Welcome
Welcome  to 'Subjects of the Sea Empress'

Contents

Emotions

Newspapers and reports

This help file was produced as a memorial resource for the Schools in Communities Agenda 21 Network (SCAN), which has the aim of encouraging pupils to engage in the problems, issues and challenges of local economic development.  It is based on a collection of newspaper cuttings made by Pembrokeshire children trying to understand, and come to terms, with the 'Sea Empress' oil  spill which assaulted their coastal paradise in 1996.


A Fishermans Life

A lonesome figure at the clifftops being battered by the sea.

Hands in his pockets, shoulders shrugged, head bowed, weeping unashamedly.

Thinking of how for all his life, he'd fished around the Pembrokshire coast,

And how with pride when asked what he did  "I'm a fisherman" he'd boast.

What now for his future?   What would become of the team?

What would be moored in the harbour,  where his fishing boat had been?

No other life had he ever known - the sea set him free.

No seabirds flying,  no seals playing,   no dolphins for company.

Then he turned his head and looked at the crowd.

And realised they too were sharing the sound.

Instead of the sea crashing full of life onto the shore,

It crept in carrying its burden of oil,  each wave bringing more.

The air reeked of oil, of death, of human sorrow.

We all knew that today was the same recipe for tomorrow.

The desperate fight to clean oil off the beach.

Crying with frustration for the wildlife just out of our reach.

This thick black stuff - the produce of modern mans needs.

This stuff called oil,  at what cost for man's greed?

To take another man's living,  to spoil our beautiful coast,

And leave its memory behind like a sorrowful ghost.

                                                              Bethan Swaine  Yr.9

                                                                      Ysgol Gyfun Dewi Sant


Newspapers and reports

News is listed by 'date':-

February 1996

March to September 1996

And by 'title':-

Headlines and Subjects


February 1996

Feb.16 1996

Feb.17 1996

Feb 18 1996

Feb.19.1996

Feb 20 1996

Feb 21 1996

Feb 22 1996

Feb 23 1996

Feb 24 1996

Feb 25 1996

Feb 26 1996

Feb 27 1996

Feb 28 1996

Feb 29 1996

March 1 1996


Headlines and Subjects

February 1996

March to September 1996


Headlines and titles: February 1996

0001 Suffocating threat of oil for wildlife

0002 POTENTIAL DISASTERS A KNOWN DANGER

0003 BLAZING LIGHTS OF LISTING MONSTER

COASTLINE FACES ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION

0005 MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILL

0006 STATMENT ON MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILL

0007 SITUATION REPORT TO MEMBERS OF COUNCIL

0008 Kinnock argues for move towards double-skinned vessels

0009 WILDLIFE:  Early breeders most at risk

0010 Minister visits disaster site

0011 ANIMAL RESCUERS GET PREPARED

0012 POLLUTION EXPERTS IN BID TO SAVE COASTLINE

0013 WORKERS HELP NATURE IN SLOW CLEAN-UP

0014 RACE TO SAVE COAST AS GALES CLOSE IN

0015 ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN

0016 REGULATIONS: Inquiry to be launched

0017 BRAER; Effects remain but worst damage was soon cleared up

0018 EXXON VALDEZ;  Tanker spillage unleashed wave of anger

0019 TARNISHED IMAGE COULD COST TOURISM INDUSTRY

0020 OIL SPILL TREATENS TO SWAMP COAST

0021 At Mercy of Gale Force Winds

0022 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

0023 HELICOPTER RESCUE

0024 OIL DISASTER FEAR GROWS AS GALES HALT RESCUE

0025 UNKNOWN FACTOR KILLED SHIP'S ROUTINE

0026 MP FEARS CONSERVATION WILL LOSE TO COMMERCIALISATION

0027 Parliamentary debate

0028 REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

0029 CCW Update to Members of Council

0030 Scientists asked to solve birds mystery

0031 CCW TO CONDUCT AERIAL BIRD SURVEY

0032 OIL SPILLAGE  UPDATE AT 3.30 P.M

0033 'TANKER 'TIME BOMB WHILE OIL ON BOARD'

0034 QUIT CALL TO HAGUE OVER GAS DRILLING

0035 More oil begins to leak

0036 IRONY OF THE DISASTER

0037 EXTRA PHONE LINES FOR EMERGENCY

0038 WELSH OFFICE REJECTS CALL FOR PUBLIC INQUIRY

0039 TIMETABLE TO DISASTER FOR HOLED TANKER

0040 PORT OPERATIONS INQUIRY CALL

0041 HOUSEWIFE'S PETITION FOR BAN

0042 BLACK TIDE OF MISERY FOR ARMY OF WORKERS

0043 RAF HELICOPTERS PLAY A VITAL ROLE

0044 COAST ON THE BRINK

0045 'NO STEERING PROBLEM'

