Our History
The Save Happy Valley Coalition came together at a campout at Happy Valley in early April, 2004. A group of people from around the country travelled to Westport and made the three hour hike to Happy Valley to camp for a week in protest against the proposed mine. During this week, we familiarised ourselves with the area and appreciated its beauty. We heard kiwi on many of the nights, and saw a number of weka during the days. It was during this camp that we made plans for an extended campaign against the mine.
Working alongside other organisations like Buller Conservation Group, Te Runanga o Ngati Waewae, Forest & Bird, Greenpeace and the Green Party the Save Happy Valley Coalition aims to build awareness about the proposed coal mine at Happy Valley and the environmental issues surrounding coal mining, and to actively oppose the mine and coal-fuelled energy generation.
We are committed to grassroots organisation and regularly engage in protest, civil disobedience and direct action in resistance to the destruction of the environment.
The Save Happy Valley Coalition is made up of a variety of groups around the country, each with their different focuses, but all committed to stopping the mine from going ahead.
A Bit of History...
10th - 17th April 2004 :: The First Camp-Out
The inaugural camp-out was organised by M.E.G. and attracted a variety of groups and people, principally from university environmental groups. About 20 people in total camped out in the Valley itself, with a support crew back in Westport. The camp-out recieved national coverage on tv and news media.
April - June 2004 :: Public Meetings
Following the first protest at Happy Valley, a series of public meetings were held around the country to raise awareness and develop resistance to the proposed mine. These meetings took place in Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, Palmerston North, Auckland and Wellington.
4th June 2004 :: Protest at Solid Energy HQ
A demonstration took place at the Solid Energy offices in Christchurch in coordination with Forest & Bird.
28th August – 4th September 2004 :: The Second Camp-Out & Tree-Sit
A second camp-out in Happy Valley attracted about 40 people in total, with about 20 making the hike into the Valley. As well as the camp-out, a platform was set up high in a tree on the road up to the nearby Stockton Mine, also run by Solid Energy. Two protesters spent a week living on the plaform, hunger-striking. The protests received national attention on both tv and in news media. A national SHVC hui also took place.
23rd September 2004 :: Protesters Storm Award Ceremony
As part of a protest against the Champion Canterbury Awards in Christchurch, at which Solid Energy was up for an award, several protesters wearing suits snuck inside and stormed the stage. They chanted and generally disrupted the ceremony which the Prime Minister was attending, and awarded Solid Energy the "eco-terrorist" award.
10th December 2004 :: Solid Energy HQ Lawns Dug Up
More than 20 members of the SHVC and others arrived at the Solid Energy headquarters in Christchurch and proceeded to dig for coal under their front lawn. As a parady of Solid Energy's mitigation plans, people dressed as kiwi entered the building and attempted to "relocate" Solid Energy staff so that the mining efforts outside could proceed. Everyone managed to get away before the police arrived, and the efforts were replayed on TV3 news that night.
6th & 7th March 2005 :: Solid Energy HQ Occupied
To mark the beginning of the Environment Court hearings on the 7th, activists occupied Solid Energy grounds in Christchurch for 26 hours, with four people locked on with bicycle D-locks to the Solid Energy headquarters. This gained a lot of media attention, with two items on TV3, one on TV1, articles in the Herald, the Dominion Post, the Press, and other papers and radio stations. Although Solid Energy originally stated that we could stay for as long as we wanted, they went back on their word and called in the police. Two protesters were charged with illegally being on a building.
25th June 2005 :: ECO Presentation, Second National Hui & DOC Protest
Members of SHVC organised a presentation about Happy Valley and the associated environmental issues that was held at the ECO Conference in Wellington. Taking advantage of being together in one place, a second national hui was held as well as a small protest against the Department of Conservation for their collusion with Solid Energy.
13th August 2005 :: Coal Trains Blocked by Activists Locked-On to Tracks
Three people from SHVC, working with many others, blocked the railway tracks that are used by Solid Energy trains to move coal from the West Coast to Lyttelton Port. Two were locked directly onto the rail tracks, and a third was hanging 30m above the ground from a tree and whose support rope was attached to the tracks. They held up three trains, at least one of which was a coal train, for more than four hours before police forcibly removed them. They have consequently been charged with trespass, wilful trespass and trespass under the Railways Act (with a maximum fine of $10,000). The action recieved widespread publicity with segments on both major news programmes, on radio and in newspapers.
19th & 20th November 2005 :: Public Happy Valley Visit
Thirty-three members of the Save Happy Valley Coalition and others from around Aotearoa and abroad spent the weekend tramping into and looking around Happy Valley, on the West Coast of the South Island. Many were seeing the valley for the first time and were struck by its pristine beauty, especially when compared to the devastation of the nearby Stockton mine.
The visitors were themselves visited by Solid Energy security guards on the Saturday night, intent on maintaining surveillance of the anti-mining coalition. Four security guards took video footage of those camped on DOC land, sought names and attempted to issue everyone present with "pre-emptive" trespass notices relating to Solid Energy property. They appeared briefly the next morning, and were in numbers to stop any access to Stockton mine. Once out of the valley, the crew were met by a police contingent and waiting paddy wagon and made to divulge names and other details.
10th & 11th December 2005 :: Mt. Augustus Protest
Save Happy Valley members clambered 1000 metres up a steep untracked bush ridge near Westport, to protest the imminent extinction of an absolutely-protected species of carnivorous land snail. Mt Augustus is the only home of Powelliphanta augustus, an absolutely protected species of rare carnivorous land snail. Solid Energy's Stockon Mine (nearby to Happy Valley) had already destroyed most of the snail's habitat plans to move some habitat with heavy machinery before blasting the rest.
18th December 2005 :: Solid Energy HQ Christmas Protest
About 30 people turned up to a Christmas protest outside Solid Energy's headquarters in Christchurch. Santa and his face-painted elves turned up and told Solid Energy how bad they had been again this year. The action went for about an hour and a half with dancing elves and a black santa dancing the morning away. The christmas themed banners - "Its a silent night without kiwi" and "We dont want your 'presents' in Happy Valley" - greeted morning commuters. As usual, Solid Energy security guards issued preemptive trespass notices. Don Elder was later to describe the protest in the media as a "non-event".
28th January 2006 :: Third and Final Occupation Begins
Over 75 people trekked in to Happy Valley as part of the first weekend of the indefinite occupation of Happy Valley, coming from as far afield as Auckland and Dunedin and representing groups such as Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, Te Runanga o Ngati Waewae, the Green Party and others. By far the biggest occupation so far, this time the campers plan to stay at the proposed mine site in an effort to both monitor and stop any moves by Solid Energy to go ahead with the mine. Besides a brief visit by Solid Energy security the morning after, the occupation began without incident and with stunning weather.
10th February 2006 :: Kiwi Spotted in Midland Park
The newly formed Save Happy Valley Wellington group organised and performed its first action - a bit of street theatre. 150+ inflatable Kiwi were unloaded from a large van into Midland Park, which is in the heart of the Wellington CBD. A few people went around handing out flyers and a large banner was unfurled. Soon after Solid Energy miners arrived and were instructed by Don Elder on a megaphone to round up the Kiwi. Enjoyed by all, especially kids present.
14th February 2006 :: Kiwi Visit Parliament
A large walking and talking kiwi visited Parliament and was met by Green Party MPs who gave their support to the campaign. The kiwi was then invited up to Minister of Conservation Chris Carter's office to discuss the government's response to Solid Energy's plans.
15th February 2006 :: Solid Energy's Headquarters Scaled and Banners Dropped
Three activists unfurled banners and hung off the concrete front facade of Solid Energy's headquarters. The activists had carefully scaled the building and sealed off the door opening onto the roof during the night. The next morning a street protest began which was soon joined by the rooftop activists when they dropped the banners down the side of the building, soon followed by themselves. The three were eventually arrested when police destroyed the barricaded door, charging them with Wilful Trespass and Unlawfully Being on a Building.
6th June 2006 :: March against species extinction
Over 50 high school students and supporters of the Save Happy Valley Coalition marched in Christchurch to demand protection for Powelliphanta “Augustus” and Happy Valley. The march was jointly organised by members of the Save Happy Valley group from local high school UPT, Youth Environment Forum members and the Save Happy Valley Coalition. The energetic march – with plenty of chanting – proceeded from the Bridge Of Remembrance to Hack Circle. Upon reaching Hack circle, 250 crosses were placed in the grass to represent the potential death of Powelliphanta “Augustus” and the 13 endangered species in Happy Valley from Solid Energy’s bulldozers.
