Greenpeace NZ executive director Russel Norman has been charged under New Zealand’s Crown Minerals Act along with two others for their peaceful protest at sea against the Amazon Warrior, which is searching for deep sea oil on behalf of Chevron and Statoil.

Russel Norman, Greenpeace NZ executive director and a former co-leader of the Green Party, Sara Howell a 25-year-old Greenpeace volunteer from Wales, and Gavin Mulvay, a kite maker from Ashburton, have been charged with interfering with the oil exploration ship Amazon Warrior under the Section 101B(1)(c) of the Crown Minerals Act, known as the Anadarko Amendment.

They were arrested just after they got off the protest boat Taitu in Napier.

In response, Norman made the following statement:

Charged by the ‘Ministry of Oil’
“Three of us who got in the water yesterday in front of a climate-destroying oil ship have been charged.

“We have been charged, not by the police, but by ‘The Ministry of Oil’ (the petroleum division of MBIE [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment]) – the government’s ministry responsible for supporting, subsidising and propping up the oil industry here in New Zealand, using public money.

“The science of climate change is unequivocal. It tells us that if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change we cannot burn even known fossil fuel reserves, let alone new oil – which is exactly what the Amazon Warrior is looking for.

“The oil industry is the most powerful industry in the history of humanity and they have huge influence on governments.

“Ours is no different.

“Our government are backing that industry’s greed over the collective interests of its own people and all humanity.

“For the first time in New Zealand history, we are being charged under the ‘Anadarko Amendment’ – part of the Crown Minerals Act for interfering with a mining ship.

“This piece of legislation was specifically written and passed to stop peaceful protest at sea after Greenpeace protests against Petrobras in 2011.

“It was put in place by the government to protect the interests of big oil and to stifle dissent.

“It is an anti-democratic law designed to silence the voice of reason – a collective voice that demands we stop this insane trajectory toward self-destruction on that is drilling and burning oil which drives climate change.

“Because of our government’s complicity with the oil industry, and its failure to protect us from dangerous climate change, we had no choice but to take action yesterday to secure our common future.

“We will continue to resist the oil industry by every peaceful means available – until our action, and the collective action of millions of people here and across the planet, eject this industry from New Zealand and from the rest of the world.

“If all of us are to have a future. The oil industry can have no future.

“We are the generation that ends the age of oil.”

• Greenpeace activist swimmers halt seismic oil exploration ‘Beast’
• Greenpeace NZ’s chief warns Amazon Warrior
• Greenpeace’s live feed from the Taitu
• New Greenpeace boat key to oil industry battle

Our message it clear! Rise up. End oil. The Taitu crew are flying a giant banner from a kite and streamers that carry anti-oil exploration messages from New Zealanders. Follow the action here: www.greenpeace.nz/taitu #greenpeace #oil #taitu #statoil #chevron #ocean #sea #clouds #picoftheday

A post shared by Greenpeace Aotearoa NZ (@greenpeacenz) on Apr 9, 2017 at 12:53am PDT

The giant oil exploration ship is conducting offshore oil exploration off the New Zealand coast on behalf of Arctic driller Statoil and Chevron, a US oil company part-owned by President Donald Trump, reports Greenpeace News.

The swimmers’ position forced the Amazon Warrior to halt its operations and deviate off course.

They were 50 nautical miles off the Wairarapa coast when the action took place.

To find oil, the Amazon Warrior is using seismic cannons to blast the seafloor with soundwaves every eight seconds, day and night, reports Greenpeace News.

The ship needs to travel in straight lines along a grid to get data about potential oil reserves, and any deviation makes this data unusable.

The blasts the Amazon Warrior lets off are comparable in sound to an underwater volcano and can cause chronic distress to whales and dolphins in the area.

‘Extreme depths’ permits
Statoil and Chevron have permits to drill to extreme depths of up to three kilometres if oil is found – twice as deep as Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused the world’s largest and most devastating oil spill in 2010.