0046 WARTIME DAKOTAS FLY IN

0047 MINISTERS VIEW STRICKEN SHIP

0048 PAGE ONE COMMENT

0049 QUESTIONS TO HAGUE

0050 FERRY TERMINAL FACES ITS OWN EMERGENCY

0051 POLLUTION WIPES-OUT RARE STARFISH COLONY

0052 ORIMULSION: THE GREAT DEBATE

0053 FOE HIGHLIGHTS ORIMULSION IMPLICATIONS

0054 LIFEBOATS ON ALERT

0055 NO LUCKY ESCAPE FOR US THIS TIME!

0056 Who Takes The Blame?

0057 ACTIVE RESPONSE JUST NOT ENOUGH

0058 REFLECT ON THE RISKS

0059 GOVERNMENT BLAMED FOR INADEQUATE TUG POWER

0060 EXPERTS FEAR CATASTROPHE FOR BIRD LIFE

0061 ISLE FAMED FOR OBSERVATORY

0062 WHY DISASTER INQUIRY MUST BE IN PUBLIC

0063 WHY WATERWAY WAS TURNED INTO INDUSTRIAL METROPOLIS

0064 ACTION URGED TO PREVENT BOYCOTT BY HOLIDAYMAKERS

0065 COUNTDOWN TO CATASTROPHE AT ST ANN'S HEAD

0066 CCW UPDATE

0067 CCW ADVICE ON SALVAGE OPERATION

0068 CCW TO MONITOR EFFECTS OF SPILL

0069 OIL SLICK SPREADS AS TUGS FAIL

0070 THE CRUCIAL QUESTIONS

0071 BEACHES COULD TAKE UP TO 30 YEARS TO RECOVER

0072 CHINESE TAKEAWAY CALLED TO THE RESCUE

0073 DEATH THROES OF THE EMPRESS

0074 SLICK SURROUNDS ISLAND BIRD AND SEAL HAVENS

0075 SHUTTLE SERVICE TO SAVE WILDLIFE

0076 SALVAGE NOT EXACT SCIENCE

0077 DISASTER WARNING WARNING WAS IGNORED

0078 £ 7m FISHING INDUSTRY PUT UNDER THREAT

0079 VALUED COASTLINES ARE STILL DENIED PROTECTION

0080 WHY DID IT ALL GO WRONG?

0081 Wildlife at risk from the Sea Empress spill

0082 Was this spill inevitable?

0083 The sea that turned to treacle

0084 Tugs shift the Sea Empress into harbour

0085 Coastline under attack

0086 Key questions for inquiry

0087 Tons of chemicals fail to protect birdlife

0088 But who takes the blame?

0089 Ministers 'ignored Braer lesson

0090 Extent of oil pollution makes spill drop in ocean

0091 Government's youngest member left at the helm

0092 Pass Notes : Viscount Goschen

0093 CCW calls for long-term strategy

0094 CCW monitoring starts

0095 CCW update

0096  David battles on to refloat Goliath tanker

0097  CCW Concern for Skomer's Seabirds

0098  CCW Update for Members of Council

0100  Hundreds of birds spotted in the oil

0101  The benefit of hindsight

0102  Biologist forecasts recovery in a few years

0103  Bellamy scorns spillage 'fiasco'

0104  Just feet from disaster

0105  Demand for an independent inquiry rejected

0106  Devastated fishermen in tears

0107  Farmers watch crops

0108  Coastguards cuts criticised

0109  Lets pay more for our oil and save our coasts

0110  Letters to the Editor

0111  We're crying too much over spilt oil

0112  Pay-out for damages could top Braer £80m

0113  Controversial broker dares to take chances

0114 Shipping Minister is even younger than Hague

0115  Oil slick rescue team turn down assistance

0116  Tanker lost steerage just before the crash

0117  Hoping for nature's helping hand

0118 Blunders that led to tanker catastrophe

0119 Pilot may have boarded stricken tanker too late

120 Charles to visit scene

0121  Dyfed Wildlife Trust

0123 Blunders that led to Britain's worst eco disaster

0124 Shipping's £200m outsider

0126 Pembrokeshire oil spillage update

0127 CCW Press Release

0128 RSPCA accuses oil authorities

0129 Tide of oil hits tourist hopes

0130 Decision day over Orimulsion jetty

0131 Call to ban salmon and trout fishing

0132 Haven safety proposals 'were ignored'

0133 Prince to see oiled coast

0134 Who's in charge

0135 Tide of death

0136 Seabirds pay the price as terrible toll mounts

0137 Beach oil removed

0138 Sad return to Skomer for former warden

0139 Food chain could be hit for many years

0140 Conservationists in call for action

0141 Tanker oil spill: Now the probes

0142 All the stops have been pulled out

0143 Pollution study 'vital'

0144 Letters. How did an accident turn into such a disaster?

0145 Sea Vigil for the oiled Pembrokeshire coast


March to September 1996

March 1 1996

March 2 1996

March 3 1996

March 4 1996

March 6 1996

March 7 1996

March 9 1996

March 13 1996

March 15 1996

July 21 1996

August 3 1996

September 19 1996


Headlines and Titles March to September 1996

0146 Jetty plan danger to the environment

0147 Disaster probe demand

0148 Reputation blackened by oil spill

0149 Lessons for Cardigan Bay

0150 A call from Di

0151 Government promises hardship cash will be paid

0099 Charles may take up fishermen's cause

0152 Environment toll is rising

0153 Fishmongers feeling the pinch

0154 Hague sees the need to treasure Wales

0155 School helps spill

0156 Sad Charles surveys the damage

0157 Welsh Secretary's action plan

0158 Letters to the editor

0159 Bird deaths and casualities escalate

0160 CCW Report to Staff

0161 Fresh slicks raise fears of deliberate oil dumping

0162 Vital questions for Empress inquest

0163 No dirty habits for clean-up monks

0164 Oil port mutiny

0165 Seal's haven became our hell

0166 Trust to raise £250,000 for seal study

0167 Oil disaster is worst to hit Britain

0168 BBC team says oil will stay on sea bed

0169  Painful deaths on our beaches

0172 'Disaster inquiry should be public'

0173 Coastguard alert at oil spill scare

0174 One hundred questions on which the oil inquiry must spill light

0170 Powerless to help badly-oiled seals

0171 Marines bring in landing craft

0175 Cormorant colony decimated

0176 Bank's £5,000 donation launches disaster fund

0177  Calls for concern

0178 Action call to protect coast

179 Night and Day

180 A Sense of Proportion

181 Severe decline in sea birds


096Feb16

0001 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

0002 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

0003 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

0004 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

0005 (16.02.96) Countryside Council for Wales

0006 (16.02.96)  Countryside Council for Wales

0007 (16.02.96)  Countryside Council for Wales


0001 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

TANKER DISASTER

MILFORD HAVEN: Environmental devastation fears

Suffocating threat of oil for wildlife

ALASTAIR MILBURN, HANNAH CLEAVER AND ANDREW BUNCOMBE

ENVIRONMENTALISTS worked through the night as they tried to determine the full extent of the Sea Empress grounding.

Colin Newman, a spokesman for Greenpeace, said last night was a disaster, no matter how much oil eventually ended in the sea.

He said, "It's frightening. Just imagine the weight of one tonne of oil, just think of it.

"It spills on the top of the sea straight away and the impact is phenomenal."

"The government say they it can control it by pollution methods but even with detergents, it still has a disastrous impact on the environment."

Max Wallis from Friends of the Earth said the area was a particularly sensitive area for wildlife.

He said, "Such a large spill is potentially disastrous, depending on the wind and tidal conditions, for such a sensitive area as the Pembrokeshire islands with their nature reserves.

Brian Elliott, Dyfed Wildlife Trust's marine conservation officer said daylight would reveal what damage last night's accident had caused to the wildlife and the surrounding area.

"We are particularly worried about the razorbills and guillemots who have started to return to the Skomer and Skokholm island nature reserves after the winter.

"There are also wintering waders in the Milford Haven waterway itself who are at risk while the area has one of the largest colonies of Manx shearwaters in the northern hemisphere."

Mr Elliott said all the Pembrokeshire islands and the stretch of coastline around Milford Haven could be affected by any spill.

He said the damage would depend entirely on which way the wind was going, and was last night praying that a northwesterly wind may move any slick out of the haven.

"The problem with the haven is that it is very difficult for a slick to move out of danger."

In the Milford Haven waterway itself there are otters, 7,000 wildfowl 8,000 waders during the winter including wigeon, curlew, teal and red shank. There is also rare algae.

On Skomer there are porpoises, grey seals, 7,500 pairs of puffins, 8,000 pairs of guillemots, 20,000 pairs of gulls, 100,000 pairs of Manx shearwater. There are also rare species of sponge, amemone, coral and sea slugs.

On Skokholm there are harbour porpoises, puffins, guillemots, and 100,000 pairs of Manx shearwaters.

Also in the area are bottlenose dolphins and 28,000 pairs of gannets.

Alan Bryant who runs the New Quay Bird Hospital with his wife Nancy, said, "We are aware of the accident and are waiting to take in any injured birds."

Terry Leadbetter, a spokesman for Wales Marine Life Rescue, said the Milford Haven area was an extremely important breeding area for a number of wild birds.

"We have a lot of terns, ducks, geese and swans which use this region," he said.

"At this stage we don't know how things are going to be. There is little we can do until the morning.

"Thousands of birds could be affected by what has happened," said Mr Leadbetter.


0002 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

POTENTIAL DISASTERS A KNOWN DANGER

POLLUTION

ADRIAN DALINGWATER

Size of spill 'not relative to the harm it can do'

WARNINGS have been sounded for years about the potential for an environmental catastrophe on the West Wales coast as a result of an oil tanker spillage.

Last October the Norwegian tanker Borga ran agound in Milford Haven harbour, but did not shed any of her 112,000 tonne cargo.

The Western Mail said at the time that the incident highlighted the chances of a severe spillage ruining what is some of the most beautiful coastline in Britain.

The International Maritime Organisation has sought to tighten up the rules on the shipping of oil after a series of international disasters.

The Sea Empress is a very new vessel, but there are still fears about the state of some vessels plying their trade. Under maritime law, oil tankers can sail for 25 years before they must be refitted with modern safety devices  and most of the biggest ships were built between 1970 and 1978.

At Milford Haven, it has been claimed, ecological disasters have been narrowly avoided over the last five years. After the Borga nearmiss, a report by harbour tugboat workers, passed to The Western Mail said tankers had cut loose from berths or been hit by mechanical failure at least 33 times.

Some incidents were due to cuts in the number of tugs handling each incoming tanker, it claimed.

