Greens Senator Deplores Governments West Atlas Oil Spill Management
December 2nd 2009 09:28
West Atlas Oil Rig Destroyed By Fire
The West Atlas oil driling rig caught fire and spewed an unknown quantity of oil into the Timor sea about 250 kms off the coast of Western Australia in late August. It was finally plugged by the West Triton rig on November the 3rd.
Senator Siewert said that although there are at least seven different State and Federal authorities that have some level of responsibility for managing this spill there is no adequate provision of information about how much oil is actually spilling into the marine environment
“It highlights the effectiveness, or not, of our National Oil Spill Response Plan,” she said.
PTTEP Australasia’s own environment plan lists 12 endangered or threatened species including the flatback green turtle, the loggerhead turtle and three other rmarine turtles.
With the West Australian corals about to spawn, and valuable line fisheries supplying red emperor, gold band snapper and coral trout threatened, Senator Siewert is concerned by the lack of environmental monitoring.
“I am deeply concerned that the review that the government is putting in place will be a very narrow review and will only look at resource management and whether the regulatory process was effective.”
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