Greenpeace Applies for Exploration Permits for Remaining Areas o

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE APPLIES FOR OIL EXPLORATION PERMITS FOR REMAINING
AREAS OF NEW ZEALAND

Auckland, 5 March 1998 -- Greenpeace today applied to the
Minister of  Commerce for permits covering all remaining
offshore and onshore oil  exploration areas of New Zealand, as
part of its campaign to protect  the climate from global
warming.

Currently all of Taranaki except Mt Taranaki National Park, as 
well as large onshore and offshore areas around Northland, the
East  Coast, and Canterbury are permitted for oil exploration. 
Under the  Government's "Acceptable Frontier" programme, anyone
can apply for an  oil exploration permit in any part of New
Zealand, which has set off  a major boom in exploration since
the programme was introduced two  years ago.

Greenpeace said its application was a serious bid, applying for 
non-interventionist management of areas which would otherwise be
open  to oil company activity.  Greenpeace climate campaigner
Adam Laidlaw  said there was already enough oil in existing
reserves to wreck the  climate if it is all burned.  Investment
in oil exploration should  instead be switched to the "new
frontier" of solar and wind energy  development, he said.

"If we are to avoid a one degree Celcius increase in global 
temperature over the next century, the total amount of carbon we 
could use would be 225 billion tonnes worldwide, yet current 
"economic" reserves stand at over 1000 billion tonnes of carbon. 
The  inescapable conclusion is that we must rapidly phase out
the use of  fossil fuels and cease new oil exploration, or face
dangerous levels  of climate change." 

Greenpeace has submitted a work programme for cetacean, seabird
and  native fauna surveys, and has asked for a permit for the
next 100  years, at which point an assessment of the carbon
loading on the  climate may warrant a review.

"We urge the Government to seriously consider this application. 
If  the Minister of Commerce rejects our application, and
continues  to allow new oil exploration he will be responsible
for unleashing an  enormous expansion of the industry in New
Zealand, with  far-reaching implications for the health of our
climate," Mr Laidlaw  said.

Greenpeace on the Internet at http://www.greenpeace.org