'Compel all tankers to have double skins'

LAST night's incident demonstrated the need for doubleskinned tankers to be made compulsory, Pembroke MP Nick Ainger said early today.

"This is very serious. I think it could be the biggest spill ever in Milford Haven," he said.

"It emphasises the importance of double skinned hulls. In the US it's compulsory to have double skinned hulls  it's something that an inquiry has got to look at. That would be a way of also upgrading the quality of tankers.

"I'm not casting any aspersions about the vessel but it would be one way of assuring we get more modern tankers carrying crude oil."

Mr Ainger said he had called for an inquiry when the Borga went aground last October at Milford Haven but there was still a need for an independent inquiry to be held.

After that incident, the port general manager Mike Hyslop said, "The safety record of the port is excellent, although we can never afford to be complacent."

Local politicians will fear that the area's biggest industry, tourism, could be hit if the beaches and wildlife are polluted.

DAVID BEDBOROUGH of the Marine Pollution Agency said the size of the spill was not the most important factor in assessing potential damage.

"Let's assume that 6,000 tonnes is the order of the spill," he said. "Exxon Valdez was some 30,000 tonnes and you will have heard the reports of environmental damage from that. Braer was some 80,000 tonnes and you will have heard that the environmental damage from that was limited.

"Don't get too fixated on the actual quantity. It's a factor of many things. We always say where the spill happens is as important as the size of the spill."

Massive efforts were under way last night to limit the impact of the spill, he said. "We are mobilising our shoreline cleanup stockpiles in Southampton, they will be on the road fairly soon.

"My understanding is she is off the rocks. There will be efforts now in the haven itself. The harbourmaster will be looking very closely at what to do with the vessel.

"Certainly, 6,000 tonnes is an estimate that has been given. Our remote sensing aircraft which has flown over is indicating that there is oil on the surface, but at night time it's not possible to give a quantification."

The primary aim during the night would be to secure the vessel and prevent the other 120,000 tonnes on board from leaking, he said.

"Everything is being done that can be done now. Probably by the time first light comes, we will be in a position to carry on rolling forward. I don't think there will be a pause in the operation while we wait for daylight."


0003 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

BLAZING LIGHTS OF LISTING MONSTER CREATE A STUNNING VISION IN THE DARKNESS

CERI JONES

FROM a distance it lookod stunning, the huge ship listing on the black sea.

Lights blazed through the darkness, both from the stricken giant and from the small tugs which were trying to keep her afloat.

From St Ann's Head, where the supertanker Borga crashed on to rocks only months ago, there was no sense of drama.

The sense of calm belied what was really happening over the hill. But on the flat waters of Mill Bay near by the activity was intense and the sense of urgency obvious.

There, pollution experts battled in the darkness to try to stem the flow of the thick, brownyblack crude oil flowing from the hull.

As the frontline workers frantically struggled to prevent an environmental disaster others tried to work out how much oil had seeped into the sea.

There was also drama at the Milford Port Authority building in nearby Elakin, the centre of operations.

Lights blazed as staff were organised, and a busy receptionist had the

additional task of fending off calls from the media.

All the port authority's workers had been called out, and all its oil pollution craft were dispatched to the scene.

So were fire crews, police and other agencies.

They stood by hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

Shortly before midnight, experts of the Marine Pollution Control unit flew to Withybush airport from their headquarters in Southampton.

Finding them accommodation on this dark night was another job for the busy receptionist.

For everyone else, their entire attention was focused on the stricken vessel and the threat of disaster which loomed off the Welsh coastline.


0004 (16.02.96) The Western Mail

MILFORD HAVEN: COASTLINE FACES ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION AS SHIP POURS THOUSANDS OF TONNES OF CRUDE OIL INTO SEA

CRIPPLED TANKER THREATENS DISASTER

SCOTT WILKINSON, ADRIAN DALINGWATER HANNAH CLEAVER, ALASTAIR MILBURN AND ANDREW BUNCOMBE

A HUGE antipollution operation was launched last night after a supertanker ran aground off West Wales, threatening the country's worstever environmental disaster.

More than 6,000 tonnes of oil spewed into the sea when the 300 metrelong Sea Empress hit rocks and punctured its oil tanks.

As emergency agencies from across Britain rushed to the scene, it was not known whether incoming tides would flood the Pembrokeshire coastline with crude oil, devastating the environment.

But by the early hours of this morning residents living close to Milford Haven had already reported an oil slick at least four kilometres long stretching to St Ishmaels.

Terry Leadbetter of Wales Marine Life Rescue said, "God knows what we will find in the morning."

The incident began shortly after 8pm when the 147,000tonne Sea Empress tanker began the final stages of its voyage to a Texaco oil refinery.

The vessel was carrying a full cargo of North Sea crude when, according to unconfirmed reports, it suffered steering failure at the harbour entrance.

Within an hour a large flotilla of specialist craft, some with floating booms, arrived to try to confine the spillage of up to 128,000 tonnes of oil.

A spokesman for Texaco said, "Some of the tanks have been damaged and pollution control people who we not already on site are heading for Milford Haven and we will be working throughout the night."

Aircraft fitted with specialist spraying equipment also joined the operation while a lifeboat and helicopter from RAF Chivenor were on standby.

By 10pm the ship, with 28 crew on board, had tilted 45 degrees and had lost at least 6,000 tonnes of oil.

Half an hour later tugs pulled the boat off the rocks, righted the vessel to a list of 18 degrees and succeeded in slowing the flow of oil.

The Texaco spokesman said no injuries or fatalities had been reported among the 28strong Russian crew, all of whom stayed on board the vessel.

He added weather conditions were moderate and that a pilot from Milford Haven

was on board at the time.

Lloyds of London said the Empress was registered in Liberia and was built in 1993. Its managers, Acomarit UK, based in Glasgow, reported the Empress had set sail from Grangemouth, Cumbria, for Milford Haven on Tuesday.

Spokesman Patrick Adamson said the singleskinned tanker was built before the report following the 1993 Braer tanker disaster, which recommended tanks be equipped with doubleskinned hulls.

He said, "Doubleskinned hulls are useful for this kind of incident, but the Sea Empress was made before the report recommending they be fitted on tankers."

Experts have said the only factor which stopped steeringgear failure on board the Borga tanker as it entered Milford last October from developing into a disaster was its second safety skin.

Designers across the world have argued installing a second skin reduces the risk of a major accident.

Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups were concentrating their thoughts on wildlife.

The area sustains a population of more than halfamillion birds, despite its two oil refineries and one of the UK's busiest harbours.

Attention today will also centre on the facilities at Milford Haven.

A report disclosed to The Western Mail in October claimed destruction and loss of life off the West Wales coast had been avoided at least 33 times in the past five years.

As well as the Borga incident, it detailed an accident in June when the tanker Hanne Knutsen was astray for more than eight hours after engine failure.

Early this morning it was decided a crisis meeting would be held at first light when all agencies would be called together to discuss the situation and the way forward.

They will decide whether to bring the vessel into The Haven or take it further out to sea.

It will be then that the full extent of the damage to the hull will be ascertained. It is likely divers will be called in to examine the damage.


0005 (16.02.96) Countryside Council for Wales

CYNGOR CEFN GWLAD CYMRU: COUNTRYSIDE COUNCIL FOR WALES (CCW)

AT/TO: Members of Council

D Langslow (EN)

P Crofts (SNH)

R Walker (JNCC)

R Macey (WO)

MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILL

This is to let you know that our emergency procedures are in operation. Stephen Evans (Area Officer Fishguard) is at the Marine Control Centre and is chairing the Environment Group advising on, amongst other things, dispersant spraying. Helen Roberts (Press Officer) is briefed to deal with the press and will explain:

1. The environmental importance of the area.

2. Our role in the clean up operation.

3. That the latest incident strengthens the argument, on environmental grounds,

    for double-hulled vessels.

