Large oil spill pollutes east coast

You probably missed this one (like most ecological disasters in Taiwan that don’t get much media attention here)

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003341855

…“The incident polluted a stretch of coastline of at least 9km between Suao and Hualien County, and has had a serious impact on the marine environment, scenery and the local fishery,” the director of the Environment Protection Bureau of Ilan County Government Tso Tsan-yang told reporters yesterday.
… Around 110 tonnes of oil drained into the ocean and spread because of strong winds and prevailing currents, the administration added.

That’ll learn them. :raspberry: :unamused:

That’ll learn them. :raspberry: :unamused:[/quote]

Its like inviting them to keep even closer to the reef’s next time.

The company should be fined at least enough to clean it up… unlikely to be US$46,000. What are the sense of the laws in this country?

what reef?

what reef?[/quote]

Oh, thats here: chinapost.com.tw/news/archiv … /98332.htm

EPA and coast guard officials were alarmed as the oil spill spread about three kilometers along the Suao coastline, prompting warnings from conservation groups that it polluted a reef sanctuary 10-odd kilometers away.

The article shows more information on the ecological impact. On the TV news they just showed a few old woman (no protective gloves but sunhats) collecting a few oil pieces. Totally normal I guess.[/b]

That’ll learn them. :raspberry: :unamused:[/quote]

considering that comes on the first day of the incident i’m not sure it’s a
bad thing, not that i expect the wrath of god to rain down on these guys in the future but it seems a good sign to me.

Maybe the fine is not as much of a “wrist slap” as we think.

The “reef” sounds like a section just north of and into the northern end of Dong-ao bay. It’s not often dived, and there are some big pelagic fish out there. I just explored a tiny bit of it with Wookie a couple of summers ago, and on a ten meter freedive I saw about 30 full-sized Humphead Parrot fish. It’s one of the only remaining pristine northern Taiwan reefs, and the impact of this spill will be huge. :frowning:

[quote=“engerim”]You probably missed this one (like most ecological disasters in Taiwan that don’t get much media attention here)

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003341855

…“The incident polluted a stretch of coastline of at least 9km between Suao and Hualian County, and has had a serious impact on the marine environment, scenery and the local fishery,” the director of the Environment Protection Bureau of Yilan County Government Tso Tsan-yang told reporters yesterday.
… Around 110 tonnes of oil drained into the ocean and spread because of strong winds and prevailing currents, the administration added.

[/quote]

that may not be the only fine. The govt here likes to pass out a preliminary fine then hit you with more!! I was fined bout 1200nt for letting my car license fee go past due and THEN was hit for another fine of over 30,000nt when the police gave me a ticket for driving said car with an expired tag!!!

Does this ship look like a goner? It does to me. And between suao and hualien is an incredibly scenic and important natural area. What a place to wreck a ship, Whats wrong with those guys??( i know its an accident) There was a ship wrecked at Yehliu some years ago and that caused pollution for years afterwards.

It also is / was a great place to kitsurf or windsurf.

latest news is that the ship has been freed from the reef and is being towed leaking oil all the way to SUAO harbour. the EPA is pissed that the oil was not first removed. And is reportedly readying a 100million nt dollar fine and moving to confiscate the ship subject the payment of the fine. sounds like they may be getting serious bout this.

so far 3 million nt dollar fine levied and cleanup cost of 100million estimated to be charged against the ship as well.

[quote=“tommy525”]latest news is that the ship has been freed from the reef and is being towed leaking oil all the way to SUAO harbour. the EPA is pissed that the oil was not first removed. And is reportedly readying a 100million nt dollar fine and moving to confiscate the ship subject the payment of the fine. sounds like they may be getting serious bout this.

so far 3 million nt dollar fine levied and cleanup cost of 100million estimated to be charged against the ship as well.[/quote]

That’s a lot of talk. Got a link?

[quote=“jdsmith”][quote=“tommy525”]latest news is that the ship has been freed from the reef and is being towed leaking oil all the way to SUAO harbour. the EPA is pissed that the oil was not first removed. And is reportedly readying a 100million nt dollar fine and moving to confiscate the ship subject the payment of the fine. sounds like they may be getting serious bout this.

so far 3 million nt dollar fine levied and cleanup cost of 100million estimated to be charged against the ship as well.[/quote]

That’s a lot of talk. Got a link?[/quote]

from todays taipeitimes

Maltese ship owner faces another fine over oil spill

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Friday, Dec 29, 2006, Page 2

Coast guards supervise the Maltese cargo ship Tzini outside Suao Harbor yesterday. Without obtaining approval, the Tzini took advantage of darkness on Wednesday night to pull itself free from where it had run aground on Dec. 24.
PHOTO: CNA
The owner of a Maltese ship that ran aground in waters off Suao Port (蘇澳港) in Ilan County four days ago and began leaking fuel oil is facing another NT$1.5 million (US$45,872) fine for moving the ship away without extracting the remaining fuel oil first.