The “fossil fuel” President, Donald Trump, has shares in Chevron, and the oil company funded a large part of his presidential inauguration.

Twenty five-year-old Sara is another of the swimmers who was floating in the path of the Amazon Warrior with Russel Norman.

She said she was putting her body “on the line” because the ship was searching for the very oil that would “destroy her future”.

“The science is settled that we can’t burn the majority of the fossil fuel reserves we know about if we want to keep the Earth’s temperature below dangerous levels,” she said, according to Greenpeace News.

“What this means is that not a single newly discovered oil well anywhere in the world can operate if we want to avoid a climate catastrophe. Right now I’m looking at a ship that’s been invited here by the New Zealand government to do just that.

“I’m young and I’m already experiencing the effects of climate change. Every year the storms get worse, the floods and the droughts are getting more extreme. Just imagine how grim my future looks if we can’t stop this.

‘People rising up’
“It’s easy to feel powerless because what we’re up against is so big. But everywhere, people are rising up and demanding change. Their actions are having a snowball effect, and in many parts of the world, we’re starting to see huge, positive changes.”

Greenpeace has been tailing the Amazon Warrior for the past two days in its newest boat, Taitu.

The organisation crowdfunded nearly $100,000 in just a week to buy the 15-metre boat, and ran an online competition to choose her name.

A 2013 Amendment to the Crown Minerals Act, dubbed the “Anadarko Amendment”, was put in place to stop protests at sea around oil exploration. The law change makes it an offence to interfere with or get closer than 500 metres of an offshore ship involved in oil exploration.

From on board Taitu, Greenpeace’s Dr Russel Norman, said the right to peaceful protest was essential to a healthy democracy and New Zealand had a long and proud tradition of protest at sea.

“Neither the government nor the oil industry can stifle people across New Zealand peacefully rising up against this mad pursuit of new oil to burn in the midst of what is nothing less than a climate emergency,” he said.

“Climate change threatens our homes, health and families. Despite knowing this, our Government is actively subsidising oil companies to look for new oil, putting profits above people’s lives – it has become necessary for people to take action.

‘Extreme storms’
“In New Zealand, we’ve already seen extreme storms, flooding, drought and fires in the space of a just a few weeks, and it’s only April. Climate change makes these weather events more frequent and more intense.”

Taitu’s trip follows on from a flotilla that included Ngāti Kahungunu’s voyaging waka, Te Matau a Māui, which travelled out to the Amazon Warrior to deliver a message on behalf of more than 80 hapū of Te Ikaroa.

Public opposition to oil exploration has seen protests in ports, petitions garnering tens of thousands of signatures, and significant local government and iwi opposition.

• Greenpeace NZ’s chief warns Amazon Warrior
• Greenpeace’s live feed from the Taitu
• New Greenpeace boat key to oil industry battle

Our message it clear! Rise up. End oil. The Taitu crew are flying a giant banner from a kite and streamers that carry anti-oil exploration messages from New Zealanders. Follow the action here: www.greenpeace.nz/taitu #greenpeace #oil #taitu #statoil #chevron #ocean #sea #clouds #picoftheday

A post shared by Greenpeace Aotearoa NZ (@greenpeacenz) on Apr 9, 2017 at 12:53am PDT

The Greenpeace New Zealand boat Taitu has “intercepted” the world’s largest seismic blasting ship, the Amazon Warrior, AKA “The Beast”, about 50 nautical miles off the Wairarapa coast, reports Greenpeace News.

Greenpeace NZ executive director Russel Norman is on board and has made a call through to the master of the Amazon Warrior.

Norman demanded that the Amazon Warrior cease seismic blasting, informing them of the widespread opposition to oil drilling in NZ waters by local councils, iwi and large numbers of New Zealanders.

He also told the Amazon Warrior that he and Taitu would act consistently within the principles of non-violence at all times but were there to take action to protect “our common future”.

Amazon Warrior’s seismic search for oil would contribute to “cataclysmic climate change”, Norman said.