We will let you have an assessment of the situation as soon as possible.

Paul E Loveluck (Chief Executive) 6 February 1966


0006 (16.02.96)  Countryside Council for Wales

CYNGOR CEFN GWLAD CYMRU: COUNTRYSIDE COUNCIL FOR WALES (CCW)

STATMENT ON MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILL

The Countyside Council for Wales is currently chairing the Environmental Group in Milford Haven which is contributing towards the clean up operation of last night's oil spill. This group is trying to find the least damaging ways of coping with the 22 square kilometre slick which extends in a series of patches and ribbons from St Annes Head over much of Freshwaer West.

A Contingency Plan for dealing with oil spills in Wales was put into operation at 8.30p.m; last night.

Mike Gash, CW's Senior Marine Police Officer said: "We are now putting the contingency procedures for dealing with oil spills into operation, and tailoring them to the situation we are having to cope with. One issue under consideration is when and how to use dispersants to deal with the spill.

"Our concern is for the whole maritime environment, but we are especially worried about the large numbers of guillemots and razorbills which are collecting in the area prior to the beginning of their breeding season."

The whole area of the Pembrokeshire coast under threat from the oil slick is of the highest conservation value. Within a 12-mile radius of the slick are the Castlemartin Coast Special Protection Area under the EC Birds Directive; the Pembrokeshire Islands, a candidate Special Protection Area under the EC Habitats and Species Directive; the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve; and some 12 Sites of Special Scientific Interest - all within the Pembokeshire Coast National Park.

Some of the specific sites protected because of their outstanding scientific value, re:

Deer Park, Marloes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI): nationally important for its grey seal and chough.

Stackpole Quay Trewent Point SSSI - contains peregrine and chough and the foreshore is of high marine biological interest.

Castlemartin Cliffs and Dunes SSSI - large concentrations of breeding sea-birds on the Pembrokeshire mainland. Guillemots, razorbills, kittiwake, puffins, gulls and chough.

Stackpole SSSI - watering wildfowl and chough. The cliffs hold seabird colonies of kittiwake, guillemot, razorbill, puffin and fulmar.

Skomer Islnd and Middleholm SSSI - Internatlonal important seabird colonies of manx shearwater, puffin, kittiwake, fulmar, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, great black-backed gull, guillemots, razorbill, storm petrels, shag. Other birds include chough, peregrine, oystercacher, lapwing, curlew, wheatear. Wintering wildfowl also visit. A large seal population and important

marine plants.

Skokholm SSSI - Seabird colonies include large population of Manx shearwater,

storm petrel, lesser black-backed gull, puffin, razorbill and guillemot. Other

breeding seabirds also.

Dale Point SSSI - important plant communities.

Gann Estuary SSSI - valuable marine invertebrates.

West Angle Bay SSSI - Extremely rare marine ostracod, extensive rich kelp forest

and a rich assemblage of invertebrates. Some of these species are usually

associated with the warm waters of the Mediterranean.

Angle Bay SSSl - Waterfowl includes wigeon, shelduck and dunlin. Also curlew, oystercatcher, golden plover, redshank, turnstone, ringed plover, grey plover, bar-tailed godwit and knot.

Broomhill Burrows SSSI - contains breeding lapwing and breeding palmate newt. Pembroke River and Pwllcrochan Flats SSSI - Mudflats and siltflats support diverse invertebrate population, and the Haven's nationally important shelduck and wigeon population. Waders such as 1,800 dunlin. Invertebrates include unusual phoronid worm, live oyster and sponges. Good assemblage of waders and wildfowl including goldeneye.

Castlemartin Coast Special Protection Area (under the EC Birds Directive) Chough, peregrine, over 7,000 guillemot, 700 razorbill, 350 pairs of kittiwake, and puffin. Pembrokeshire Islands candidate Special Area of Conservation, under the EC Habitats and Species Directive - of European value are the:

Estuaries -                       considered a one of the best in the UK.

Shallow inlets and bays - considered one of the best in the UK.

Reefs -                             considered one of the best in the UK.

Grey seal -                       considered one of the best colonies in the UK.

The slick is presently three or four miles away from the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve, an area designated for marine study and conservation.

The vast maority of the protected areas listed above are within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Mike Gash is available for further news on (01248) 370444, or contact Helen Roberts on the same number.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Countryside Council is the Government's statutory adviser on wildlife, countryside and maritime conservation matters in Wales. It is the executive authority for the conservation of habitats and wildlife. Through partners it promotes the protection of landscape, opportunities for enjoyment, and the support of those who live and work in, and manage the countryside. It enables these partners, including local authorities, voluntary organisations and interested individuals to pursue countryside management projects through grant aid. The Countryside Council is accountable to the Secretary of State for Wales who appoints it and provides its annual grant in aid.


0007 (16.02.96)  Countryside Council for Wales

CYNGOR CEFN GWLAD CYMRU: COUNTRYSIDE COUNCIL FOR WALES (CCW)

LATEST SITUATION REPORT TO MEMBERS OF COUNCIL- RE: MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILL

The latest situation is that much of the oil is being driven by the wind back into Milford Haven.

The first reports of oiled birds have started to come in, waders being the most heavily affected at this stage.

However, over the next few days, we must expect reports of oiled seabirds, especially auks, cormorants and possibly gannets, coming ashore.

No further oil is reported to have leaked from the ship, but until she is alongside the jetty and her cargo removed, there must remain  risk of further pollution.

Steven Evans is representing our interest in the joint response centre. He is chairing the Environment Group, one of several specialist groups operating within the Centre.

We will keep watch over the situation thoughout the weekend and will provide another report on Monday.

Yours,  Mike Gash Senior Maritime Policy Officer


096Feb17

0008 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0009 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0010 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0011 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0012 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0013 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0014 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0015 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0016 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0017.(17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0018 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0019 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail


0008 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

MLIFORD HAVEN: Kinnock argues for move towards double-skinned vessels despite cost

Nick Horton

EURO CALL TO BAN ALL SINGLE-HULL TANKERS

 Empress may prove a crucial landmark in the continuing world debate on

tanker safety.

Neil Kinnock, European Transport Commissioner responsible for martime

safety yesterday called for all single- skinned tankers to be banned, but

the governing body of world shipping has still to decide whether to make

it compulsory for all tankers to have doubleskinned hulls.

The International Maritime Organisation was recommended to monitor

closely the performance of double |hulled vessels in the report into the Braer disaster disaster off Shetland in 1993.

Lord Donaldson, who conducted the Braer inquiry, said a great deal of research remained to be done before anyone could say unequivocally which was the most effective.

The judge said it was clear that double hulls could help to prevent pollution in minor collisions or groundings, when only the outer skin is broken.

But he said it was also clear that they were ineffective in major accidents, and had a number of other disadvantages.

Shipping Minister Lord Goschen said yesterday the issue of single and double hulled tankers was not for the Government to decide.

"The International Maritime Organisation has considered this and I think it is a question for them," he said. "We believe the arrangements they have made for the future construction of tankers is sufficient,"

"The fact is that the huge majority of the tonnage is single hulled and one cannot practically switch to double hulls immediately."

In America all tankers are being converted to double hulls as part of a phased programme, though Lord Goschen said the Sea Empress had recently visited there.

The Braer incident also led to the UK Chamber of Shipping accepting a Department of Transport invitation to prepare a voluntary code for the routing of laden tankers around the British coast.

The code stressed the importance of testing ships' essential systems, planning ships' passages, and prompt reporting to coast authorities when experiencing difficulties which could lead to pollution and the summoning of salvage assistance without any delay.

Speaking yesterday during a visit to Cardiff, Mr Kinnock said all singlehull oil tankers should be banned.

