Local Ruakākā group and Greenpeace activists protest coal-fired power plant in New Zealand, 2005

The Marsden Power Station B was originally built on Marsden Point, Ruakākā, Northland, New Zealand in the 1970s as an oil-fired power station, but when construction concluded in the 1980s, oil prices had risen substantially, resulting in the plant not being commissioned. In October 2004, Mighty River Power, a New Zealand-based electric company, applied to the Northland Regional Council, which manages air, land, freshwater, and coastal resources in the Northland region, for resource consent to operate Marsden B power station using coal. This provoked a series of protests and action by Greenpeace activists and residents to stop the power station from being commissioned as a coal operation.   

On 16 February 2005, Greenpeace activists hung a banner on the Marsden B power station that read “Save the Climate-Stop Coal.” Activists chose this day because the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty administered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was established that same day in 2005. The Kyoto Protocol was a policy that committed industrialized countries to holding their economies in transition accountable in limiting and reducing greenhouse gasses. Two days after this action, on 18 February, local Ruakākā builders, Josh Mrsich and Isaac Holmes, along with Greenpeace activists, assembled signs and hazard tape that noted the danger and harm that this plant would bring, around the perimeter of what would be the Marsden B power station. On that same day, Greenpeace activists began a nine-day occupation of the roof of the power station, which also included signs and banners. 

On 19 February, the local Ruakākā group 'Surfers Against Sulphur’ staged a protest on Bream Bay Beach, the beach below the proposed plant, which included wearing shirts with slogan 'Surfers Against Sulphur’ and participating in a paddle-out on surfboards. On that same beach, the following day, 500 Northland residents gathered to protest Marsden B through the creation and holding of posters and a human banner, which involved protestors to form the phrases  “No Coal” and “No Marsden B” with their bodies A few days later on the 23rd, Greenpeace divers swam to the toxic overflow zone of the power station in Bream Bay and held up hazard signs warning the public about impacts the power station would cause. The following day, the 24th, Raoni Hammer, Mal Wren, and Kate Lowe, Greenpeace activists, lowered themselves from the roof of the power station to local authorities awaiting on the ground. The local government allowed for public submissions against Marsden B, so activists ended their occupation to deliver their own personal submissions to the council along with the extensive Greenpeace submissions against this coal project, which totaled to 4000 opposing submissions. 

In July-August 2005, the Northland Regional Council began hearing submissions on the Marden B proposal. Greenpeace activists attended this event and brought environmental experts from Australia and the United States as well as brought documents that revealed that the Council sought support from the government in implementing the power station, which would counteract the submissions made by the citizens.   

Later that year, in October, Greenpeace activists and Northland residents filed appeals to the Environment Court in New Zealand. In July 2006, the Environmental Court did not find climate change was not a relevant factor in determining the status of Mighty River Power plans. In August 2006, Greenpeace appealed the Environmental Court’s decision on climate change to the High Court of New Zealand. In October of this year, the High Court overturned the Environmental Court's decision, claiming that climate change should be considered in regards to the effects of the plant. The Department of Conservation held hearings 30-31 January 2007 in order to hear submissions regarding the Mighty River Power plant. Greenpeace activists, Northland residents, and community groups appeared and made submissions at the hearings. Over 1,400 submissions were submitted, all opposing the plan. In March 2007, Mighty Power abandoned Marsden B plans.