Editorial: Holding firms accountable

OPINION: This week's District Court sentencing of the two companies responsible for an oil spill off the Taranaki coast is a timely reminder of the oil and gas industry's massive potential for environmental damage if things go wrong.

The industry itself is well aware of this, and Taranaki can feel comfortable that there are very strict systems and workplace philosophies in place to prevent incidents of pollution from occurring.

But incidents do happen. The worst was in 1995 when a blowout occurred at the McKee-13 wellsite near Tikorangi, which caused such serious localised environmental damage that it cost the company involved almost $1 million to clean it up. And then the company received a court fine of $50,000 - at that stage the highest ever.

Now that has been overtaken by the fine totalling $105,000 imposed on the two companies which, in 2007, allowed contaminated liquid to pour into the sea from the FPSO Umuroa moored above the Tui oilfield off Taranaki.

The spill lasted only three minutes, and the contaminant was not pure crude oil but so-called black water containing various fluids including some crude, but it was sufficient to result in balls of tar spread along a 13km stretch of coastline.

As District Court judge Stanley Thorburn said in his sentencing decision, this underlined the immense risk of dreadful environmental damage that even a few minutes of discharge can create.

The judge did temper the decision by not only praising the companies for the work they have since done to reimburse the clean-up costs and foster goodwill with the community most affected, but also pointing out that they are well known in Taranaki for their high degree of commitment to standards and practices.

But despite this, the fine is at the high end of the scale, and that sends out a very strong message that when or if any such incidents occur, then those responsible can expect to feel the full force of the legal consequences.

That message doesn't only apply to the energy industry, either. For example, our dairy industry is equally capable of causing very serious environmental damage in a variety of ways. And there are numerous commercial, industrial and even local authority-operated activities such as landfills and sewerage schemes that can seriously pollute.

So the warning is out: All these operations and activities should be striving to have the sort of standards and practices that will allow them to achieve a perfect record in terms of environmental care and if that doesn't happen, then they should expect to be severely punished.

That's how it should be, because our Taranaki environment deserves nothing less.

- © Fairfax NZ News