The European Transport Commissioner believed legal progress was needed to ensure the evenyual outlawing of vessels such as Sea Empress. Its single-skinned construction meant that once breached it was inevitable that tonnes of oil would escape.

Six months ago a similar disaster was averted when another tanker, the Borga, ran aground, bcause its hull had two layers.

Mr Kinnock said the legislative achievement Europe had managed so far was for member states to encourage the use of double-hulled ships by charging them lower harbour fees.

Speaking on BBC Wales's Welsh Lobby programme, he said, "We have not yet got to the point in the EU or globally, where we stipulae that new vessels or those in use with certain cargoes, must have double hulls."

Mr Kinnock was concerned that a new ship like the Sea Empress, built in 1993, had only a single skin.

He said EU members were reluctant to insist on double hulls because of the extra cost, but added, "It is what I would like to see in the end."

Mr Kinnock and his fellow officials in Europe are awaiting an official report into the Sea Empress incident.


0009 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

WILDLIFE:  Early breeders most at risk

ALASTAIR MILBURN

SANCTUARIES ON STANDBY TO DEAL WITH BIRD VICTIMS OF SLICK

WILDL1FE  hospitals and sanctuaries as far afield as Norfolk are on standby to deal with birds suffermg the effects of the slick.

More than 40 oilcovered birds were spotted yesterday aftemoon, but animal welfare groups fear the number will rise considerably over the next week.

The biggest fear is for the thousands of auks or diving birds such as razorbills and guillemots who have returned to the Haven earlier than usual this year to breed.

There are 1,000 guillemots on Stack Rock in the centre of the Haven and experts fear it will only be a matter of time before many of them are affected.

Richard Timothy of the RSPCA said birds could be washed up for the next six or seven days.

Three RSPCA hospitals in Taunton, Cheshire and Norfolk with specialist bird cleaning facilities are on standby while local bird sanctuaries such as the New Quay Bird Hospital, run by Nancy and Alan Bryant, are also prepared for any injured birds.

Mr Bryantsaid," We are ready and waiting to take in any of the birds."

A large mobile oiled bird reception unit is on standby at Milford while experts who led the Gulf War oil pollution cleanup are also advising the emergency team set up by the Milford Haven Port Authority.

The Ocean Defender, the first ship specifically designed to provide first aid to seabirds and other wildlife hit by pollution, is on standby at Liverpool.

Iolo Williams, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' species officer in Wales, is also at the scene to assess the impact on the bird population

Brian Elliott, marine conservation officer with the Dyfed Wildlife Trust, asked for

anyone who finds an oiled bird on the shoreline to put it in a cardboard box lined with newspaper and take it directly to the West Williamson Oiled Bird Centre, Lower House Farm, West Williamson, Kilgetty. Birds should  not be wrapped in cloth under any circumstance.

Mr Timothy of the RSPCA said the diving birds would be in most danger from the slick.

"As is there nature they dive through the surface of the sea to get food. If that involves diving through a slick they are in trouble."

He said oilcovered birds would be poisoned by swallowing the oil when they tried to preen themselves.

The oil could also clog the feathers and fur of sea animals, affecting their buoyancy.

"The liver is affected if the oil is ingested. This process is not immediate and we expect the birds to start washing up over the weekend and early next week."

Once at the hospitals or sanctuaries staff will make sure the birds are warm quiet and well fed with either sprats white bait, poultry pellets or finely chopped green vegetables.

They will also be given plenty of drinking water to rehydrate them as quickly as possible.

It is only then that staff will try and scrub the oil off.

Those that are too poorly to recover will be destroyed.

Preseli Pembrokeshire District Council workmen and volunteers started shovelling up oil from beaches as far as Linney Point to the south yesterday afternoon.

The Care for the Wild charity has also provided rescue teams with disposable rescue suits, oilfume masks and gloves, and will help with cleaning equipment, medicines and foods.


0010 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

INSPECTION: Minister visits disaster site

HAGUE TIGHT-LIPPED AS HE SURVEYS THE AFTERMATH IN HAVEN'S CHOPPY WATERS

STEVE DUBE

THE Haven was choppy as the pilot's launch carrying Welsh Secretary William Hague and Port Authority chairman Bob Hastie approached the stricken tanker.

It had been perfectly smooth the previous evening when the Liberian registered singleskinned tanker hit the rocks just 300 yards from where the Borga drifted on to a shale beach last October.

Once in 30 years could be called unlucky. But what about two in three andahalf months?

"It's just incredible and questions are already being asked," said Mr Hastie.

Mr Hague was mostly keeping his own counsel as he peered through binoculars at the tanker listing halfamile off shore.

The waves lapped the starboard side of the ship, which was surrounded and secured by four tugs.

'That's a hell of a ship," said Mr Hague as officials explained how it had been eased off the rocks at lam yesterday and relocated in one of the waterway's two deep channels.

As we watched salvage tugs taking out equipment to the stranded vessel the conversation turned to the merits of doubleskinned vessels.

All this could have happened just in late October last year if the Borga had been a singleskinned ship like the Sea Empress  a new vessel which only came into service in 1993.

Mr Hague was also reluctant to talk about the possible causes of the disaster even after a thorough briefing with leading Port Authority officials and coastguards.

But he said, "I'm horrified by what has happened and very concerned about the environmental effects."

"Something clearly went wrong but we must concentrate for now on minimising pollution and cleaning up the coastline."

TRANSPORT SECRETARY VIEWS DAMAGED VESSEL FROM THE AIR

WHILE the Welsh Secretary visited the crippled supertanker by sea, Transport Secretary Sir George Young flew over the the vessel to see the damage.

Sir George said later, "Everything possible is being done to make sure no more oil leaks from the vessel. There is also a lot of work going on to deal with the pollution both at sea and ashore.

'There are booms being put down. The local authorities are hoovering up some of the oil  some of the spraying has started  but I think the best I can do as Secretary of State is to make sure that all the agencies operate with each other and get on to deal with this serious problem."

Sir George, who discussed the emergency with Milford Haven Port Authority and his own department's marine pollution control officials, said a full investigation was under way.

The operations manager of Glasgowbased Acomarit (UK) Ltd, John Brechin, who also visited the scene to help the inquiry, said, "It's too early to determine the cause of the accident, but we are working closely with the authorities to find out exactly what happened."

DIRTY DOZEN LEAD AIR-POWERED CLEAN-UP OPERATION AT SEA

THE clean-up operation after a marine incident like the one at Milford Haven is organised by a group known as the "dirty dozen."

The team of 12 make up the Department of Transport's Marine Pollution Control Unit under the unit's chief executive Chris Harris.

Based at Southampton, the unit works to a national contingency plan which sets out procedures in the event of an incident.

To start with, the unit sets up a marine emergency operations room at the Coastguard Agency headquarters in Southampton.

It also arranges for a joint response centre to be set up as near as possible to the scene of the incident.

This local centre then takes on-scene decisions.

The local authority would be responsible for beach-cleaning operations, while the unit at Southampton deals with the sea clean-up.

The unit can call upon seven DC3 aircraft which are used to spray the oil from about 25ft above the sea.

Also at the disposal of the unit are two Cessna light aircraft which can be used for aerial surveillance.

The Cessnas have remote sensing electronic equipment to detect the position, nature and extent of oil slicks on the surface.

In addition, an oil spill information centre is set up at Southampton.

The centre has a computer which when fed with the appropriate data provides a reliable prediction of the spread and movement of any oil slick.

The "dirty dozen" can also ensure that tugs and cargo transfer equipment are moved to the scene.

BLACKSPOTS

INCIDENT FOLLOWS STRING OF DAMAGING SPILLS

The Sea Empress is one of several tankers that have caused environmentally damaging oil spills in recent years.

