Professor Ravi Naidu is the Managing Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment.
Is this column Naidu looks at the impact of oil spills in Australia over the last century. You can read the column in full here.
An excerpt:
“The recent outcry in the national media over the spilling of around 200 tonnes of oil by a ship off the Queensland coast obscures another, far larger oil spill – and one more risky to the public health and Australian environment.
“This is the oil spill that has been occurring in Australian towns and cities, round mines and industrial sites for over a century. Whereas there have been 24 recorded major spills at sea in the past 105 years, there have been tens of thousands of leaks and spills on land. While maritime spills total about 40,000 tonnes of oil, the amount lost on land is unknown – but almost certainly greater.”