Oil disaster in the Bay of PLenty - a major clusterfuck

With the Rena having developed stress fractures and quite likely to break up and with the latest news that there is a cap on the owner's insurance (making the cost of trying to clean up this mess fall on the government) - I can only concur with these comments by Ted  Howard of Nelson.

The first instances of illness in people who have been cleaning up have started to appear.

Hi folks

Yep, this is a major clusterfuck, has been from the beginning.

1. Combining peak oil and endgame disaster capitalism economics, the shipping companies have forced an economies of scale race into bigger, faster ships with as quick a turnaround as possible. Navigational shortcuts become inevitable, and potential for 'incidents' increase: get-the-fuck-out-of-our-way, and that includes well mapped reefs...!?

2. The NZ govt gave a lot of lip service to the availability of equipment and quick response teams for off-shore oil spills, in justifying the Petrobras off-shore oil exploration, south of where this ship went aground. Most of the opposition was pushed aside with assurances of professional operators with rigorous government checking. It has proved to be vaporware.

4. Volunteers are rallying to clean up oiled sea birds, some locals are out helping to clear beaches of any debris that oil could coat, but see that arrival now as inevitable. The govt has just announced that 2 important coastal wetlands are too hard to protect. Bullshit! They are choosing not to try.

5. Waiting for insurance company representatives, shipping company managers, salvage experts to get here, shows once again, that this is the last bus stop on the planet, and a lack of risk management leaves us very vulnerable.

6. Clean green 100% pure New Zealand? Yeah, right!