It has the capacity for about one million barrels of oil, and is single-hulled with one steel layer separating its cargo and te sea.

Many modern tankers are now being built with double hulls following a spate of marine accidents.

The Borga, a 122,655-ton Norwegian vessel built in 1992, was the last tanker to run aground at Milford Haven harbour.

It was fully laden with North Sea oil but none was spilt.

Last October's accident happened in good weather as the tanker was being guided into the sound by a pilot on board.

The last major tanker accident in Britain occurred in January 1993 when the Liberian-registered Braer oil tanker, carrying 619,300 barrels of oil, ran aground on the rocks in Quendale Bay, Shetland.

Some 80,000 tonnes of light crude oil was spilled into the sea, causing severe damage to property, livestock and health.

Oil was spread over the islands during several days of heavy gales and the surrounding waters were declared unfishable for several months.

Outstanding claims by Shetland islanders still exceed £50 m.

In the worst oil spill ever in the US, the supertanker Exxon Valdez crashed into Bligh Reef in Alaska in 1989, discharging 11 million gallons of crude oil, coating 18,00 miles of coastline.

The Exxon Corporation was ordered to pay 5b dollars (£3.2bn) in punitive damages to fishermen and other groups.

BUSIEST PETROL PORT IN BRITAIN

Milford Haven handles more petroleum products than any other port in Britain.

In 1994, the latest year for which comparatigive figures are available, the port handled a higher tonnage of oil, petrol and diesel than nearest rivals, Teeside, Hartlepool and Sullum Voe in The Shetlands.

"Most of the vessels are bringing in crude oil from the North Sea oil fields," said a spokesman for the Milford Haven Port Authority.

"The ships leaving are heading for other parts of the UK, Ireland and Northern Europe. But they also travel to North America and other parts of the world with various grades of petrol, kerosene, diesel and other petroleum products,"

Last month the port handled 223 cargo ships.


0011 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

ANIMAL RESCUERS GET PREPARED FOR FULL IMPACT OF OIL TRAGEDY

CERI JONES

Marine wildlife rescuers were bracing themselves yesterday for the full impact of the tanker disaster to hit them.

After first light a small group of volunteers huddled together against

the strong winds at Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire and stared at

the sea wondering what the incoming tide would bring.

"Its a bloody tragedy," said one of them, as they waited to see whether the next few days would bring a full-scale disaster.

Despite the freshness of the winds in the bay, better known in the summer for its surfing, the stench of oil was overpowering.

It  hung in the air over the volunteers and over an army of workers from Texaco and the local council who were out on the wide sweeping sands of the bay shovelling clusters of oil manually into black plastic bags to be taken away

The winds could yet be a saviour, for oil evaporates in the air and disperses naturally. But the pution fighters were taking no chances.

While low-tech work continued on the sands, overhead the latest in high-tech anti-pollution machinery took to the  skies to monitor the strength of the oil and its dispersal.

Out at sea and somewhere hidden from the beach, a long black slick 20 square kilometres large was hugging the coastline.

By yesterday afternoon it was far enough away from the beach for the Marine Pollution Control Centre,  which is directing all clean-up operations, to begin test spraying with dispersants.

But nobody was predicting where the slick would be today." There are too many variables," said the volunteer, "it's shifting all over the place."

Wherever it hits the enenvironmentally sensitive coastline the animal rescuers will be ready.

Terry Ledbetter of Wales Marine Life Rescue said it had been inundated with calls from all over the country from people wanting to lend a hand.

In the back of the organisation's  rescue van the crates and boxes were ready to move stricken birds to safety at one of the handful of rescue centres in West Wales run by dedicated unpaid volunteers.

If, as is likely, they will be over- stretched, then the birds will be moved to the RSPCA Centre in Taunton, Devon. "We just don't have the local facilities to deal with it here," said Mr Ledbetter.

"Tomorrow will be the real test and the day after that."

More ominously Tuesday should bring the highest tides of the year giving the birds less chance to escape.


0012 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

POLLUTION EXPERTS IN BID TO SAVE COASTLINE

STEVE BOGGAN and TONY HEATH

Pollution experts on land, sea and in the air were battling yesterday to save one of Britain's most sensitive stretches of coastline from a 4,000-tonne oil slick.

Aircraft with dispersants were brought in to tackle the spill off Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire after a 14,000 tonne supertanker ran aground, threatening bird, seal and dolphin populations.

According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds the Liberian-registered Sea Empress could not have become grounded at a more sensitive location. The five-mile long slick off St Anne's Head at the mouth of the Cleddau estuary, is threatening colonies of gannet, fulmar, shag, puffin and cormorant, as well as large numbers of porpoise, dolphin and Atlantic grey seal.

The Sea Empress ran aground on its way into Milford Haven on Thursday night, even though a port authority pilot was aboard.

Yesterday, Sir George Young, the Secretary of State for Transport, flew over the scene and said he believed the accident was caused by a steering or power failure, but Captain Peter Cooney, managing director of Glasgow-based Acomarit (UK), which manages the ship, said: "There was no problem with the steering gear or with the propeller system. The vessel was maintained to the highest standards."

As inquiries into the accident began in earnest, a 30,000 tonne tanker, the Star Bergen, was expected to be moved from Milford Haven alongside the Sea Empress to take on some of its 136,000-tonne cargo of light crude oil.

Members of the Department of Transport's marine pollution control unit flew in seven Dakota aircraft to spray dispersant on the five-mile long slick. On the ground, a small army of people began scooping up oil while teams with vacuum pumps waited for smaller slicks to reach shore.

David Thomas, a member of the joint-response team set up to tackle the spill, said hopes were given a boost yesterday afternoon when the wind direction shifted from north easterly to south easterly, blowing the oil away fran the marine nature reserve of Skomer and the islands of Skokholm and Grassholm.

"So far, there have been no reports of dead or oiled birds or seals," he said. "The wind is blowing the slick away from the islands outside the estuary and into a position where spraying with dispersants is more likely to be effective."

Nevertheless, it was estimated that 200 tonnes of oil had landed on a beach at Freshwater West and a number of salt marshes were being threatened. Almost the entire Pembroke shire coastline is a national park with more than 100 miles of sanctuaries and areas of special marine interest.

Derek Lloyd of Texaco which was to have received the Sea Empress's cargo said the tanker had been refloated and towed out into deeper water. It was surrounded by booms, but was not thought to be leaking any more oil, he said. "Everyone is hopeful that we can contain the ship and take all the cargo off," he said. "We are confident that an environmental tragedy can be averted."

The incident has renewed calls for new tankers to be built with double hulls. Last October, the supertanker Borga ran aground in similar circumstances but a spill was averted because it had a double hull. In his report on the Braer oil spillage in the Shetland Isles, Lord Donaldson agreed that double hulls could avert some leaks, but he said it could not be guaranteed.


0013 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

WORKERS HELP NATURE IN SLOW CLEAN-UP OF BLACKENED BEACH

NICHOLAS SCHOON (Environment Correspondent)

Fresher West is the kind of beach where you could spend a glorious and memorable summer day. There's plenty of sand, multi-coloured pebbles, rocks to clamber over and a great wilderness of grassy sand dunes.

Here is fine surfing and little development; all around is open country of grass and cliffs.

Yesterday it was not so nice. Some of the Sea Empress's 6,00tonne slick had passed this way, smeaRing crude along the half-mile length and threatening the habitats of wildlife such as grey seals, shags and cormorants.

After high tide it left a smelly mark with the texture and colour of chocolate mousse. The oil accumulated in the shallows beside a small rocky headland, in a thick black/ brown layer. The waves could scarcely break and when they did it was with a strange, gloppy sound emitting dollops of black stuff.

One small bird, perhaps a sandpiper, had been placed respectfully on a rock by the clean-up crew. The bird was quite dead and completely oil-engulfed to the point where it could not be identified.

