PROJECT
Flag #12: New Zealand
Location: Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand
Name: Ben Lenzner
In March, April and May of 2014, the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) held a number of public hearings throughout the North Island. Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd. (TTR), an Australian mining company, plans to commence the largest seabed mining operation in the world off the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The hearings are the last chance the public has to chare their concerns about the proposed project. Sand on the west coast of the North Island is black and the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight is rich in iron ore. Where TTR intends to mine, they will strip the top layer of the seabed and separate the iron ore from the sand. TTR acknowledges that their operation will devastate the area of the seabed in which they will be mining. Blue Whales, Southern Right Whales, Maui and Hector Dolphins all migrate and reproduce through this region. Plume from the mining operation, the 24/7 sounds from the drilling machines and a number of other potential domino effects from this experimental operation may adversely impact these marine mammals and other types of marine life throughout the region.
In early April, I presented non-expert evidence to an EPA panel that will decide on whether TTR will be allowed to commence their mining operation. The hearings where inspirational and many residents of Raglan, the small town where I live, showed up to submit their thoughts about the proposed operation. Sometime in May of 2014, the TTR application will either be approved or rejected – the largest, most experimental seabed-mining endeavor ever to commence on this here globe. Below is an excerpt of the evidence I presented that early April morning:
“In a recent article on ocean based mining in the March 28 edition of The Guardian Weekly, Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer and explorer-in-residence for National Geographic states, “It’s like a land grab. It’s a handful of individuals who are giving away or letting disproportionate special interests have access to large parts of the planet that just happen to be under water.” She continues, “What are we sacrificing by looking at the deep sea with dollar signs on the few tangible materials that we know are there? We haven’t begun to truly explore the ocean before we have started aiming to exploit it.” And in a March 2014 video report on BBC World News online, Nii A. Odunton, the Secretary General of the Kingston, Jamaica based United Nations governed International Seabed Authority stated in regards to seabed mining exploration, “Those interested and who can put together the resources, the finances and technology to go recover them (i.e. ocean based rare earths) will be able to get as much of it as they want.” This statement, by an individual in power and given the authority of global oversight into the present and future of seabed mining and other forms of seabed extraction within international waters further reinforces one of my central fears about the core question of today’s hearing, “Should New Zealand, at this moment in time, allow seabed mining to occur off its West Coast?
How do we know what the negative impacts of seabed mining might be if we can’t see it or hear it or feel it or smell it or taste it or even begin to understand it? Trans Tasman Resources has acknowledged that the immediate areas of the seafloor where sand extraction takes place will destroy that area of seabed. Furthermore, they also concede that seabed mining has never taken place before on a scale they are requesting and never in a marine environment as we have off the west coast. They certainly don’t know what the future environmental impact of this mining will be. Neither do we. In fact, no one really does. Perhaps most disconcerting in my mind and most probably for the marine life that lives and migrates through these underwater regions will be the constant plume that is bound to have multiple effects on the amount of oxygen in the water, as well as affects on the multi-layered food pyramid of that area of the Tasman Sea.
Mining and the extraction of precious metals, oils, rocks, minerals and rare earths have overwhelmingly had negative effects on the environment. The environmental damage has been astronomical throughout the globe. The Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada have been shown to have future detrimental impacts on global warming. The Marcellus Shale in eastern North America, where a boom in fracking, a natural gas extraction method, has impacted natural water supplies across the state of Pennsylvania has also brought profound negative impacts that were never predicted. If one uses Google Earth to see the scars of these industrial methods of oil and gas extraction, it’s very evident, very clear, their impact on the surrounding natural environment. What is scary about seabed mining is on that very minimal level, a quick Internet search with our naked eye, a bird’s eye view, we won’t be able to see nor critique the impact of seabed mining. If one goes onto the New Zealand registered Internet homepage of Trans Tasman Resources, the tab one must click for further information on their proposed Seabed Mining is titled, “Iron Sands.” This is disturbing and can only make me think of the devastation wrought by the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada. Tar Sands. Iron Sands. There seems to be a parallel.
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines an experiment as “a scientific test in which you perform a series of actions and carefully observe their effects in order to learn about something; or, something that is done as a test; or, something you do to see how well or how badly it works.” What sort of experiment might this Pandora’s Box open up off our coasts? José Marîa Figueres, former president of Costa Rica and co-chair of the Global Ocean Commission once suggested that the high seas be a no-go area for commercial exploitation (apart from shipping). Figueres was recently quoted in The Guardian Weekly of March 28,
Do we know enough about the seabed to go ahead and mine it? Do we understand enough about the interconnection between the seabed, the column of water, the 50% of the oxygen that the ocean produces for the world, the 25% of the carbon that it fixes in order to go in and disrupt the seabed in ways that we would if we went in and started mining? I don’t think so, not until we have scientific backing to determine whether this is something good or bad for the planet.
Why take advantage of an area of the world that is so critical to our well-being only for private profits? The economic gains are still unclear and if anything, what the New Zealand government will receive will be petty in comparison to the returns that Trans Tasman Resources will be reaping. As a student in this country, I say let us re-think this “deal” more clearly and methodically.
I stand here unwilling to put my support behind an extraction technique that undoubtedly has the potential for numerous and long lasting negative impacts on our environment and future generations of New Zealanders and the 195 or so other countries on this planet that we call our neighbors. An April 17, 2013 TV 3 report on seabed mining titled, Stripping the seabed: Bonanza or disaster? made clear that much of this iron ore will make its way to China and specified that this ore, New Zealand’s ore, it’s earth, will likely be used in China’s defense industries. I ask you, do we want iron ore off the coasts of New Zealand to be contributing towards the further militarization of this planet? Because should we agree to allow seabed mining take place in New Zealand, these global inter-connections will be difficult to refute.
We as global citizens are at a crossroads. Do we as a society give the green light for companies to pursue the extraction of rare earths at environmental costs to the planet that we have yet to ascertain? Do we, one day as grandparents, want to tell our grandchildren that we supported seabed mining or that we decided to take the high road, the moral and ethical path forward and that we decided to take a stand in 2014, that in fact our seabed is not for sale, that money and industry and economics is not what our pivotal values are centered around.”
For more information on the issues surrounding seabed mining off the west coast of New Zealand, check out the homepage of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM)
For further information on the EPA hearings
More Resources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26611073