11 May, 2012

Horizons ready to respond

Horizons Regional Council’s oil spill response team braved chilly waters at Manawatu Estuary today to practice its response to a marine oil spill event.

Around 22 staff, including three from Taranaki Regional Council, participated in the exercise which involved launching four 20 metre long land-sea booms across the inlet and deploying a skimmer which acts as a vacuum cleaner to suck up any oil.

Regional on scene commander Ian Lowe says the team practices its response twice a year and while no actual oil is involved it provides a valuable opportunity to test equipment and refine their approach.

“It’s planning in preparation for something we hope never happens. The risk of a marine oil spill affecting this area is very low, but it if were to happen our main focus would be preventing oil from reaching the sensitive bird roosting areas,” Mr Lowe says.

“We ran a similar exercise last year and this time around we’ve been able to build on those learnings. A few of our team were also involved in the Rena response and that real-world experience helps us remember that oil spills do happen and we need to be prepared.”

Exercise coordinator Evan Lloyd says Horizons’ territory extends 12km out to sea and the Council is required by law to have a team trained and ready to respond to oil spill emergencies.

“If we did have an incident like this it’s likely we’d call upon our counterparts from other regional councils to come in and assist as we would assist should we be called upon by others so it’s great to have the guys from Taranaki along today,” he said.

A representative from Maritime New Zealand was also in attendance to assess the exercise and offer advice.

ENDS

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