Three dozen men in lime green or orange overalls were on the beach, getting to grips with the pollution. They came from South Pembrokeshire District Council, from Texaco and its contractors at the nearby refinery, and from the Oil Spill Response Centre at Southampton, which is owned by the major oil companies.

A skinner, a device roughly the size and shape of a tractor tyre, floated in the oiliest shallows. It is full of spinning plastic discs which collect the oil off the water surface into a pipe. A couple of pumps were used to shift the oil into a bowser parked just inland

"The bowser takes 10 tonnes of oil and we're already well into our second load," said Paul Dedoncker, the Texaco "civil coordinator" in charge of the clean up on this one beach. Two dozen council staff had been mopping up other more lightly oiled areas, using giant spongy mats and pompoms to gather the oil off the sand and pebbles. The men included carpenters, electricians, dustmen and street sweepers all trained to drop everything and hit the beach in the event of a spill.

They left as the sun dropped into the Bristol Channel, but some of them expected to be back there at first light today to carry on with the work. There will be plenty left to do.

A strong north-west wind had been blowing all day. This had the effect of making the oil skim along the beaches before heading out into the Channel. The wind, sunshine and waves joined in the clean-up operation, vaporising the lighter fractions of the crude and dispersing the heavier stuff, mingling it into the water. In almost every oil spill, nature ends up doing most of the cleansing.

Five miles away the silhouette of the Sea Empress loomed out of the sea haze. It was hard to make any connection between the familiar shape of a distant tanker, so common in this giant oil port, and the despoilation of this rural beach.


0014 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

RACE TO SAVE COAST AS GALES CLOSE IN

STEVE DUBE AND CERI JONES

SALVAGE experts face a race against time to save the stricken supertanker Sea Empress hefore gale-force winds hit the West Wales coat tonight.

At ll am today engineers, pollution experts and an EU task force will begin the delicate task of pumping oil on to another tanker to lighten the load before carefully leading the Sea Empress into Milford Haven.

As the crippled vessel sat for a second night a quarter of a mile offshore after hitting rocks off St Ann's Head at the entrance to the Haven on Thursday night, the salvage teams admitted last night that as winds freshened it would be difficult to prevent the 147,000 tonne vessel from moving.

With only the pressure of sea water preventing the discharge of thousands of gallons of crude oil, the salvage teams had been planning to begin their work last night. But the deteriorating weather and darkness forced them to give up the idea and, leaving nothing to chance, they decided their best opportunity to get the rescue attempt right was to play a waiting game.

The delay also means that tugs being called in from Liverpool and Ireland will he on hand to help the four vessels already alongside the Sea Empress.

However, the decision to wait means they will have less than 12 hours hefore gale-force eight winds reach the area late tonight. With stormy weather there are fears that more oil could spew from the ship.

Ecperts from the Marine Pollution Control Unit said last night that earlier estimates that 4,000 tons of oil had already leaked out were probably wrong. In fact, perhaps less than 1,000 tons had been lost.

"The ship is still afloat- it has full power and full rudder " said Joe Small from the unit. "She is keeping afloat very well.

"We are quite optimistic about the vessel."

The light crude oil was discharged into some of Britain's most environmentally-sensitive waters when the Liberian-registered Sea Empress hit the rocks.

Protective booms were edged into place yesterday to keep the 22-square kilometre slick from some of the most sensitive marshlands in and around the Haven estuary.

Last night experts of the Department of Transport Marine Pollution Control unit

gave the go-ahead for planes carrying oil-dispersing detergents to tackle the slick.

They had been grounded all day becwse the slick was too close to the coastline to avoid spraying land as well.

This morning's operation will involve bringing the much smaller tanker Star Bergen alongside the heavily listing Sea Empress in a bid to pump off some of its cargo.

The next step will be for tugs to ease the supertanker into port, for the remaining oil to be offloaded and for experts to make a full assessment of the damage and decide on repairs.

Throughout the operation the vessels will be surrounded by booms to help ensure there is no further oil spillage.

Last might, as there were calls for a public inquiry into the accident, EC environment commissioner Ritt Bjer gaard pledged financial support to help overcome the ecological impact of the disaster.

Oil came ashore yesterday at Freshwater West and West Angle Bay and there were reports of minor pollution at Marloes, opposite the island nature reserves of Skomer and Skokholm and in the Haven itself.

The colonies of birds and seals that dot the coast of West Wales appeared yesterday to have largely escaped the slick, but environmentalists said it would not be possible for some days to judge the full effect of the disaster.

The slick is known to be threatening an area from Angle to St Govan's Head. Within a 12-mile radius of the scene there are more than a dozen nature, reserves and sites of special scientific ' interest.

OWNER DENIES STEERING PROBLEMS WERE TO BLAME

As clean-up operations continued at Milford Haven, the operations manager for the Sea Empress's owner Acomarit (UK). John Brechin, categorically denied any problems with the main engine propulsion or steering.This contradicted Transport Secretary Sir George Young, who said after he visited the scene."Clearly there was either a loss of power or loss of steerage which resulted in it going aground.

"Milford Haven Port Authority general manager Mike Hyslop said, "There is no indication of any problem before the tanker reached St Ann's Head.

"A pilot was on board 15 minutes before it hit the rocks and a second pilot went on board once we realised there was a problem."

"I wouldn't like to comment on possible causes. We have not put any resources into establishing the cause. We will look at it after the event. All our efforts now are concentrated on minimising pollution and recovering the vessel."

The two pilots who went on board have not been named, but both are experienced.


0015 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

REGISTRATION: Flags of convenience 'underming safety standards'

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN

ANDREW BUNCOMBE

THE second oil spillage in four months was an accident waiting to happen, it was claimed yesterday.

Further maritime catastrophes were inevitable unless the Government abandoned its hands-off approach to shipping, said Brian Orrell, general secretary of Merchant Navy officers union Numast.

Mr Orrell said the Government had failed to tackle fundamental issues which were undermining safety around Britain's coast.

Meanwhile a former Merchant Navy captain revealed how he had predlcted a disaster at the port more than five years ago.

"The Government continues to play Russian roulette around our coasts by allowing ever-increasing amounts of sub-standard flag of convenience shipping to take our trade while presiding over the demise of the British fleet," said Mr Orrell.

By international law all ships have to be registered with a country and fly its flag. It is generany recognised that some countries have less stringent regulations than others.

These countries including Panama and Liberia, where the Sea Empress was registered, usually run open registers which means ships not owned by that country can pay to register.

These ships are said to fly flags of convenience.

Davids Greenman, editor of Jane's Merchant Ships, said, "The regulations of certain countries will be lower than those of others."

Some countries, including Britain, have closed registers, only allowing ships owned by firms in that country to fly its flag. Captain Bernard Edward a captain with the British Merchant Navy  for 14 years, said regulations for British registered ships were among the highest in the world.

"I said back in 1991 that if we kept allowing ships flying flags of convenience to ship our oil around Britain, this sort of thing would sooner of later," said Captain Edwards, from Llanvachef, Gwent.

"Ships flying flags of convenience often have lower maintenance  standards and less well trained crews.

"British registered ships have the highest standards in the world."

Numast said it wanted tougher action taken against the operators of unsafe ships.

It is also to urge the Government to provide incentives to boost British Merchant Navy officer numbers.


0016 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

REGULATIONS: Inquiry to be launched

SHIPS WERE UNDER CLOSER WATCH AFTER BRAER DISASTER

TOUGH measures for ships in British waters laid down after the 1993 Braer disaster were designed to ensure that oil-spill catastrophes were kept to a minimum.

Now the Department of Transport's Marine Accident Investigation Branch is launching an inquiry to find out why the regulations failed to prevent the Milford Haven incident.

