APRIL 2012 - ISSUE 03 - Massive Magazine

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FEATURE The debate over hydraulic fracturing has moved on since MASSIVE’s ground-breaking investigation in March. Editor Matt Shand retraces the issues and reminds us not to lose perspective. IT’S NOT THE GAS – IT’S THE PEOPLE Amid the media hype, the protests, and the community meetings it’s easy to forget that the real story of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is not about shale gas. It’s about people. And families. It’s about health and safety. It’s just a drilling technique and people want to know that it’s safe. People like David Roberts – who have given up their lives and part of their sanity to fight for what they believe in. I watched David Roberts prepare for the community meeting held at Stratford in March to call for a moratorium on the practice from the local council. In my notebook I recorded his actions: “David Roberts sits still amongst the chaos ensuing around him. At the Stratford War Memorial Hall people are filing in, taking seats, swapping stories, and signing forms. Underneath this the organiser’s nerves are starting to run high. David’s included. He looks casual enough in blue jeans, work boots, and a red shirt, untucked, with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, almost like he was at the bar with the boys after a hard day’s work. But, with from the right perspective, you can see the subtle tide of nerves washing in. He keeps rubbing his forehead, or playing with his sleeves idly. Occasionally he would lock his fingers together and bow his head, taking in a moment away from fracking, and contaminated water and mining companies and documents and his fear for the community he lives in. There has been plenty of that over the last few days, and there will be plenty more after this meeting is done …” People like Michael Self – who acted as courier for our tour through the Taranaki pastures. Throwing us around country road bends in a green, automatic four-wheeldrive. When he collected us he apologised immediately for the state the vehicle was in, saying he had “picked it up cheap after being caught out in a flood”. The muffler was broken, making the vehicle roar righteously whenever the accelerator was pushed too far to the floor, which happened often on back-country roads. He looked like Santa clause would if he owned a farm or a plantation instead of a reindeer ranch. His white beard formed a dishevelled mane around his chin and this was matched by his wildly hair, his hands with dirt stains around the edges of the fingers, and he wore jandals despite the cattle fields he would be guiding us through later. He was born and raised in the region (except for study trips further afield), and there was not a monument, shed, or hillside that he could not match to an insightful piece of trivia. “You see those silos up there,” he yells, pointing to the horizon, “they paint them like the cheese and over there is the hill they do the cheese rolling competition. Boy, those people run down those hills flatout. One guy went crashing down and broke three ribs. Three! But he kept on going. The crowd loved it.” Then he spots a stretch of houses and the conversation turns back to its morbid, chilling cancer, and deformity toll. And he tells us about other people involved, people we never met, or can name, but real people, who live real lives on the emerald green fields under the watchful eye of Mt Taranaki and probably never cared about the words hydraulic fracturing before, but who have heard about nothing but since the story ran in MASSIVE last month. It also ran on 60 Minutes and Campbell Live and Stuff and in the local papers and featured in parliamentary debates and question times. And now, the most recent development – the news that fracking will come under official independent scrutiny, with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, launching an investigation, to be released before the end of the year. But what will this investigation mean for these people, and others like them? But not just them but also so the oil company and mining executives with employees to pay, employees with children to feed and families to support. What happens if Jan Wright’s investigation determines fracking is unsafe. What happens then? +++ 14
Jan Wright was undoubtedly too busy to respond to questions from MASSIVE but the website spells out the power her office has in such cases. It draws from the Environment Act of 1986 (S.16) and the commissioner has wide discretion to exercise them. The main functions are to: review, investigate, report, and inquire into environmental issues and processes that affect the country. There is also a strong focus on encouraging preventative measure and remedial actions to protect the environment. Though the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) has wide powers to “investigate and report on any matter where, in her opinion, the environment may be, or has been, adversely affected,” she does not have the authority to make binding rulings, nor can she reverse decisions made by public authorities. It will be up to the politicians and the voting public to determine how the issue progresses after the report is filed. The news that an investigation has been launched has, so far, been received well