There is a lot to debate in regard to oil exploration around
New Zealand, both on land and in the adjoining seas. Oil already makes a substantial contribution
to our economy and provides well-paid employment. It has the potential to do a great deal
more. Of course there are dangers. Accidents can cause loss of life and
environmental damage. Manifestly, this
is not peculiar to oil. As we know too
well, people can die in coal-mining, or in off shore fishing, and there are
potential environmental consequences from farming, especially intensive dairy
farming, which is at the heart of our present relative economic security. For some there is also the matter of
anthropogenic global warming, which condemns oil exploitation and coal mining,
however safely conducted.
We need to reconcile these things. We need to apply serious cost/benefit
analysis. How much value do we put on
the potential revenues and employment possibilities that might come from
exploitation of our untouched oil assets?
