Press release - August 13, 2015
The government has been ‘nothing short of negligent’ as hundreds of jobs look likely to be lost as a result of today’s announcement that state-owned miner Solid Energy will be put into administration, Greenpeace have said.
Simon Boxer, Greenpeace’s senior energy campaigner, said: “The government has been nothing short of negligent in its failure to pay heed to rapid changes in the global energy markets and the effect it will have on Kiwis.
"The global coal industry has been in steady decline for a decade, mostly because consumers are demanding cleaner air and want action to reduce pollution.
“This was obviously going to result in job losses that would affect coal mining communities and their families up and down New Zealand.
“An economically smart government would have planned an alternative path forward.
“If our government had done this these families would be far better supported to move to other jobs, and New Zealand would be a step closer to a pollution free future that is cleaner and safer.”