Oil spill exercise in Tauranga Harbour

In 2015, about 1.5 tonnes of oil spilled in Tauranga harbour, taking months to clean up. Photo: Supplied.

More than 40 people will be involved in an oil spill exercise scheduled to take place in the Tauranga Harbour on Thursday.

The exercise will involve staff from the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regional councils, Maritime New Zealand, the Department of conservation and local iwi representatives.

'The exercise is intended to help maintain and build oil spill response capability amongst first responders at New Zealand's largest port,” explains a BOPRC spokesperson.

'Details are not being released ahead of time so as to allow participants to react to unknown events but the exercise will involve a significant theoretical oil spill in the bay.”

The last major oil spill in the port of Tauranga was on April 27 2015 when thousands of litres of heavy fuel oil poured into the harbour from a broken pipeline under the Mount Maunganui wharf.

Driven by gale force winds and an incoming tide the oil was driven upstream, fouling the Maungatapu shoreline and Motuopuhi Island.

Thursday's oil spill exercise will take place in the Tauranga Harbour by the Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Club at Sulphur Point from 9am–4pm.

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1 comment

What?

Posted on 24-05-2017 19:46 | By maildrop

The sea is filthy enough without putting theoretical oil in it for an exercise.


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