{"id":687,"date":"2014-10-23T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-23T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/new-zealand\/press-release\/shell-oil-cowboys-caught-drilling-illegally-in-new-zealand\/"},"modified":"2024-07-12T15:49:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T03:49:24","slug":"shell-oil-cowboys-caught-drilling-illegally-in-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/shell-oil-cowboys-caught-drilling-illegally-in-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"Shell oil cowboys caught drilling illegally in New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThere be trouble in town sheriff, some cowboys is coming into town\u201d. It could be a line from a grainy old western from our childhood (well, mine anyway) when the good, clean living people of a well to do town see trouble on a dusty horizon. It\u2019s when the street talk stops, shutters shut and bar stools and laws get broken.<\/p>\n

Well it seems the cowboys are right here in little ol\u2019 New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Yesterday it was revealed that the country\u2019s largest oil company, Shell Todd Energy, has been drilling illegally off the west coast. In official documents released to the Green party, the Environmental Protection Agency has slammed Shell for failing to get permission to drill two wells in their oil and gas fields. It described the oil giant as having a \u201clow range of a negative attitude\u201d, which to you and me means they couldn\u2019t give a monkeys. Shell claim that they didn\u2019t know they had to get permission: that the new laws for managing oil and gas exploration at sea were just that, new, and they weren\u2019t sure what to do.<\/p>\n

And as ever, the Government leapt to Shell\u2019s defence with environment minister Nick Smith claiming that you can always expect a bit of \u201cargy-bargy\u201d as it takes time to get used to new rules. And that\u2019s fine when you\u2019re asking rugby players to get the hang of a new offside rule. But when you\u2019re drilling for oil, this relaxed attitude shows a worrying ambivalence that is well beneath a minister whose job it is to protect our oceans.<\/p>\n

The troubling thing about Shell\u2019s cowboy attitude to playing fast and loose with our laws is that this is the same company that wants to drill both in the dangerous, icy extremes of the Arctic and deep in our waters off the coast of Otago. Such a relaxed, wilfully ignorant attitude to regulations in such difficult, hazardous environments is how accidents happen.<\/p>\n

And if we are to take Shell at their word – that they didn\u2019t know the rules – then the simple response is that they should not be risking our oceans in the first place.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need to be taking these risks. New Zealand can move away from our dependence polluting fuels and power our homes, cars and businesses on cleaner, safer and smarter energy.<\/p>\n

We just need the Sheriff to stand up, tip his hat and kick these cowboys out of town.<\/p>\n

Now you can stand up and tell the EPA to prosecute Shell’s illegal drilling<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere be trouble in town sheriff, some cowboys is coming into town\u201d. It could be a line from a grainy old western from our childhood (well, mine anyway) when the good, clean living people of a well to do town see trouble on a dusty horizon. 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