Mrs Crozier warns of L.N.G. dangers

Press, 28 May 1979, Page 6

Mrs Crozier warns of L.N.G. dangers

PA Auckland The Government would be risking the lives of the entire population of Whangarei if it accepted the proposals for the establishment of a liquefied natural gas industry in that city, said the leader of the Values Party (Mrs Margaret Crozier) yesterday.

Mrs Crozier said the proposal by Shell Oil (New Zealand), Ltd, suggested that New Zealand was to sell the energy resources it would need itself before long, in return for short-term economic gains. An accident at the proposed L.N.G. site could wipe out Whangarei; and a cloud of burning gas could, in unfavourable weather, extend over 100 kilometres, she said. There was no way to stop an L.N.G. fire until all the gas had vapourised. A small tank of L.N.G. which ruptured in Cleveland had caused the death of 130 persons and had injured 300, as well as devastating 30 acres of the city, Mrs Crozier said.

The tankers proposed by Shell Oil carried about 30 times the quantity of L.N.G. The proposal also drew cident may seem low, but it is not nearly as low as the possibility of a nuclear reactor failure—yet that has just happened at Harris-: burg,” Mrs Crozier said.

It was important to ascertain just how much New Zealand, as opposed to Shell Oil, stood to gain in return for the huge risks, she said.

It should also be established how much of the

S2OOOM investment was expected to come from the taxpayer, and whether it was proposed to give the gas to the oil comany (or sell it cheaply) because the Government could not afford the gas price set in the Maui development contract. The proosal also drew comment from another quarter at the week-end. Shell Oil’s proposal for producing and selling liquefied natural gas (L.N.G.) overseas were not presented in the context of a comprehensive plan for New Zealand’s long-term energy needs, according to the New Zealand Association of Scientists. The association’s council, which met in Wellington on Saturday, said that such important proposals were being made by the Government without fully informed public debate about New Zealand’s energy requirements, said the association’s president (Dr W. Green).

He said the association had long been trying to get information on electricity generation from the Minister of Energy.

The association wanted details of the methods used to predict power requirements. “In spite of attempts by various other organisations to obtain the information so necessary for informed public debate’ about our longterm energy plans, there is still no indication that the secrecy surrounding this vital national concern is going to be lifted,” said Dr Green. “The Electricity Division’s projections of future electricity requirements have been so excessive in recent years that the public has a right to know why these costly errors are being made.” Until New Zealand developed a “consistent, realistic, and long-term” energy plan, he said, proposals to export L.N.G. were a cause for concern.