Ian McLean Spokesperson for the Green Party

Mining and drilling are messy activities and routinely involve serious environmental effects such as in Waihi. That mining might take place in any back yard, including yours.

The Canadian company, Glass Earth Gold, is prospecting in the hills above Te Puke. A nervous local group meets occasionally to consider the environmental implications of that project.

Some dormant Vikings woke up recently. Residents of Dannevirke headed to the streets to complain about oil prospecting. It seems that there may be huge deposits of shale hydrocarbons in their neighbourhood. Fracking (induced hydraulic fracturing) will follow.

A public meeting, called by Shell Oil to discuss prospecting in the Great Southern Basin, was disrupted by protestors in Dunedin, and eventually shut down.

Ngati Hau (in Northland) is obstructing gold and silver prospecting by a West Australia company.

The protests continue in Coromandel, Gisborne and North Westland.

International investors are aware of the increasingly friendly regulatory environment being implemented by the current New Zealand Government to support oil and minerals exploitation, and they're watching developments here closely.

Supporting a Government that promotes mining presumably seemed reasonable when it was just an election policy that might create jobs. Now the reality is hitting home. Mining touches everybody, no matter what your political persuasion.

Ian McLean is a spokesperson for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Contact Ian on 021 547 556 or 07 579 4670 or email: ian.mclean@greens.org.nz