The 23,000-tonne Tzini ran aground Dec. 24, about 5km off Suao after losing power.

The Bureau of Environmental Protection under the Ilan County Government has estimated that at least 100 tonnes of the more than 700 tonnes of fuel oil carried by the ship has leaked into adjacent waters.

Bureau officials said they had given a specific order to the ship’s owner not to tow the ship away from the scene without removing the remaining fuel oil on the vessel and before a solution is worked out on the pollution issue.

However, in the darkness of Wednesday night, the owner arranged for a tugboat to tow the ship to a location about 8km away from where it had been grounded, the officials said.

The officials had earlier fined the ship owner NT$1.5 million for failing to act in time to control the spreading oil slick. They said a second fine of the same amount will be issued to the owner for towing the vessel away without permission from local environmental authorities.

Tzou Tsan-yang (鄒燦陽), director of Ilan County’s Bureau of Environmental Protection, said the county government has notified the Ministry of Transportation and Communication that it has filed a complaint seeking the detention of the US$10 million ship until the owner pays NT$100 million – the estimated cost of cleaning up the oil spill.

The Tzini was traveling with no cargo from Japan to Hualien port in eastern Taiwan, where it was scheduled to be loaded with a cargo of cement for delivery back to Japan, when it lost power and began drifting.

The Coast Guard Administration received the ship’s SOS signal and dispatched a rescue helicopter. Rescuers pulled the ship’s 24 crew members to safety.
This story has been viewed 135 times.

b

Good I hope they fucking stick it to them!

I don’t suppose the tanker was double hulled?

Whats a “tonnes.” And Who towed the ship?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Whats a “tonnes.” And Who towed the ship?

Inquiring minds want to know![/quote]

[quote]
the owner arranged for a tugboat to tow the ship to a location about 8km away from where it had been grounded[/quote]

Nice huh?

its a bulk carrier , empty at the time , and ready for a cargo of cement . However, its fuel tank was ruptured and it had 700 tons of fuel in it (the fuel used to run the ship) and a lot of it leaked out. Only Oil Tankers are double hulled far as i know, and only the newer ones.

any maritime types out there can provide more info?

[quote=“tommy525”]its a bulk carrier , empty at the time , and ready for a cargo of cement . However, its fuel tank was ruptured and it had 700 tons of fuel in it (the fuel used to run the ship) and a lot of it leaked out. Only Oil Tankers are double hulled far as i know, and only the newer ones.

any maritime types out there can provide more info?[/quote]

Sorry, blind with rage, didn’t see that it was a cement tanker. And yes, oil tankers are double hulled or will need to be shortly.

The story has received extensive coverage in the Chinese-language media here. Last I heard, the EPA is planning to sue the ship’s owners for the cost of the cleanup. I also read a day or two ago that the ship’s owners had been authorized to move the it because there were concerns about the structural integrity of the vessel. The threatened reef has been described as Taiwan’s most important.

One thing new to me in the CNA/Taipei Times story was that ship was going take cement to Japan. Why does Taiwan have a cement industry on its supposedly pristine East Coast and why is it still exporting cement when Taiwan is pocked with gaping holes from gravel extraction. The Taiwanese government agencies and corporations (Taiwan Cement AKA Koo family) responsible for this policy disaster that led to this spill should also take responsibility.

[quote=“Feiren”]The story has received extensive coverage in the Chinese-language media here. Last I heard, the EPA is planning to sue the ship’s owners for the cost of the cleanup. I also read a day or two ago that the ship’s owners had been authorized to move the it because there were concerns about the structural integrity of the vessel. The threatened reef has been described as Taiwan’s most important.
[/quote]

I don’t really call it “Extensive”. I mirror all Yahoo Taiwan News (which has several news agencys linked) and the problems with the oil spill doesn’t get mentioned more than the high speed rail (which it should). The whole big family of my girlfriend that I saw for New Year didn’t even know about the problem and they are real-always-stuck-on-TV-Taiwanese.

[quote=“Feiren”]
One thing new to me in the CNA/Taipei Times story was that ship was going take cement to Japan. Why does Taiwan have a cement industry on its supposedly pristine East Coast and why is it still exporting cement when Taiwan is pocked with gaping holes from gravel extraction. The Taiwanese government agencies and corporations (Taiwan Cement AKA Koo family) responsible for this policy disaster that led to this spill should also take responsibility.[/quote]

Its the only real industry that they got on the east coast. Hundreds of people die each year cause of cement trucks driving like crazy. Well, whatever. Excuse my sarcasm but I doubt it will change within the next 50 years. Welcome to the third world once more :blush: