Hughes Gareth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:14904. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.GARETH HUGHES (Green) to theMinister of Energy and Resources: Does he stand by the Prime Minister’s statement to the New Zealand petroleum industry annual conference that “This Government is very clear we won’t let cowboys operate here in New Zealand”?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Energy and Resources): Yes.Gareth Hughes: Why is the Government allowing the very company that was partially responsible for the world’s worst ever oil spill to drill in New Zealand and how does that match with not letting cowboys operate in New Zealand?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The very premise of the question the member asks is wrong. The US Government did not find that Anadarko was to blame for Deepwater Horizon.Gareth Hughes: How is Anadarko not a cowboy when it knowingly and expressly approved BP’s riskiest cost-cutting and time-saving proposals which were a major factor in that spill?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I am not responsible for Anadarko. The fact of the matter is that it was a passive shareholder. It had no involvement in the operation of the well no personnel on board the facility and no decision-making power as to how that operation was operated.Gareth Hughes: How is Anadarko not a cowboy when it has also been responsible for six other spills of greater than 7 tonnes including one in 2007 when it lost well control and released 1061 barrels?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I would need to confirm that. My clear understanding is that it has not been responsible for any major incidents as an operator.Gareth Hughes: Will the Minister immediately make public the oil spill modelling and the oil spill response plan for Anadarko’s Taranaki well so that people get to know what is at risk before the drilling starts?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I think this member has asked this question before. The position is very clear. They are not publicly available in the sense that they are not on some website right now but under the Official Information Act he knows what to do.Gareth Hughes: I seek leave to table a response from Maritime New Zealand saying that it cannot release Anadarko’s oil response plan until it consults Anadarko.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that particular document. Is there any objection? No there is no objection. The paper can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Gareth Hughes: Is the reason why the Government is suppressing this information that it does not want the people of New Zealand to know the potential consequences of a spill and what it would take to clean it up?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: There is no suppression.Gareth Hughes: Why is the Government risking our environment and our economy by allowing Anadarko the Texan cowboys behind the world’s worst ever spill to conduct risky deep-sea drilling in our waters?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I do not accept any of what the member has said. I think that we have in this industry the highest environmental and health and safety practice operating in New Zealand today. I am very confident that our environment is secure well into the future.