Stop Fossil Fuel Exploration and Mining – A ground-breaking court case
We need your support to help Aotearoa NZ stop fossil fuel exploration and mining, starting in Taranaki.
Taranaki
Climate Justice Taranaki is urgently seeking funding to pursue an Environment Court appeal on Taranaki Regional Council's Proposed Coastal Plan. We aim to make all new petroleum exploration and production activities Prohibited in the coastal marine area, to 12 nautical miles offshore. If successful, the case will ‘close the door’ on future permits and expansions.
Left unchallenged, the Coastal Plan will allow further investments into fossil fuel exploration and reliance.
Our case argues that the adverse effects from oil and gas activities are significant enough to justify prohibition. These include ocean acidification and the resulting impacts on marine ecosystems and kai moana, as well as climate change and the socio-economic harm of not acting now.
This is our chance to set a ground-breaking precedent in law, empowering Aotearoa NZ and territorial authorities to move away from fossil fuels.
We have received funding from the Environmental Legal Assistance Fund and the Environmental Law Initiative (thank you!). This shows the legitimacy and potential national significance of the case.
We are extremely grateful for the support of renowned scientists and economists:
Prof. Abigail Smith, Head of Marine Science, University of Otago
Prof. James Renwick, Head of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University
Dr. Ilan Noy, Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, School of Economics and Finance, Victoria University
Dr. David Hall, Senior Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology
All have prepared expert statements for the upcoming hearing.
But we need more help to take this case as far as it needs to go. To ensure that we can continue with strong legal and expert advice, we need your help to raise $80,000.
Will you support us? Will you help stop fossil fuel exploration and mining in Aotearoa NZ?
More about the case:
Our case is consistent with all credible advice. The UN Secretary-General described the latest IPCC report as ‘Code Red for Humanity’ and warned that the 1.5 degree C threshold is perilously close. He Pou a Rangi, the Climate Change Commission affirmed that to meet the 2050 target of net zero emissions, Aotearoa needs to transition away from fossil fuels. Even the International Energy Agency is calling for no further fossil fuels exploration.
References:
Photo:
The OMV Maui Production Station, 2019. By Emre Turak.
Use of funds
Funding will go towards a legal team lead by barristers Ruby Haazen and Rob Enright and additional experts.
Other page links
Latest update
Judge ruled no scope 26 August 2022
We have been waiting patiently for the Environment Court's findings on the Scope of our appeal on the proposed Taranaki Coastal Plan, which we have now received. Unfortunately the Judge's findings are not particularly helpful to our case. Basically there is no scope on climate change, and very limited scope on ocean acidification. Our barristers suggested that we have three options going forward:
1. Appeal the Judge's findings to the High Court, and then, if the decision went against CJT, onward to the Supreme Court. In both instances, CJT would risk significant costs to be awarded to TRC and the fossil fuel lobby group ERA. In that event, CJT would be unlikely to have the funds and would be forced to disband, leaving a significant debt.
2. Continue in the Environment Court on our initial grounds of Ocean Acidification. However, the scope is limited, and our Ocean Acidification expert is not keen to proceed only on this point.
3. Withdraw CJT's appeal.
After some thorough discussions, we decided to withdraw our appeal, and save our energy and resources for another legal battle, should it arise.
So here is to thank our supporters who have kindly donated to our appeal. The donations will be returned directly from Give-A-Little to your accounts. You are of course welcome to support our work through volunteering your time and skill, or direct koha: https://climatejusticetaranaki.wordpress.com/what-you-can-do/support-us-with-a-koha/
Thank you again.
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