An oil spill from a stranded cargo ship off New Zealand is the country's worst environmental disaster in decades, the government says.
An oil spill has stricken New Zealand Wednesday, October 5 and it is said to get significantly worse. The Liberian ship "Rena" ran upon a reef causing the oil to ooze out of the vessel. "Rena" holds 1,700 tons of oil aboard the ship. So far, 350 tons (thats 700,000 pounds) of oil has leaked out. And it will get worse in days to come. Mount Maunganui beach was the first location to have the oil wash up on shore.
"This event has come to a stage where it is New Zealand's most significant maritime environmental disaster," he told a news briefing in Tauranga.
The ship has stalled on the Astrolabe Reef which has a fragile environment and marine life including plants and animals. Obviously, much of the marine life has been destroyed due to our selfish greed. This disaster is the worst environmental disaster to hit New Zealand in decades.
Help has been sent to "clean up" the tremendous amount of oil that has spilled. However, if the boat(which is being used to help contain the oil) breaks, all the recovered oil could leak out into the ocean once again. Cleaning up after an oil spill is a messy job and is basically impossible. Even cleaning up the oil has proven to be dangerous. Cleaning up after an oil spill has left workers from the BP oil spill with mysterious illnesses. So not only are we putting the livelyhood of marine life in danger, but also the people who clean up the mess.
Check out this video;
This video was created last year to end oil exploration in New Zealand. Sign the petition.
WE MUST INVEST IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND WEEN OURSELVES OFF OF HARMFUL OIL FOR FUEL!!
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