All at sea
When a little fishing boat did its fishing in front of the Petrobras seismic surveying vessel the Tauranga Harbourmaster called in the Royal NZ Navy to protect the multi-national company and its interests by threatening the fishing boat with a patrol ship. Has the Harbourmaster called out the navy to deal with some Liberian-flagged ship that struck a reef and is spewing oil into the sea?
No.
That's the Crown's priorities - rather call in the navy to harass people trying to protect the environment than to actually protect the environment when the oil starts leaking. Pathetic. Just like the response to the Jodi F Millenium in Gisborne - had to wait a week or so for a tug to arrive from Aussie. Nothing has changed from ten years ago - still utterly inept. We have to wait for some guy to fly out from Holland with a calculator.
NZ Herald: Maritime New Zealand have confirmed oiled birds on the water have been found as a result of the oil spill surrounding a grounded cargo ship off Tauranga.
Fears are growing the stranded ship MV Rena, which is haemorrhaging oil into the sea, has the potential to cause a major environmental disaster.
The 236m cargo vessel struck Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga Harbour early on Wednesday, causing a 5km oil slick that has already killed some wildlife.
Imagine if there was an oil rig out there - in the earthquake zone - and something happened. There is no confidence in the NZ government to handle this. John Key will be held responsible for every drop of oil that reaches the shore, that coats the seabed, that floats on the surface and that makes its way into the atmosphere. Every drop.
posted by Tim Selwyn @ 4:29 pm
4 comments
4 Comments:
John Key will be held responsible for every drop of oil that reaches the shore...
Well one would initially assume that this is true. However, NZers are so enamoured with John, that they think the free oil that washes ashore might help keep petrol prices down. And that's a good thing, right?
Another environmental disaster to suck up scarce funds?
With all due respect Tim, what has changed?
In 2008 I took the Whangamata Marina Society along with its compliant Councils EW and TCDC to court for using an eco toxic weed spray to eliminate a little known rare species habitat of Oligosoma moco skink of the face of the earth.
Even though I had good expert support (that was ridiculed in court) the Judge was heavily biased in favour of the marina society to which he had previously granted consents.
The end result is some delinquent trying to smuggle a couple of lizards in his underwear gets snapped at the airport and receives more media attention than he deserves and the complimentary full force of the law.
Meanwhile the Marina society and compliant councils walk away without even a slap in the face with a wet bus ticket, nor even hardly a mention in the media. I believe the technical term is called corruption.
Go figure
The only difference I can see between New Zealand and countries generally seen as corrupt is that in New Zealand, it's only available to the rich. You can't pay $20 to get off a traffic ticket, but you can pay $43 million to get on the radio.
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