Taitu was crowdfunded by Greenpeace in just seven days specifically to venture out and confront the oil exploration that was being carried out on behalf of Chevron and Statoil, Greenpeace News said.

“The captain from the Amazon Warrior has asked us to move away and we’ve asked him to stop blasting for new oil,” Norman was quoted by Radio New Zealand as saying.

“The facts around this are really straightforward, science tells us that we can’t continue afford to burn half of the existing fossil fuel, so it’s absolutely completely insane to be out here looking for deep sea oil off the coast of New Zealand if you want a stable climate.”

• Greenpeace’s live feed from the Taitu
• New Greenpeace boat key to oil industry battle

Our message it clear! Rise up. End oil. The Taitu crew are flying a giant banner from a kite and streamers that carry anti-oil exploration messages from New Zealanders. Follow the action here: www.greenpeace.nz/taitu #greenpeace #oil #taitu #statoil #chevron #ocean #sea #clouds #picoftheday

A post shared by Greenpeace Aotearoa NZ (@greenpeacenz) on Apr 9, 2017 at 12:53am PDT

Greenpeace NZ has released aerial footage from a reconnaissance flight of the world’s biggest seismic ship, the Amazon Warrior, blasting for oil 120 nautical miles off the Wairarapa Coast.

The reconnaissance is the latest stage of the organisation’s surveillance and monitoring of the ship, which will be searching for oil on behalf of Chevron and Statoil for the next several months.

Greenpeace climate campaigner, Kate Simcock, said in a media release the goal of the surveillance was to show New Zealanders what the government is allowing to happen far out of sight in our oceans.

“In order to find oil, this ship is blasting sound waves through the ocean into the seafloor every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, from arrays that are the length of 80 rugby fields,” she said.

“This is the very oil that science says can’t be drilled and burnt if we are to avoid a climate catastrophe.

“The oil industry describe these blasts as comparable in sound to an underwater volcano: Just imagine how distressing it is  to the dolphins and whales for whom this ocean is their home,” Simcock said.

“It’s a complete betrayal that our government has invited this climate-wrecking beast to roam our unique coastlines. This is a wilful attempt to threaten the future of our children and grandchildren all in the name of short term profit for a select few.”

An unprecedented alliance of Māori communities have voiced opposition to deep water drilling on the East Coast.

Almost 70 Māori hapū from Cape Runaway to Kaikoura have called on Statoil and Chevron to cease their operations and leave New Zealand. More than 10,000 New Zealanders have signed on to the letter.

In the last month, Auckland Council, Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury, Dunedin Council and Gisborne Council voted to oppose offshore oil prospecting, exploration and drilling.

“With the change of prime minister, the government should quit this mad oil program once and for all.  We’re calling on new Prime Minister Bill English to face the planetary climate emergency and listen to iwi, public and local government opposition, and ditch deep sea drilling now.”

Simcock said Greenpeace made the 120 nautical mile trip to find the seismic blasting ship because it seems to have been avoiding coming into port where it could face protest.

This included illegally switching off its mandatory AIS tracking safety device for days on end, throughout the 7.8 earthquake and tsunami threat, and having people and supplies delivered to it by boat and helicopter.

“The Marine Mammal Impact Assessment (MMIA) was also not published until we asked for it. These examples highlight why it’s more important than ever to have citizens monitoring this climate-killing industry. They’re clearly not being regulated well by the government.

“This oil exploration machine may think it can avoid making land in New Zealand, and do its dirty business out of sight and out of mind, but we want them to know it’s not safe from protest out on the ocean either. The Amazon Warrior can run but it can’t hide – we have it in our sights.

“Our message to the government and the oil industry is this: The ocean isn’t as big as it may seem.

“We will show New Zealanders exactly how you are blasting our marine environment and causing distress to our unique whales and dolphins – all in the name of climate-wrecking oil – and we will peacefully resist you until you leave our waters.”

Greenpeace media release