This
is a crisis of unprecedented proportions for Auckland which relies
for its supply of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel on ONE pipeline
that has been damaged by an operation digging out swamp Kauri in
Northland.
This is also days out from a national election.
It
looks as if it COULD be a firm linked to a sitting National MP,
Judith Collins and ex-PM Jenny Shipley.
There
is history behind this.
Apart
from revealing the nature of supply lines and the ease with which
they are disrupted with terrible consequences it is an illustration
where neo-liberal policies and dergulation, together with corruption
and crony capitalism lead us.
I
sent the following Facebook item to Martyn Bradbury of the Daily Blog
for his comments.
Kauri
company in Ruakaka: KAURI RUAKAKA LTD
Previous
Names: ORAVIDA KAURI
Chairman
of Board: Jenny Shipley
Director:
David Wong Tung
His
reply was -
Yes
- I understand it's true but the weak regulation meant councils
didn't need to be notified - we don't know if it was them.
This is also days out from a national election.
Why the Auckland oil pipeline rupturing is the perfect symbolism of 9 years under National
19
September, 2017
It’s
a god damned Greek tragedy in 3 parts, it really is.
It’s
a Schadenfreude Dégustation of such epic proportions it deserves its
own documentary.
The
story of how Kauri poachers damaged the only oil line into
Auckland sums up the last 9 years of the National Government
so perfectly and has dropped it hot into the lap of the voting public
days before the impact of Auckland running dry of petrol will arrive
with the election.
We
don’t know who damaged the oil line because the piss poor
regulation National imposed on the buried Kauri tree poaching
industry means they don’t have to get consent from the local
council so we may never know who did this.
We
all hope it’s Judith Collin’s husband’s Oravida company because
as the Minister of Energy and personally benefitting from
exploitative Chinese business practices it would be the cherry on the
top of this shit cake of crony nepotism that perfectly encompasses
National Party and Chinese business interests.
So
let’s get the full stop of this clusterfuck shall we?
Some
company exploiting the loopholes in National’s weak regulation
wreaks the only bloody oil line running into Auckland, an oil pipe
line that the Government was warned was vulnerable.
The
Government’s response to critical underfunding of infrastructure
despite turning on the immigration? To do sweet fuck all nothing of
course. The Plan National put forward in case of an emergency was
hope the people of Auckland wouldn’t start stockpiling.
FFS.
That’s not a plan, that’s wishful fucking thinking.
Regulation
demands the oil industry keeps 8 days stockpile of petrol in case of
an emergency. We have an emergency. The only pipeline providing
Auckland with petrol has been damaged and out of action for at least
10 days. How many believe the oil industry kept their side of the
bargain and have 8 days worth of stockpile? Wouldn’t it be cheaper
to just keep 7 days? 6 days? 5 days? Once Aucklanders realise the
city is about to go dry there will be panic buying for the remaining
petrol.
I
don’t think people get how big a deal this could be and if Auckland
runs dry before the election, it will be Bill English facing the
wrath of the entire city of Auckland.
Here some historical background - our wonderful kauri trees being harvested and sent off to China by crony capitalists directly linked to the National government.
National Party donors allegedly involved in illegal kauri exports
1
July, 2015
Oppostion
MPs have used parliamentary privilege to link the exporting of swamp
kauri in Northland to National Party donors and insiders.
Concerns
have been raised in Northland that kauri logs are being exported
illegally - with stumps being labelled as finished products and sent
offshore.
Northland
MP Winston Peters says that is a rort, but the Government rejects the
claims....
These are the events as of yesterday as reported by the NZ Herald
Airport fuel crisis: Kauri log digger damaged oil pipeline
18
September, 2017
An
initial investigation by the Marsden Point oil refinery has found a
digger driver searching for swamp kauri caused the critical damage to
the fuel pipeline months ago.
When
the pipeline burst on Thursday, the response has included finding out
how the damage had been caused.
A
source familiar with the situation said refinery bosses had found a
swamp kauri hunter had been working in the same area as the damaged
pipe around three months earlier.
In
his efforts to remove a log 20 metres long and one metre wide, the
digger struck the fuel line.
It
did not rupture but laid the seed for the failure that would follow.
While
the route of the pipeline is clearly marked with warning signs, the
source said that the signs closest to where the pipeline ruptured
where overgrown and could not be clearly seen.
The
digger driver moved on and months passed until Thursday, when
refinery bosses increased the pressure in the pipeline which forces
fuel to Auckland.
The
increase in pressure was too much for the damaged pipeline and it
ruptured, spewing fuel into a peat swamp.
Refining
NZ spokesman Greg McNeill said that the pipeline burst on Thursday as
a result of "external damage" in a peat swamp.
He
could not confirm the cause of when the damage happened but said
excavation teams had found kauri near the pipe.
"There
was swamp kauri on the site, in our excavation we have come across
pieces of it," he said.
"The
team can see that there is quite a series of scrapes across the top
of the pipe. What actually led to that I don't know."
Swamp
kauri extraction is controlled by local councils.
Whangarei
Mayor Sheryl Mai said she had not been briefed on the Ruakaka work
but would be asking questions.
"It's
a very serious event that has happened in our district. The Refining
Company is the lifeline for all of our fuel and clearly this is a
major disruption, so I will be asking some questions of our staff to
clarify what should have happened and what went wrong."
A review
of NZ oil security for
the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment recognised in
2012 that any cut in the oil pipeline would mean "no jet supply
to Auckland Airport".
"In
the short term there are few alternatives for jet supply into
Auckland," the report said citing options like diverting flights
to other airports - here or overseas - for refuelling before landing
in Auckland.
The
report considered options including duplicating the pipeline's
Auckland terminal at Wiri, but said that would cost more than $10
million a year and the probability of a short-term disruption to the
pipeline was put
at only 0.5 to 1 per cent a year, or
once every 100 to 200 years.
This
is Oravida's unmarked/secret sawmill at Ruakaka. It's 2km from the
pipe rupture
Meanwhile, the crisis is rapidly deteriorating just days out from a general election
Thirteen Z petrol stations now out of 95
19
September, 2017
Thirteen
Z Energy service stations are out of 95 octane petrol as a result of
the ruptured Marsden Pt fuel pipeline, the company says.
This
morning just four Z stations were out of the premium fuel, but this
afternoon it said that number had more than tripled.
Z
Energy has been prioritising trucking 91 octane and diesel from its
plants elsewhere in the country as these are used by the majority of
motorists.
"As
a result of this deliberate focus, a few service stations have run
out 95 octane petrol. However, all grades of fuel are being trucked
into the city and sites will be replenished soon," the company
said in a statement.
At
this stage, only Z service stations have reported running out of fuel
as a result of the incident, which has been causing havoc in the
aviation industry with scores of flights in and out of Auckland
Airport cancelled, delayed or diverted.
Auckland
Caltex stations, which are operated as franchises owned by Z, do not
appear to be affected by the shortage at this stage. The 12 stations
contacted by the Herald said they were all
adequately stocked with 95, however, the St Heliers station did not
receive its 95 delivery today but this was due to arrive tomorrow. A
staff member said it would likely run out of 95 otherwise.
BP
spokeswoman Leigh Taylor said the company continued to have all
grades of fuel available.
She
said if there were to be any shortages they would be "intermittent
and short-lived".
BP
was bringing in fuel to Auckland from other parts of the country.
Mobil
Oil New Zealand managing director Andrew McNaught said it did not
have any supply issues or stock outages for ground fuel in the
Auckland region
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