New Zealand: Prevention of oil spills better than cure

In his article for the New Zealand Herald, Simon Boxer, a Senior Climate Campaigner with Greenpeace New Zealand, writes that despite Minister's regular claims that regulations can prevent spills, it is apparent to all that once a significant amount of oil enters the sea, there is nothing that can be humanly done to prevent a disaster. "After the Rena story is over, there will no doubt be an inquiry, and plenty of talk of 'learnings' having been taken from the incident. (...) The greatest lesson of all will be that when it comes to oil spills, prevention is far better than the cure," he says.