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Oil globules began arriving on Mt Maunganui beach on Monday morning - Source: ONE News -
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Anger is mounting in the Bay of Plenty as residents complain little is being done to remove oil from the shore.
Oil from the stranded ship Rena began washing up on Mt Maunganui's main beach this morning, creating a potential public health crisis and adding to fears of an ecological disaster.
It comes as the Maritime Union says it has information that
Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) was
aware of a number of problems on the ship.
The highly toxic oil is scattered down kilometres of the coastline,
and dead birds doused in oil are also littering the tourist
hotspot.
It is the locals, not authorities picking them up, and the lack of official action is leaving locals furious.
"Look at the beach, it's a beautiful beach and its buggered from oil," said David Lynn.
"They're going to have to hold someone responsible and clean it up."
The Defence Force said in a statement this afternoon it had 300 personnel on standby ready to clean up the beach.
Locals are wondering when that help is going to arrive.
The oil was first discovered by Bevan Waller, who works in the oil and gas industry, at 8.30am, but despite warning authorities, by midday no one had been down to clean up the beach.
He said he was "gobsmacked" at the response.
"No one was down here doing anything," said Waller.
That was backed up by a Mount Maunganui resident out with his wife walking their puppy this morning.
He told ONE News he had called MNZ Tauranga but got no action.
"We walked past officials who said 'hello' but offered no warning or advice about the oil on the beach," Bruce McCutcheon said.
"Our dog walked into the oil and we also suspect it might have ingested oil trying to clean itself."
McCutcheon said with it being the school holidays the beach should be closed.
It took five hours form the first reports of oil ashore for a public health warning to be issued
The public are being told to stay away from the beach and not eat seafood or shellfish from the area.
MNZ said in a media release this afternoon a team was on the beach assessing the situation.
Dangerous cargo
Transport Minister Steven Joyce said in a media briefing today 11 containers on the ship Rena contain "dangerous goods".
Two contain substances which can give off flammable gases if they come into contact with water.
But Joyce told a media conference this afternoon that removing oil from the ship still remains the priority.
"The oil is the biggest environmental impact. It's bigger than any of these containers I understand," Joyce said.
Around 1700 tonnes of oil is on the Rena, 100 tonnes of which is "unaccounted for" Joyce said.
He said estimates of how much has spilled into the sea vary between 10 and 50 tonnes.
Attempts to pump fuel from the ship were suspended this morning as weather conditions deteriorated.
What to do if you come into contact with oil:
- If you accidently come into contact with the oil wash
with soap and water, baby oil or petroleum jelly
- Do not use solvents, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel or similar
products
- If you get it in your eyes, rinse with water for 15 minutes
- Breathing in the vapour can cause irritation in mouth, nose
throat and lungs. Move out of the area as quickly as
possible
MNZ has also provided phone numbers 0800 OIL SPILL and for
wildlife concerns 0800 333 771.
Slim options
Oil clean-up head Rob Service gave a bleak assessment of the
options to contain the oil.
Dispersant was proving "inconclusive", booms were not a suitable
option and on-water recovery - scooping up the oil off the water -
only removed about 10% of the oil, he said.
"We can't stop the oil reaching the shoreline. That is the
reality."
Beach clean-up was not hard but required significant manpower.
He cautioned people in beach areas not to try to clean up the oil themselves.
Julian Fitter, of the Maketu Ongatoro Wetlands group said it would be a tragedy if the wetlands were affected.
Wading birds and migratory birds, including godwits, use the harbour and it would be "really sad if they ended up being killed by the poison from the oil".
Pumping operation halted
Salvage crews managed to pump 10 tonnes of oil from
the Rena's damaged fuel tanks after working through the night
before the operation was suspended this morning.
But at a briefing this morning officials said the procedure has now had to be stopped as poor weather conditions set in.
Gale force winds, heavy rain and sea swells of up to two metres are expected in the area over the next few days.
A severe weather warning has been issued and up to 130mm of rain is forecast to fall in the area by tomorrow, with sustained periods of heavy rain expected on Wednesday and Thursday too.
Lever said even in perfect conditions, the task of moving the 1700 tonnes of oil from the vessel would take several days.
She said officials will decide today whether to send out smaller boats to try to pick up the oil that has already leaked into the sea, but this also depends on weather conditions.
Salvage crews are on board the Rena have been lashing down the containers more securely in preparation for the coming bad weather.
Naval architects will monitor the boat during the weather for signs that it was beginning to buckle and possibly break up.
The good news overnight was that no fresh oil had leaked into the sea.
Prime Minister John Key flew over the Rena yesterday, and told TV ONE's Breakfast this morning the situation is very complex.
"This is a very unusual event, the international officials that were over yesterday can't point to a situation that's the same as this," he said.
"Every year around the world there are ships that get into grief but not ones that plough into an extremely well documented reef in calm waters at high speed like this one did."
He said there were "serious questions" that needed to be asked
about the incident, but people need to understand the difficulties
the salvage team
face before criticising the speed of their response.
"From the outside looking in it's a lot easier than the inside looking out," he said.
"That oil is not made to come off the ship the way it is, you need to bring in all the equipment, and there's about 50 people in the world who are recognised experts in the area and five of them are here in New Zealand."
Tourism could be affected
A staff member at a Papamoa Beach Holiday Park said she did not believe authorities had acted fast enough when the ship grounded.
"People pay big money to come and stay by the beach. It's going to ruin a lot of things if it comes ashore."
However local Ross McMillan was happy with the response so far and said it seemed like everything was working to plan.
But he said it was terrible even if oil did not reach the beach because fishing was a popular tourist attraction.
- With Fairfax
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