He was right about the beginning. A three year battle to stop
the project followed, including a second occupation of the
building, our own pirate radio station, a long drawn out court
case, and consumer action using Greenpeace's Clean Energy
Guide.
Then on the afternoon of March 7, the phone in our Auckland
office rang. It sounded like any other phone ring, but this was to
be a call of a very different kind.
This was the result Greenpeace, community groups and thousands
of New Zealanders had been fighting for, and as victories go, this
was a big one.
The decision was significant for several reasons.
Firstly, it set an important precedent. The project's downfall
effectively wipes out coal as an option for new electricity
generation in New Zealand for many years to come. At the time the
Marsden B fight began, there were four coal fired power station
proposals in the pipeline. Marsden B was the first cab off the rank
in the consent process and other energy companies kept a close eye
on it in order to decide whether to go down the same path.
Funnily enough every single other coal fired power station
proposal was quietly dropped during the course of the Marsden B
battle.
Had it gone ahead, Marsden B would have been New Zealand's first
new coal fired power station in 30 years. Why would this have been
a bad thing? Because coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels and
must be the first to go from our energy system. Pumping out an
extra two million tones of carbon dioxide a year from Marsden B
would have been madness, particularly at a time when the world's
leading scientists are saying it's now or never to tackle climate
change, and our Prime Minister's saying she wants New Zealand to be
carbon neutral.
In this campaign we also won an important legal precedent in the
High Court; regional councils must now take climate change and
renewable energy into account when granting resource consents.
(that said, Genesis recently announced it's challenging us on this
decision in the Court of Appeal).
The Marsden win is also testimony to the power of peaceful
protest and environmental activism. It shows that passion,
perseverance and people-power CAN win against big business and
bottom lines.
Perhaps more importantly, it demonstrates the importance of
community activism. Greenpeace certainly wasn't the only group
fighting this battle; communities and individuals right around New
Zealand played a part, nowhere more so than in the affected
communities of Ruakaka and Whangarei. It is a fitting tribute to
the activists and groups in these communities - who worked in
partnership with Iwi and national groups like Greenpeace and
thousands of Greenpeace supporters- that Marsden B is now consigned
to the historical dustbin.
We couldn't have stopped Marsden B without you all. So thank
you.