Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP

Tauranga Regional Council should exert pressure onto multi-national oil companies, such as Mobil, to purchase and store clean-up equipment on their own premises, in Tauranga.

Purchasing and storing the equipment necessary for the prompt and most effective clean-up of oil spills is expensive. If this duty fell onto Regional Council it could prove costly to the local rate payer. If oil companies purchase and store clean-up equipment on their own premises, we could ensure the equipment needed to clean up the mess stays as close to the mess as possible. This would inevitably increase our response time and decrease the amount of time it takes to protect our waters.

In May, during my initial meeting with Regional Council to discuss the oil spill, they agreed that they need to improve their inventory. They stated that they have a long list of equipment needed, such as a J-Boom Skimmer and a boat to deploy the skimmer. These would have been particularly useful during this latest oil spill, and would continue to be pivotal to fast and effective clean-up in future.

Currently, much of the equipment needed for oil spill clean-up is contracted at the time of an oil spill, from companies such as Envirowaste and Glencoe. Much larger equipment is lent to Tauranga by Maritime New Zealand. This lending of equipment generally happens at the time of a spill and is returned when efforts to clean have ceased.

Unfortunately, this equipment is not located in Tauranga, resulting in unnecessary delay between the time an oil spill is spotted and the time clean-up efforts can begin. After the Tauranga Harbour oil spill was discovered on Anzac Day, it took Maritime New Zealand three days to get necessary equipment down to Tauranga.