Environmental concerns are gaining widespread public support to question the risks of deepwater drilling and the onshore drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing or fracking, all to the backdrop of the Rena shipwreck oil clean-up.
Texas-based oil giant Anadarko this week deferred for a year an exploration drilling programme off the coast of Oamaru, which has been estimated could cost almost $200 million, and possibly use Dunedin as a base.
Otago Chamber of Commerce president Peter McIntyre said he was concerned by "apparent Dunedin City Council intervention" on the oil-drilling debate by Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull and Cr Jinty MacTavish, who should "be rolling out the red carpet" instead of making "negative comments".
The chamber was concerned negative comments by elected members in an official capacity could hurt the city's chances of attracting jobs, he said.
"The associated industry and jobs possible shouldn't be turned down on principle in relation to a decision that will be made by others, at a national level," Mr McIntyre said.
Cr MacTavish said in an interview she remained opposed to exploration drilling, highlighting it was the "most dangerous phase" of any oil search.
"This [deferment] is good, so we can have the opportunity for robust conversation on the positives and negatives ... communities can for the first time take part," she said.
Earlier this week she said deepwater drilling was "irresponsible" when there were alternative energy sources.
The Anadarko and Shell proposals for deepwater drilling in the adjacent Great South Basin and Canterbury Basin were at depths four times deeper than ever undertaken in New Zealand, she said.
"It's impossible to promote drilling knowing the impact any spill would have on tourism, fishing, recreational [coast users] and coastal communities," she said.
Last week, the Dunedin City Council voted 7-6 vote to join in calls for a national moratorium on fracking underground.
Cr MacTavish said yesterday regulations governing drilling were "very lax" and while the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment had raised concerns recently and could potentially recommend some legislative changes, Cr MacTavish said, as a councillor, she could "possibly" change her stance if tougher regulations were legislated, but as a private citizen she would "always oppose" deepwater drilling "and all the dangerous risks" it posed.
Instead of exploration drilling, she suggested Dunedin should become a "renewable [energy] hub", creating jobs, to improve energy security and to retain energy-related spending locally.
On Mr McIntyre's claim of possibly 1000 jobs, Cr MacTavish cited a report on North Sea oil-base Aberdeen, which found after a decade there had been a "marked" displacement of traditional industries and trades, rising cost of living and an uneven distribution of the oil-related earnings through the community"Caution is needed here. This is an unsustainable boom-bust industry," Cr MacTavish said.
Mr Cull was reported to support drilling as long as oil companies could satisfy community concerns, and said the deferment "may be a good thing" to give more time to study the issues.
Mr McIntyre said the city council did not have a regulatory role to play in whether or not drilling took place, as those decisions happened on a national level, and the Government made the decisions after assessing the facts.
"Locally, the debate is simply whether Dunedin wants to act as a base for drilling companies.
"I've heard numbers of up to 1000 possible jobs if Dunedin is chosen as an oil base.
"That seems to me to make the debate simple - do we want these jobs or do we want another South Island city to have them?" he said.
