ACAPMA News
Government urged to come clean on fuel leak
Posted Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:48am AEST
The Northern Territory Opposition says the Government needs to ensure that correct processes are followed after reports of a 70,000-litre fuel leak at Nhulunbuy's Alcan refinery.
The leak was discovered when a large fuel tank that was meant to be full was found to be empty.
The Department of Resources is investigating how the spill happened and is looking at Rio Tinto's response, and whether any action needs to be taken against the company.
The Opposition's Peter Chandler says accidents happen, but he wants to know how the spill is being dealt with.
"I think it is incumbent on Government to step in and make sure that they follow the correct processes, if at all they've got processes in place," he said.
"And I worry, as we just seem to have week on, week on, week on, just more incidents where our harbour, our general environment, is being polluted, or just where their processes have broken down."
Mr Chandler says not enough detail has been released on the spill.
"If this 70,000 litres of fuel has disappeared, it's got to have gone somewhere," he said.
"Was it protected by a bunt wall, was it protected in some other manner, or was it just able to release itself into the ground and potentially damage ground water or other areas of our environment?"
Extracted in full from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/14/2926313.htm
