The Green Party is disappointed in news that NZ Petroleum and Minerals has just granted an offshore oil and gas exploration permit to Greymouth Petroleum.

“We must stop oil and gas exploration once and for all. The Government needs to close the loophole through the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill currently at Select Committee” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for energy and resources, Julie Anne Genter.

“The latest IPCC report makes it clear that we can no longer continue to burn our fossil fuel reserves.

“We have only a few years left to take the necessary action to limit warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, or face catastrophic, destabilising weather events.

“The Green Party has been calling for the Government to close the loopholes in this ban since it was introduced in 2018.

“Oil and gas exploration should have stopped decades ago. The Government should be sending a clear signal that time’s up for fossil fuels.

“The Government should also adopt Eugenie Sage’s member’s bill to ban any new coal mines anywhere in New Zealand and protect conservation lands and waters from any new coal, gold and other mines,”

“The only way to confront big problems we face with the urgency they demand is to have more Green MPs, and more Green Ministers in the next Government,” says Julie Anne Genter.

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