Source: Greenpeace
Greenpeace is condemning the Government’s decision to try to force the pubic to pay for an LNG fossil gas import terminal. This is in spite of the evidence from the OECD and others that it will lock our energy system into expensive, unreliable, climate polluting fossil fuels.
The Government today announced that it was planning to proceed with the building of an LNG fossil gas import terminal. It has failed to state how it will pay for it.
“It is ordinary New Zealanders who will end up paying for this terminal if it ultimately proceeds,” says Dr. Russel Norman, Greenpeace Aotearoa Executive Director.
“New Zealanders will pay through a combination of higher electricity prices, higher taxes to subsidise fossil fuels, and worse climate pollution. Fossil fuels can no longer compete with renewables and storage, hence the government has to step in to subsidise them.
“The OECD and many others have warned the Government that an LNG import terminal is not only unnecessary but that it will result in higher electricity prices, higher climate pollution and less energy reliability.
“The Trump regime’s war against Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a quarter of global LNG exports travel, resulting in a spike in LNG prices.
“Yet in spite of the evidence, in front of our very eyes, that fossil gas is expensive, unreliable and polluting, the Government wants to pursue the dumbest option on the table.
“It seems that the Government is wearing fossil fuel industry ideological blinkers, leading them to give taxpayer money to the fossil fuel industry. They are subsidising fossil fuel exploration, subsidising gas guzzling cars, and now subsidising the import of fossil gas which makes no economic sense.
“It is also disturbing that the three coalition parties have received large political donations from the fossil fuel industry.
“New Zealand has a massive opportunity to embrace a clean energy future which is better for the climate and better for the economy. The only group who will suffer is the fossil fuel industry and their aligned political parties.