September 2006 :: Giant snail chains itself to DOC doors
A giant Powelliphanta “Augustus” snail, with a Save Happy Valley Coalition member inside, locked itself to the Department of Conservation West Coast conservancy office in Hokitika. Snaily, AKA Graham Jury, 22, an ecology student from Christchurch, said “I've chained myself to this door in solidarity with more than 400 other Augustus snails here that are locked inside ice cream containers in the fridge.”
10 October 2006 :: Hidden Camera Found At Protest Site
SHVC discovered several thousand dollars worth of spying equipment on public land, camouflaged near the start of the track into the occupation. The equipment, which included a camera with 27x optical zoom, over one hundred metres of cable, a hard drive and four dry cell batteries, was hidden in bush and would have been able to identify -in detail- every single person who joined and left the legal occupation.
October 2006 :: Environment Court hearing — Mt Augustus
The Save Happy Valley Coalition Incorporated went to the Environment Court in an effort to save the remaining five hectares of habitat of the giant land snail Powelliphanta “Augustus” from Solid Energy's Stockton mine. The Court ruled that mining the habitat of the critically endangered species is “an action which is noxious, dangerous, offensive or objectionable [51]” and that there is a high risk to the snail's survival in destroying its only known habitat. However, the Court considered that the Resource Management Act does not apply to Coal Mining Licence land, leaving it without jurisdiction to stop the “catastrophic event (which) has now arrived in the form of Solid Energy's bulldozers which will destroy much of the snail's known habitat”. The Incorporated Society appealed the decision to the High Court, but also lost.
3 November 2006 :: Coal to send Christchurch under waves
SHV held a beach party outside Solid Energy's headquarters, to highlight the new coastline that coal companies may commit the world to by the end of the century. The demo was followed by our fifth national hui.
28 January 2007 :: SHV Celebrates First Occupation Birthday
SHVC and supporters had been occupying Happy Valley – to protect it from the threat of Solid Energy's digger and dynamite – for a year.
5 February 2007 :: Occupation of Mt Augustus
SHVC members occupied Mt Augustus, to slow or halt the mining that was destroying the last remaining habitat of Powelliphanta Augustus. We camped inside Solid Energy's blasting exclusion zone, on public Conservation land. Save Happy Valley Coalition members are currently occupying Mt Augustus, halting the mining that is destroying the last remaining habitat of Powelliphanta Augustus. The campaigners are camped inside Solid Energy's blasting exclusion zone, on public Conservation land.
March 2007 :: SHVC's Mock Solid Energy Environmental Report
SHVC refused to remove a satirical 'Environmental Report' from their website after Solid Energy filed an injunction application for defamation. We said, 'bring it on!' and welcomed the chance debate the environmental record of the State-owned climate changer. However, by the time Court rolled round, Solid Energy had dropped the defamation component of their case.
29th April 2007 :: End of the line for coal
Two SHVC members locked onto the train tracks near Christchurch to call for an end to new coal mines in New Zealand. Other members hung a twenty-two metre banner – 'Solid Energy: Govt Sponsored Climate Chaos.'
27th May 2007 :: “Don Elder must resign – spying unacceptable”
SHVC called for Don Elder to resign after it was revealed in the Sunday Star Times that two infiltrators had been used in NZ activist groups. One of these infiltrators, Ryan Paterson-Rouse, a Canterbury University student, had been involved in SHV Christchurch for seven months. Solid Energy contracted Thompson and Clark Investigations Ltd who in turn contracted Ryan.
12th June 2007 :: Carbon Credits against Coal Mining
SHVC launched new carbon credits after Solid Energy blamed us for a reducation in coal production from Stockton mine. Solid Energy had recently stated it was reducing production for the year by 250,000 tonnes, in part because of the protests by SHVC members.
February 2008 :: Complaint against Thompson and Clark Investigations Ltd
SHVC lodged a joint complaint with Wellington Animal Rights Network and Peace Action Wellington against Thompson and Clark Investigations Ltd for breach of the Private Investigators and Security Guards Act 1974. The case was heard before the Registrar of Private Investigators and Security Guards. However, just two months later the company was exposed trying to contract another man to infiltrate SHVC.
January 2009 :: Third Occupation Birthday and Drilling Begins
SHVC celebrated the third year of the occupation. However, Solid Energy announced the very next day that they were beginning drilling… The struggle continues!
