Great to bring you some positive news every now and again guys. This time a seabed mining court case victory:
We won. We actually WON!
This week, together we made history for our oceans: the proposed seabed mining plans in the South Taranaki Bight are officially quashed! Spread the word and share the image!
This week, the High Court upheld the appeal against the Environmental Protection Agency’s granting of a consent to seabed mining company Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) to mine the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight for iron ore.
Everyone was against this project, including Iwi who have been leading this fight like Ngati Ruanui and Nga Rauru, fishing companies and environmental groups like Greenpeace and Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, Forest and Bird and more.
The High Court decision is a major blow for the seabed mining industry in New Zealand – and that’s thanks to thousands of people like you who protested, and who made more than 13,000 submissions against it. This is a people powered win!
This is a HUGE victory for South Taranaki, a victory for the Blue Whales sanctuary proposed in what would be the mined area, and a victory for the entire marine ecosystem of Aotearoa.
Now our message is being heard loud and clear: our oceans deserve better than becoming a ‘guinea pig’ for new experimental resource extraction.
Help share this victory – let’s make sure that everyone knows that when we stand together, we always win:
This is the second time the company TTR has failed. The EPA refused them the first time round, in 2014, but TTR came back and tried again – and got the green light a year ago. We appealed this decision to the High Court in April, not least on behalf of the thousands of supporters behind us.
We’re now reading the decision through very carefully, along with allies, and working out what happens from here on for the movement against seabed mining in Aotearoa.
We could still have a fight on our hands – the company could still appeal this decision and they have until the end of the month to do it. Plus, there are more proposals possibly coming down the pipeline by other companies who want to mine the seabed off our coastlines. But this week’s decision will make their efforts just that much more difficult.
Today, one thing is clear: right now, we’ve stopped Trans Tasman Resources in its tracks! And until we get a moratorium, a halt, a taihoa on seabed mining in Aotearoa – we won’t stop!
So let’s celebrate this victory and hopefully many more victories for our seas to come!
He waka eke noa. We’re all in this boat together.
Emily Hunter & Cindy Baxter
Kiwis Against Seabed Mining
(Thanks to Sarah H at theConTrail.com for sharing this news)
