OMV office barricaded
Climate protesters led by Greenpeace have formed a human barricade in front of Austrian-owned oil giant OMV’s New Plymouth office.
The three-day protest started with about 50 people at 7am yesterday and is the latest in a series of protests against the company.
In an emailed statement, Greenpeace New Zealand programme director Niamh O’Flynn said the organisation was bringing the resistance to OMV’s front door step.
‘‘If we stand any hope of averting a climate catastrophe we need to rid ourselves of this final villain looking for new oil and gas that we just can’t afford to burn.
‘‘We want to send a clear message to OMV: We’re over it. They must acknowledge their role in heating the planet and give up their oil and gas exploration permits.’’
A police media spokeswoman said police were aware of the protest.
An OMV spokesman said staff were working from home and would only return to work when safe to do so. Monday’s protesters had come from Dunedin, Auckland, Wellington and Kapiti.
They chanted several phases, including ‘‘OM who? OMV. OMG get out of our seas’’, and several passing motorists tooted in support.
‘‘We’re living in a climate emergency and there’s no place for oil,’’ Auckland’s Rebecca Kerr said.
Luke Mijohn, also of Auckland, said New Zealand wouldn’t be immune from climate change just because the country was slightly higher and had more fertile land. He questioned what the nation would do when people showed up on its shores.
‘‘How long are we going to be dictated to by dirty money?’’ Cally O’Neill asked.
Activist and Greenpeace member
Abigail Smith said it was time for a just transition. ‘‘This community needs it more than anybody.
‘‘We want to make it harder for them to continue business as usual.’’
She also pointed out the bush fires and flooding happening in the world and its links to climate change.
‘‘There’s no way we can deny climate change is having an impact on people’s lives.’’
Greenpeace announced its plans to protest at OMV’s office last week while a group of around 30 people boarded the Skandi Atlantic in Timaru and occupied it for three days. The Skandi Atlantic was preparing to leave the Port of Timaru and travel north to meet the OMV oil rig, which is approximately 50 nautical miles off the Taranaki coast and preparing to begin exploratory drilling. Earlier this year OMV announced a $500 million plan to drill up to five wells from its Maui A platform. These will be sidetracked from existing wells using a platform-based rig and could be delivering gas from 2020. It will be the company’s first major project since buying Shell’s New Zealand assets for US$578 million in December.
As well as Greenpeace members, protesters from a wide coalition of environmental groups including School Strike 4 Climate, Extinction Rebellion, 350 Aotearoa, Climate Justice Taranaki and Oil Free groups from across the country are taking part in barricade. Greenpeace has said up to 700 people could take part during the three-day protest.
‘‘While the science is unequivocal that we must transition our society to clean energy and away from a dependence on oil, gas and coal – it must be a just transition so that the workers and communities currently employed in fossil fossil fuel industries are not left behind,’’ O’Flynn said.