SE Qld oil spill larger than first thought

9:19 AM Fri 13 Mar 2009 GMT

'The oil slick is threatening the water table on Moreton Island.' .

Holiday makers and residents are being evacuated from areas around Moreton Bay, Moreton Island and other South East Queensland coastal regions, following yesterday's oil spill.

The Hong Kong cargo ship, MV Pacific Adventurer, was caught in cyclonic weather and lost 31 containers overboard, one of which pierced the ship's hull and a fuel tank.

Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh has declared Moreton Island, Bribie Island and southern parts of the Sunshine Coast disaster zones.

Ms Bligh said the spill was a lot worse than the original 30-tonne estimate and could be as much as 100 tonnes.
'It may well be the worst environmental disaster Queensland has ever seen,' she said.

At latest report, the effects were being felt along the Brisbane River and down to the Gold Coast.

The ship's operators have been accused of failing to provide adequate information about the spill and may face prosecution and fines of more than $1 million.

Police are manning cordons as a massive environmental clean up gets underway.
There are concerns the oil slick will contaminate the drinking supply on Moreton Island, which relies on an underground water table close to the site of the spill.

Forty kilometres of coastline have been coated in greasy, black grime, some of it 'inches' thick on Moreton Island.

Trevor Hassard, from the Tangalooma Dolphin Education Centre, said the Environmental Protection Agency, National Parks, Maritime Safety Queensland, Brisbane City Council, police and ambulance officers were on Moreton Island at dawn to begin the clean up.

But he said the island's isolation was making it an 'impossible task'.

'Normally, this stuff (oil) would be scraped off the beach and taken to a secure location and left to break down, but we can't do that here,' Mr Hassard said. 'Every bucketload of contaminated sand has to be removed from the island by barge, and each bucketload from a front-end loader weighs about one tonne. It's just an impossible task.

Two hazardous material disposal companies and the national response team had been called in to help remove contaminated sand.

Yesterday, Transport Minister John Mickel estimated the clean up would take a week to complete. Maritime Safety Queensland general manager John Watkinson predicted the operation would cost about $100,000 a day. The owners of the Pacific Adventure, Swire Shipping, would pick up the tab through its insurance company and could also face heavy fines if an investigation into the disaster found against the company.

WWF spokesman, Martin Taylor said the spill will impact on the entire foodchaing, everything from fish and crabs to water birds, dugongs and dolphins, and inevitably, humans.

'It's a mass poisoning event, effectively,' he said. 'It goes away very slowly naturally, mostly through bacterial attack, and then breakup and emulsification with the action of water. So unless people get out there and clean it up as fast as possible, that poison will kill marine life for years.

'Fuel is poisonous, and very toxic. The hydrocarbons get absorbed and end up in the tissues of the fish larger animals are eating.'

by Jeni Bone

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