Public submissions close on Tuesday 1 October on the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill which, amongst other things, will reverse the 2018 ban that limited new petroleum exploration permits outside onshore Taranaki.
There’s a lot going on here, but one thing I would like to bring to the Government’s attention is this graph, showing how the New Zealand solar power industry has grown 46% annually for ten years in a row. It’s poised to continue, with an enormous pipeline of new projects under consideration.
But it could be stopped in its tracks by an anti-climate government. It’s happened before, with geothermal power and with wind power, both of which were stopped for a decade until the passage of the Zero Carbon Act which showed that the climate crisis was being taken seriously. It happened again with the cratering of electric car sales: anti-climate signals from the top do seem to have an effect.
For these solar projects and others like them to go ahead, developers need to know that demand for low-carbon electricity will be there. That demand comes from phasing out fossil fuel, particularly (in the context of this Bill) natural gas.
Here is my submission:
Planetary Ecology 
Thank you for doing the work involved to make this submission.
I would be happy to see both the aluminium smelter and the methanol plant closed.
Like many people I doubt there is any more gas to be found off Taranaki, the bill is mostly “vice-signalling” by intellectual and moral misfits.
Thank you too! Your post made all the difference.
I am feeling so appreciative, Robert, of your magnificent efforts to challenge our Government’s thinking and planning in respect of the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill!! Your submission is very powerful and I hold much hope that it will make an equally powerful impact on the Committee. Thankyou! Thankyou!
Philip McConkey