Greenpeace slams Govt decision to expand seabed mining permit area

Greenpeace says it’s “unbelievable” that wannabe seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources has been given the go-ahead to nearly quadruple the size of the area it wants to mine in the South Taranaki Bight.

Seabed mining campaigner Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Rarotonga) says: “It’s unbelievable that with all the opposition to seabed mining from so many quarters, the industry regulator has quietly approved TTR’s application to increase the size of its mining permit from 6600 to 24,300 hectares.

“The decision to approve Trans-Tasman Resources’ application was made four months after TTR pulled out of the open and democratic EPA hearing into its attempts to mine the Taranaki seabed and instead opted to apply via the Luxon government’s Fast Track Approvals process.”

Lee adds: “TTR is openly flouting the long-running concerns of local iwi and hapū, Taranaki communities, the fishing industry, scientists and marine experts, despite being rejected time and again in the open court process.

The decision also flies in the face of New Zealand’s necessary transition to renewable energy, with wind developers saying that seabed mining there would prevent the development of offshore wind generation.

Trans-Tasman Resources plans to mine up to 50 million tonnes of iron sands and dump 45 million tonnes of waste back into the ocean every year – for 30 years.

Seabed mining would be a significant threat to marine life, including blue whales, Māui and Hector’s dolphins, little blue penguins, and critical fishing grounds.

“Experts say the sediment plume will travel kilometres destroying marine life and habitat. Expanding the mining area will exponentially increase the destruction,” says Lee.

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About the author

Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Rarotonga) is the seabed mining campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, working to stop seabed mining in Aotearoa, protecting marine wildlife and the d…elicate ecosystems of the deep sea, move NZ away from destructive extractivism and towards a circular economy. The whakapapa of my whānau is a journey through Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. From the Whangape Harbour to Rawhiti via Ngawha, down to Tauranga Moana, over to Tupapa and Ngatangiia in Rarotonga, and north again to Tahiti. My tamariki, through their pāpā, also whakapapa to Toi village in Niue. I was raised by a frugal mother who was always mindful of her impact on the planet, and navigated it accordingly. My dad has always enjoyed nature and instilled in us that there were responsibilities we had to be able to keep enjoying it. This was my very first influence. When I became an adult and then a mother myself, decolonising my life became a priority to raise my tamariki with an unapologetic, Indigenous worldview. Along the way and without realising, my whakaaro around kaitiakitanga began to shift, or rather, return. I felt more responsible, but also more empowered. I connect the dots between 160+ years of colonisation, extractivism, social and environmental harms and injustices and a worldview that sees the environment as separate to people. That people are somehow entitled to take, own, throw away, destroy and degrade. We are witnessing the impacts from living in a system rooted in colonialism and racism and extractive industries are devastating the planet and furthering the climate crisis. Now, wannabe miners are eyeing up the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight, and also seeking to plunder the deep seas. This problem is colossal, but so is our fight to protect te taiao. There are solutions to these issues. We must stop seabed mining before it starts.