Columns

I n April of 2010, I sat in my living room in New Jersey and stared at the cover photo of the New York Times. The wings of a New Orleans pelican were drenched with black, sticky oil. On TV, the black, billowing smoke soared in plumes from the Deepwater Horizon rig. 757 million litres of crude oil escaped from the ocean floor and leaked onto beaches, covering wildlife. The country grieved for weeks.

Flash forward a few years, and I’ve been in NZ for one week; I already understand that conservation is part of everyday life here. So when I heard NZ has opened its waters to oil companies, my heart sank.

190,000 square kilometres of New Zealand’s waters have been approved for oil exploration. Though oil companies are exploring all around New Zealand, 11 wells exist in the Canterbury Basin, which lies off the coast of Otago.

Chatham Rise, New Zealand’s most productive fishing ground, rests 50 kilometres north of a potential drilling site in the Canterbury Basin. In it, nutrient-rich waters from the south converge with warm waters from the north, creating optimal conditions for phytoplankton and zooplankton, which are eaten by other marine life such as fish. The 6,177 tonnes of fish that have been caught commercially in the Canterbury Basin in past years prove its productivity. Surrounding Chatham Rise are migration routes for most large whales in New Zealand, including the Southern Right Whale, which is nationally endangered. A spill at this site could destroy the entire ecosystem.

If a spill occurs in the Canterbury Basin, the trajectory of the oil spill reaches the Chatham Islands and significantly affects the shores of the South Island. 76 days would go by before emergency systems could mobilise and drill relief wells. By then, oil would have flowed from the sea floor at a rate of 2,500 barrels a day. The spill would leak about 30 million litres of oil, and all from only one well.

In a country that relies on tourism and prides itself on sustainability, an oil spill would be devastating. Drilling for more oil, and in doing so making a move away from alternative energy, would be a mistake for this country and would send the wrong message to the rest of the world.