Rena clean-up optimism shown

Papamoa residents are feeling optimistic about the Rena response effort and clean up operations following a public meeting at Papamoa College today.

A large crowd gathered to meet with Prime Minister John Key and officials from Maritime NZ at the college on Doncaster Drive this afternoon where people congratulated authorities on their efforts to clean up the oil spill from Rena.


Bay of Plenty residents turned out for a public meeting with Prime Minister John Key at Papamoa College today.

Pongakawa residents Bob and Trisha Atkinson say they are very impressed with the beach clean up and response from authorities.

'They have done all that they can. We are looking at this in a positive light. I think a lot of the anxiety is coming from misinformation, but after a meeting like this you get to see the truth coming out.”

Maritime NZ salvage unit operations manager Andrew Berry started the meeting with a detailed presentation of Rena salvage operations, and reiterated that this is not an easy task.

'Our first priority is to remove the oil and we are attempting to do this. The salvage crew are back on board - it is a very dangerous environment out there.”

This was followed by a question and answer time with John Key who sympathised with the public and stated the Government will be demanding answers about how this could occur.

'I have no doubt you are absolutely appalled by this and so am I. We are entitled to answers.

'We have the best salvage team in the world working here. There are only about 50 people in the world that are trained in this, and five of them are here.”

John Key said the Government will be exhausting all options to make sure the owner's of Rena pay for the environmental clean up.

He also promised the Army, and any other Government resources, required will be in the Bay of Plenty as long as needed.

Heated debate arose when two ladies in the audience claimed the dispersant Corexit 9500 had caused 'acid rain” to shower upon them.

The dispersant used to try to break down the oil in the early stages of the Rena oil spill has now stopped as authorities say it is no longer effective.

People are being asked not to go onto the beaches or interfere in the official clean up response as it could be dangerous to their health and cause long term damage to the coastal environment.

Andrew also asks that people stay out of the exclusion zone around Rena as there are dangerous salvage operations taking place from the air and on water.

Following the meeting John Key boarded a helicopter to take a tour of the Rena.

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2 comments

Spin Doctors

Posted on 15-10-2011 08:29 | By bobsm8

I always have admired the kiwi roll the sleeves up~get stuck in attitude.. I also admire our people setting emotion aside to attempt to get genuine answers from our so called leader at the moment.. Unfortunately he has Spin Doctors that will be working around the clock so he can keep smiling and giving bad news.. Dont get me wrong i'm staying positive for the people of this and political sledging is not by cup of tea and wouldnt give Mr Key the grave of negative attention he has enough on his plate.. BUT!! Come the people can smell more than just a rat~ its smell of dead marine life and fuel we smell on our piece of paradise,we just want to make sure the damage long term thinking is reduced by putting in the hard work now... pretty simple. The gouley~rubber necker disaster tourists that are walking all over the replanted sand dunes with toxic waste on your shoes! just buggar off! Your killing our work, it's taken 4-5 years to establish that dune system.. what are you thinking!! just trying to gain kudos with your friends by posting youtube~facebook images of our beautiful place .. what have you become!! puppets.. For the sake of people of this land for the years to come listen to our local experienced people, use your head and avoid being sucked in too the media spin void that has become you~ roll your sleeves up and get stuck.


Informative Meeting

Posted on 15-10-2011 17:50 | By Jitter

Interesting informative meeting although got heated at times. Pity the chairman John Cronin EBOP (chairman) was so weak and inept. He has been the EBOP chair long enough to chair a meeting professionally. Good presentations from Andrew Berry Maritime NZ,Professor Chris Battershill marine ecologist and the Prime Minister. They informed the 500 or so people in attendance at Papamoa College on the disaster, cleanup progress etc based on information they had up to that time. They then answered questions from the floor. The chairman should have stated at the start that all questions were to be directed through him then he could have filtered out those that were irrelevant to the Rena grounding ie What does the goverment intend to do about ACC, oil drilling on the East Coast, enlarging the port of Tauranga, and licensing of liquor outlets. Once the PM left at least half those attending left also even though the rest of the panel including Hon Nick Smith remained to answer further questions. Well worth attending.


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