the public to be privy to the decision-making process.

‘‘We have trusted you to protect us and Papatu¯ a¯ nuku, and by keeping this process private, you have failed us, and you have failed me,’’ she said.

‘‘As a democratic society, we deserve to know about this oil-drilling application.

‘‘You have no right to hide from us any longer and continue to make decisions about my future without first asking me how I feel.’’

The consent process up until now has been equal parts tumultuous and bizarre.

While the public could not have a say on the drilling itself, it was allowed to submit on a separate consent application related to the drilling.

OMV had applied to discharge ‘‘trace amounts of harmful substances’’ from the deck of its drilling platform, for which it needed EPA approval.

The substances – primarily liquids associated with cleaning the platform – were ‘‘conservatively assumed’’ to total about 250 millilitres, or one cup, in volume. The substances would only need to be discharged if there was a spillage.

Despite the tiny amount of liquid involved, OMV’s application to discharge the substances included a 154-page impact assessment, which itself had a 346-page appendix, evidence which was discussed by a hearings panel over the course of two days. Because it was the only opportunity for drilling opponents to be heard, they used the hearings to voice their objection.

Under the law, however, the effect of drilling for oil and gas on the climate could not be cited as a reason to object to the application.

Submitters who referenced climate change, or related subjects such as ocean acidification, were shut down. The consent was approved in September.

It has left climate activists frustrated, as they say oil reserves need to stay in the ground for humanity to keep the warming of the climate within acceptable limits.

OMV has previously said the basin could hold billions of barrels of oil.

Carr told the officials that as a year 13 student, she should be celebrating her final weeks at school with ‘‘pranks and banter’’ but instead felt she had to defend her generation from their inaction.

‘‘OMV’s plans to drill oil feels like a slap in the face but what hurts more is your willingness to lie down and let them walk over you and me,’’ she said.

‘‘What hurts more is your inability to even share what is happening behind closed doors with a country who have expressed immense desire for climate justice and action. We are just asking for one simple thing: Make this application public. We deserve a say.’’

Russel Norman, who filmed the speech and posted the video online, said he hoped the EPA would listen to Carr and reject OMV’s application.

‘‘Today Sorcha has bravely stood up on behalf of us all, to give us the voice that we are being denied. The EPA has a moral obligation to act on this.’’

At the end of the video, the audience can be heard applauding Carr’s speech.

Sorcha Carr