7 October 2011

Will Govt take full control of Tauranga spill?

The Government can take over full legal responsibility for the salvage as well as the clean-up of the Rena cargo ship leaking oil into the ocean near Tauranga Harbour, the Green Party said today.

“The critical issue at this point is the salvage of the ship, because it is still leaking oil,” said Green Party Ocean spokesperson Gareth Hughes.

“We understand that there is coordination between the ship owners and the Government, which is great. However, it is important that the public knows who has ultimate responsibility, and for the sake of the environment, that should be the Government.

”This situation needs the full resources of our Government to resolve this dangerous environmental situation.

“We are worried that a foreign owned company with a financial bottom line could do things cheaply rather than responsibly.”

The Government, through Maritime New Zealand, is currently coordinating clean-up efforts, but salvage operations are still technically the legal responsibility of the ship’s Greek owners, who have appointed Svitzer as salvor.

“One of the lessons from the Deep Water Horizons incident in the Gulf of Mexico is that there needs to be a centralised point of command for both salvage and clean-up,” said Mr Hughes.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce said that the ship was in a precarious situation and could potentially even break up, spilling its 17-hundred tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the sea.

“Section 248 of the Maritime New Zealand Act gives Maritime New Zealand the power to take control of the salvage, and we think the Government should exercise this power,” said Mr Hughes.

ENDS

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