Taranaki is dotted with oil and gas wellsites (see NZPAM map below), production stations and waste disposal sites including injection wells and ‘landfarms’. Many of these wells have been fracked multiple times. Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing whereby toxic chemicals, water and proppant are pumped under high pressure into the bedrock to allow access for otherwise inaccessible and uneconomical petroleum reserves.

Fracking is not harmless. Notably, the US Physicians for Social Responsibility compiled an annual Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure. For example, in mid 2023, three studies by the University of Pittsburge revealed that children have a higher risk of developing lymphoma the closer they live to a fracking operation, and suggested links between the production phase of fracking and birth outcomes, and an increased risk of asthma.

In Taranaki, there are anecdotal evidence of health impacts in communities surrounded by oil and gas wells. We ran the first Fracking Tour in 2012 to raise awareness on these issues.

Nearly a decade later, the documentary A Fracking Tour of Taranaki was produced in 2021, following Taranaki teacher Sarah Roberts as she traveled the region, exploring and showcasing the extent of the fracking industry’s effects on the local community.

To learn more details about the oil and gas industry in New Zealand, have a read of the various compliance monitoring reports on drilling, hydraulic fracturing and production and waste disposal on the Taranaki Regional Council website. For oil and gas activities offshore in the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), visit the NZ Environmental Protection Authority – EPA website on oil and gas operations  and discharge of harmful substances.

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John Fenton ‘Warning From Wyoming’  (12 March, 2014)

This is a 20 minute cut of Wyoming rancher John Fenton’s presentation at Casino, northern NSW Australia. John has a terrible story to tell about the effects of invasive gasfields on his property and family and explains how to avoid the same thing happening to you and your community.

Fracking Hell? – South Africa’s Gas Dilemma (20 Feb, 2013)

Caught between the promise of prosperity that natural gas extraction in the Karoo Basin might bring and concerns about environmental and health impacts, citizen resistance to fracking is growing in the Republic of South Africa. Earth Focus correspondent Jeff Barbee reports.

Unearthed: The Fracking Facade (3 Nov 2012)

Setting the track record straight – A video exposing a flawed claim often abused in the sales pitch for promoting shale gas development across the world: “With a history of 60 years, after nearly a million wells drilled, there are no documented cases that hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) has lead to the contamination of groundwater.”

Solid Energy’s unconsented fracking in Waikato:  NZ 3 News, 25 July 2012

Fracking in Southland exposed:  NZ 3 News, 27 June 2012

60 Minutes Meet the Frackers (click on title on left): NZ Channel Three, 18 March 2012 (21 mins)

A fracking mess: TVNZ One, 11 March 2012

TV3 News: John Campbell. See recent interviews with Taranaki locals, including Climate Justice Taranaki members, about their concerns on fracking. Click on the link to see the show: Rural Taranaki horrified by fracking (9 Feb 2012)

TVNZ: Marae Investigate. Click on the link to see the show: Taranaki Maori oppose fracking (4 Dec 2011)

Fracking Regulators Inadequate (BBC Newsnight, 20 March 2012) – covers earthquakes, radioactive & gas prices issues in the UK

Dr Ingraffea Facts on Fracking

Fracking Whatatutu

The video below says it all about fracking. It’s going to happen throughout Taranaki and much of NZ, if we don’t stop it!

Talk by Prof. Avner Vengosh from Duke University re fracking and water contamination

GasLand :  This is what started it all. Three minute trailer below. On hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the USA that has now been proven to cause major environmental problems notably contamination of drinking water and rivers.

Fracking Hell – The Untold Story (17 min): An investigative report by Earth Focus and UK’s Ecologist Film Unit looks at the risks of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale.