Press release - August 17, 2015
Responding to Contact Energy’s announcement this morning that Otahuhu gas power station will close next month due to the growth of renewable energy, Simon Boxer, Greenpeace New Zealand’s senior energy campaigner, said:
“Yet another part of the polluting fossil fuel industry is shutting down simply because it no longer has a business case.
“Coming quickly off the back of the news that Huntly will be closing its smoke belching coal boilers, Contact's announcement that Otahuhu fossil fuel powered gas plant will be switched off to be replaced by cleaner, smarter power shows that these outdated power stations have had their day.
“The writing is on the wall: renewable energy is better for jobs, the bottom line, and the air we breathe.
“But instead of backing New Zealand’s clean energy industries, John Key’s government continues its love affair with some of the most polluting industries on the planet. They’re ignoring the tens of thousands of jobs that could be provided, and the multi-billion dollar economic boost these cutting edge technologies could provide and instead doing all they can to drag foreign oil companies over here.”
ENDS