Taranaki oil spill shows the risks facing our southern oceans

Today’s evidence of tar balls washing up on the Taranaki coast should be ringing alarm bells in Government about the potential risks and costs of the mooted oil exploration in the Great South Basin, Greens Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

“The risk of oil spillage from such exploration activities is real. From reports, Taranaki Regional Council has collected some six cubic metres of oil contaminated sand,” Ms Fitzsimons says.

“Earlier this year, the Green Party expressed consternation that the Government was willing to run the risk in the Great South Basin of huge environmental damage in a sensitive ecological region that is rich with endangered marine and bird life, and valuable fisheries resources.

“The Government has not done any Strategic Environment Assessment of the environmental risks involved, as would happen in Europe,” Ms Fitzsimons says.

“The Taranaki contamination now shows the foolhardiness of such an approach. On the issue of liability, Associate Minister Harry Duynhoven has said that Exxon Mobil and other operators will be subject to the provisions of the Maritime Safety Act for any damage arising from their actions in the Great South Basin – which means that the Government expects huge multinationals can be admonished into meekly paying their clean-up bills, after a visit from a few Maritime New Zealand officials.

“New Zealand still lacks a comprehensive oceans policy to guarantee us a fair return for our ocean-based resources, much less a robust system of assessing, monitoring and enforcing the environmental needs of our ocean habitats, or liability mechanisms that can ensure compensation and clean-up costs are met if those habitats are violated.

“The Taranaki contamination should be taken as a wake-up call about what could well happen on a far bigger scale, in a much more environmentally sensitive region in our southern oceans,” Ms Fitzsimons says.