Greenpeace, at dawn yesterday, shut down a pit of a
southern lignite coal mine near Gore. The pit is used by
Fonterra to help fuel operations at its nearby Edendale
dairy factory. Activists unfurled a massive 40m x 40m
banner on the ground of the opencast mine. Photo supplied.
Fonterra has accused Greenpeace of selective use of
facts, after four activists were arrested during a coal mine
protest near Gore.
The three females and a male were apprehended at the New Vale
coal mine near Waimumu, about 6.30am yesterday. They have
been charged with trespass and given police bail to appear in
the Invercargill District Court in the next week.
A dozen police from Gore and Invercargill attended the
incident, with those arrested from Dunedin, Christchurch and
Waikato.
They were protesting Fonterra's use of coal to run its
Edendale factory, but the company's manager of sustainable
production, John Hutchings, said the plant operated a
co-generation system, which actually saved energy.
Coal was used to evaporate water off the milk to produce
powder, and the steam generated by that process supplied 25%
of the factory's electricity needs.
Mr Hutchings said improved energy efficiency had resulted in
Fonterra's coal use dropping by the equivalent of 34%, or
300,000 tonnes a year, since 1990, similar to the energy used
by 100,000 households.
Greenpeace climate change leader Simon Boxer labelled
Fonterra New Zealand's largest greenhouse gas producer, for
its industrial and farm emissions and for promoting
deforestation in Asia for the growing of palm kernel, a
by-product of which is used as stock feed.
He was unrepentant about the protest, despite police
criticism it tied up 12 police, saying such concerns "were
not an argument", that the issue of climate change and an
international conference on the subject in Copenhagen next
month was of far greater importance to the country.
Inspector Olaf Jensen, of Invercargill, said police were
aware something was going to happen, but did not know the
nature of the protest, so had to be prepared for any
scenario.
"That was 12 officers taken away from other duties, for
something that was obviously going to be unlawful."
By the time police arrived, several banners had been erected
and some people were tied to equipment that appeared to have
been brought along for the task, Insp Jensen said.
The four were part of a group of about 10 people. The others
had not committed any offences when police arrived, so were
not arrested.
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