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Friday, September 23, 2016

What drilling gets us


Here's a screenshot of the electronic version of today's letter to the editor of the Southland Times (original text below). I enjoyed the advert for "gasfitters and plumbers" they positioned to the top-right.


Blockheads.
 That's what the National Party politicians are being called after they revealed plans to open up vast areas of New Zealand, including Southland, for oil and gas drilling.
 Our Western Southland block is being dangled in front of the noses of the oil men, in the hope that they'll come here and set up their drilling and fracking rigs on our farmland, taking oil and gas out from storage underground so it can be burned and turned to greenhouse gas, further worsening the effects of climate change which already threatens farming everywhere. 
Blockheads.  

6 comments:

Pauline McIntosh said...

I agree Robert those in favour of oil/gas exploitation are Blockheads .. I would also call them dinosaurs in the answers they promote for solving our energy problems.

robertguyton said...

Southland could do so much better, Pauline. Our present leaders seem to lack true vision. SORDS won't be calling for a stop to the foolish oil and gas proposals, you can bet your bottom dollar.

Unknown said...

SoRDS stands for sort out really dumb schemes. I fear they are in a gold rush space without the gold.

We are leaking jobs like those at the hospital kitchen and they have sat on their hands but that's where the growth will come. A local kitchen preparing local food grown by local people would be a start but no we have Auckland preparing our food. Wee steps like that will start us taking bigger steps but they want to gallop off.

robertguyton said...

Philip, you are correct,I believe. Local's the word and local's the way. Making meaningful progress on a small scale, at home and securing that gain while you begin the next local initiative is how to do it, I reckon. Nice to see local government, for all its warts and blemishes, standing up to the Great Centralizer and saying, no thanks. Got the issues onto the backburner at least, though with this Government, that only means "hold off til the heat dies down"

Unknown said...

The area shown in the map was surveyed some years back by some seismic method. The hotels in western Southland did well from it and I think they went for a few months letting of explosions. A recent visitor was telling me WA has huge untapped gas fields up in the north which will sit unused for 20 years or more till they use the ones they have on-stream. I don't see anything happening down here before the next fuel is common place. Even our large lignite fields are looking like they will never be used now thanks to the mismanagement of Solid Energy.

robertguyton said...

Very encouraging observations, Philip. Now, let's do something innovative and beneficial.