by both sides of the political spectrum. Green Party Energy Spokesperson and fracking cautionary Gareth Hughes greeted the news of an investigation as “excellent” but still wants a moratorium put in place while it is under way. “By the time the PCE’s report will be finished and released to the public, new fracking wells may have been consented in Gisborne, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay and possibly Wairarapa.” On the flip-side, Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley said “the PCE’s inquiry will sort out fact from fiction and provide a framework for full consideration of all options involving fracking.” He said one of those fictions was the notion that the activity was unregulated and dangerous. “Fracking is a well-regulated activity in New Zealand carried out by experienced international specialists to a very high standard, unlike some instances overseas. I am fully confident in the ability of councils to manage its use well, just as they do for many other activities in their regions.” Last month, in Jamie Christian Desplaces’ revealing article on fracturing, it was suggested that regional councils are not fully up to speed with what is occurring within their regions. He cited differences between executive summaries of reports and the content of reports as being part of this confusion. +++ It was the difference between what was being told to her by the council and oil companies that prompted Sarah Roberts, a major source for the story, to dig deeper into the reports to “The oil and gas isn’t going anywhere and some councils have admitted they don’t have the expertise to deal with the consent process for these new wells. The Government should slow down and wait until the report is out before allowing this to happen.” – Gareth Hughes find these troubling sections. Some of these reports have been tabled by Gareth Hughes at Parliament, but no moratorium is in place. Hughes says: “The oil and gas isn’t going anywhere and some councils and councillors have already admitted they don’t have the expertise to appropriately deal with the consent process for these new wells. The Government should slow down and wait until the report is out before allowing this to happen.” During parliamentary question times, Hughes has questioned Heatley about implementing a nationwide moratorium until the PCE assures the public fracking is safe. Heatley replied with a simple “no.” Hughes suggests the Government has not taken public concerns seriously. “Instead they have tried everything they can do to pass the concerns of communities, farmers, and the public off as emotive, irrational or part of a conspiracy.” Heatley: “While I take people’s concerns seriously, there is no evidence of either environmental effects or the risk of inducing earthquakes to justify a ban.” When asked if there have been any reported health cases as a result of fracking, he responded simply with “none proven.” When asked if there had been any reported water contamination as a result of fracking he again responded “none proven.” But the problem with this is that there is proven water contamination from a reliable source – the Shell Todd Oil Services Annual Report 2009-2010 for the Maui and Kapuni Production Stations. This report states: “The groundwater results are attached to this report. These results indicate that, with the exception of KA-5/10, shallow groundwater below the well-sites is not fit for potable or stock water use. Furthermore, shallow groundwater below KA-8/12/15 and KA-13 does not meet the criteria for irrigation. It is noted that no monitoring of groundwater has been conducted since December 2008.” Perhaps politicians like Phil Heatley need to spend a bit more time with the people their policies will actually affect. Had they spent time with the Sarah Roberts, David Roberts, or even an afternoon in the beaten-up four-wheel-drive with Michael Self, they might have well seen it from another perspective – a human perspective instead of a fiscal one. During our short time in Taranaki, we did see Gareth Hughes mixing with the locals and listening to their stories, which perhaps explains why he is so passionate about the moratorium. He has heard and seen the concerns first-hand. He isn’t surprised by the stance the National-led Government has adopted on the fracking issue. “Unfortunately, this reaction isn’t surprising [because] fracking is a big part of the Government’s ‘drill it, mine it’ agenda for Aotearoa,” he says. “This Government is leading us down a path to runaway climate change and depleted resources, with relatively little reward for New Zealanders by way of profits and jobs. “While I take people’s concerns seriously, there is no evidence of either environmental effects or the risk of inducing earthquakes to justify a ban.” – Phil Heatley “I can’t speak to what the PCE will conclude or how the Government will respond, but I am working on a Member’s bill right now, to be introduced to the ballot soon, which would prohibit fracking. I am hoping that MPs across the board will get behind it.”Fracking is now in the hands of the politicians, and the people who elect them. MASSIVE will continue to follow the progress of the PCE investigation and Gareth Hughes’ Member’s bill. www.massivemagazine.org.nz 15
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