Petrobras Oil case reaches High Court

An East Cape iwi and Greenpeace are taking on the Government and a multinational oil company at the High Court in Wellington today.

Te Whanau a Apanui's been fighting to stop oil company Petrobras drilling in deep water off the East Cape since it was given a permit by the Government in 2010.

This week a judge will consider the legality of the Petrobras permit as part of a judicial review.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Vanessa Atkinson says environmental impact assessment requirements in New Zealand are worse than in Nigeria.

"This is pretty extraordinary given that New Zealand trades internationally on its clean green edge, on its clean environment, on its clean waters, fisheries, tourism, that we should put all of these things at risk for the sake of a few drops of oil."

Ms Atkinson says no environmental impact assessment was carried out by the Government before it granted the Petrobras drilling permit.

Photo: NZ Herald