Govt can now say no to oil and gas drilling
The Government will change ‘‘out-of-step’’ mining legislation that requires it to grant oil companies permits to look for new fossil fuels.
In multiple reports, experts have found that the world has enough fossil fuels to cover the transition to green energy. Significant amounts of coal, oil and gas will need to be left in the ground to give the world a decent shot at limiting global heating to 1.5C.
But the Crown Minerals Act did not give the Government power to say no to mining and exploration permits due to climate concerns, a High Court judge recently concluded.
Energy Minister Megan Woods says a crucial sentence about promoting mineral exploitation will be changed, so the Government can say no to companies.
Mining companies will also get clearer guidance on how to consult with iwi and hapū.
In 2018, the Government stopped issuing permits for offshore oil and gas exploration. But officials have continued to issue permits for land-based fossil fuel searches in Taranaki.
Two expert bodies – the International Energy Agency and the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – and subsequent reports have concluded that fossil fuel prospecting is incompatible with 1.5C.
These findings led a group of students to sue Woods for her decision last year to issue two permits allowing companies to search for new oil and gas in Taranaki.
High Court Justice Francis Cooke concluded that Woods has a legal right to issue the permits – but went further. If the minister ‘‘had substantively taken [climate change] into account, she would have been acting unlawfully’’, he said. ‘‘The argument that not enough is being done to address climate change, and that no more mining for fossil fuels should take place, is an argument that the Crown Minerals Act requires further amendment by Parliament.’’
That amendment is what the Government has now done.
The act’s requirement for the Government to actively promote fossil fuel exploration was ‘‘out of date’’, Woods said. Rather than ‘‘promote’’ mining, the law would ‘‘manage’’ it.