Norwegian oil giant Statoil is sending a delegation of executives all the way from Norway to Whangarei. Next Friday, 28th August, they will attend a specially organised meeting with the Northland Regional Council's Maori Advisory Committee, and New Zealand government representatives.
The secretive meeting is an attempt to gain official local support. Statoil is desperate to show people back in Norway that New Zealanders - especially Maori - have been consulted and are happy to allow Statoil's risky deep sea oil drilling to go ahead.
Big oil is known for slick PR but the folk at Statoil are the true masters of Greenwash and they’ll be pouring it on thickly at this meeting.
Take a look at 'The Statoil Greenwash Guide' to see just how slick they are. (Warning - you may feel sick while reading.)
It's vital that a strong message comes from the region that New Zealanders are not buying the spin, Statoil is not welcome here and we do not want to risk deep sea oil drilling in our waters.
There is a local protest being organised by people in Whangarei outside the meeting venue at the beginning of the day. It's all happening at the Northland Regional Council offices in Whangarei with the meeting starting at 09.30am, so the protest will start at 9am.
It’s important that they don’t get away with a secret meeting , so it would be great if you could spare time to support the protest to send a clear message directly to the Statoil executives that New Zealand does not want deepsea oil.
Here is the Facebook event for the local folk organising things up there and here’s a post to share.
Send a direct message to Statoil here.