The Braer, which like the Sea Empress was Liberian-registered, spilled 84,000 tonnes of crude oil after it ran aground off the Shetland Islands in January 1993.

A report after an inquiry under the chairmanship of former judge Lord Donaldson made more than 100 recommendations, most of which were accepted and acted upon. The recommendations included:

• Tougher ship inspection procedures - this led to the Marine Safety Agency publishing a monthly "list of shame" of vessels detained in British ports for not being up to standard;

• Designated high-risk areas ships' masters in certain sea areas would be required to take extra care;

• Pressure on individual states - more should be done to persuade some countries to improve standards;

• Radar spot checks - there should be occasional and unexpected aerial and other surveillance of ship routes so that vessels would not know whether they were being watched.

COMPENSATION

OWNERS CAN EXPECT FLOOD OF CLAIMS

THE owners of both the ship and cargo at the centre of the disaster may now have to brace themselves for compensation claims.

Dr Gotthard Gauci, a law lecturer at the University College of Swansea and an expert on oil-pollution compensation claims, said yesterday that anyone from the local government authority to fishermen, farmers and hotels could make claims for the cost of the clean-up and interruption of business.

He said that after the Braer disaster off the Shetlands in January 1993 hundreds of people made claims worth tens of millions of pounds.

"The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund set up an office as quickly as possible," said Dr Gauci. 'The oil company was afraid people would sue in America, which is more liberal in paying out compensation claims."

By law, the ship owner of a tanker carrying oil must be fully insured.

If a disaster happens, other than it being caused by an act of war, terrorism or a tidal wave, the owners have to accept liability.

Any person or organisation who feels he or it has incurred loss or damage as a result of a disaster can make a claim.

In the first instance this is made to the ship owner and his insurer, and then to the cargo owner.

They have to have cover by law and there are also private contractual schemes.

Money is paid out from the international fund.

Dr Gauci said that once the first wave of compensation claims was settled that might not be the end of the matter.

"After the Exxon Valdez disaster in the late '80s fresh oil began to seep up four years later," he said.

"They thought everything had come to an end, but people are complaining and there might be new claims in the future."

ORIMULSION

NEW PRESSURE TO REFUSE JETTY PLAN

The accident will put renewed pressure on Dyfed County Council to refuse plans for a jetty to supply Orimulsion to Pembroke Power Station.

The jetty is needed to accomodate larger tankers carrying Orimulsion from across the Atlantic.

It is a key part of the long-running fight by National Power to burn Orimulsion at the plant.

There are already fears that burning the bitumen-based substitute will pollute the air.

But the prospect of even larger oil tankers sailing up the Milford Haven waterway is likely to cause even more alarm in the light of the Sea Empress accident.

The jetty proposal has already been rejected by Friends of the Earth Cymru on environmental grounds and Preseli Pembrokeshire District Council because of its visual impact.

Dyfed County Council is expected to announce its decision on the jetty next week.

WORLD WILDLIFE  FUND

TANKERS 'SHOULD BE BANNED FROM SENSITIVE AREAS'

THE World Wildlife Fund yesterday called on governments to strictly regulate the movement of oil tankers through areas such as the Pembrokeshire coastline.

Doctor Robin Pellow, UK director of WWF, said it was tragic that after years of consultation among all parties, accidents such as the Sea Empress should be allowed to happen in one of the most environmentally important areas in Britain.

"Coastal states must act to ensure that such areas, already designated rare and fragile ecosystems, are respected by shipping," said Dr Pellow.

"This can be done only if governments - including the British Government - submit proposals to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) identifying these areas as particularly sensitive."

Dr Pellow called on governments to draw up a list of environmentally sensitive areas from which tankers should be banned.

"They should also identify any necessary additional measures that ships should take: this could include restrictions on the types of vessels able to carry hazardous cargoes such as double-hull vessels, dual steering systems or back-up systems where there is power failure."

Dr Pellow said the IMO was the only international body capable of establishing and adopting measures concerning routing and exclusion zones around the globe, but the selection of responsibility of such sites was the responsibility of national governments.

But it was difficult to administer and enforce such regulations, he said.

CLEAN-UP

EC 'TASK FORCE' WILL HELP TO CLEAR OIL

AN EU pollution "task force" has been sent to help clear up the oil spillage from the Sea Empress, European Commission announced last night.

' And it pledged financial support for the area of as much as £250,000 with more cash for environmental oganisations if necessary to help wildlife.

The "Community task force" is made up of government experts, drawn together by the Commission to pool their expertise in major pollution crises.

The Commission said all the force members had direct experience of emergencies and were qualified to give "effective" assistance limiting the damage caused by more 1,000 tonnes of light crude oil estimated to have leaked from the ship.

Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard said the Commission was in touch with the British authorities soon after the accident and had 'swiftly agreed to send help.

EU financial backing, initially to fund a survey of the ecological recovery, could be as much as £250,000 and would not be less than £80,000.

Organisations helping support wildlife caught up in the spillage could receive tens of thousands of pounds as well.

"The Commission remains in close contact with the British authorities and is ready to provide them with any technical and administrive support,"

New EU rules came into force at the start of this year requiring port authorities to encourage the use of oil tankers with segregated ballast tanks and double hulls by charging lower port and pilotage fees.

And in July a Port State Control Directive comes into force, which Brussels says will provide effective control of ships entering EU ports, whatever flag they fly under.

SEA EMPRESS FACTFILE

• Built in Spain in 1993 by Espanoles Puerto Real.

• 274 metres long and 43 wide.

• Deadweight tonnage is 133,855 tonnes.

• Top speed is 14 knots.

• Registered in Liberia.

• Cypriot crew of 28.

• Carrying 18,000 tonnes of crude oil.

• Travelled to Milford Haven from Grangemouth.

• Ship managed by Acomarit UK, Glasgow.


0017 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

BRAER; Effects remain but worst damage was soon cleared up

NICK HORTON

SPILLAGE NOT THE DISASTER IT WAS MADE OUT TO BE

THREE years after the Braer, another Liberian-registered tanker, spilled 84,000 tonnes of oil off the Shetlands the islands' environment has still not fully recovered.

The effects were not as disastrous as had been feared, and Shetlanders blame exaggerated media forecasts of the potential impact for harming their fisheries and tourist industries.

Some birds failed to return, and shellfish still cannot be farmed in an "exclusion zone" around the disaster area. But the zone was removed for salmon some six months after the Braer hit the rocks in January 1993.

"Generally speaking, if you come to Shetland today, you wouldn't be able to tell there had been an oil spill," island council official David Okill said yesterday.

Mr Okill, the Shetlands' divisional manager in charge of environmental

health, said, "The media gave the impression that the whole Shetland coastline was covered in oil three feet deep, which was not the case.

"The oil went into the body of water, and the sea went the colour of milky coffee, but only about 25 miles of coastline was affected."

The inquiry report by former judge Lord Donaldson made more than 100 recommendations, most of which were accepted and acted on.

The impact of the Shetlands spill was lessened by the fact that the ship, as at Milford Haven, was carrying a very light crude oil.

Mr Okill, who was in charge of the environmental team dealing with the spill, said, "We also had very extreme weather conditions, with hurricane force winds daily for three weeks afterwards. This put the oil into suspension in the sea and then drove it over the land.

"We had problems with animals, with sheep and crops affected, and potentially with the water supply. But that was almost a unique feature of our oil spill.

Most seabirds had already migrated for the winter, but Mr Okill said, "We did have a lot of impact on birds, especially with shags, black guillemots and eiders. The eiders and guillemots have returned, although the shags haven't."

Fishermen and farmers have been compensated, though the Shetlands Council is still arguing for reimbursement of about £1.5m it spent dealing with the emergency.

Mr Okill said the area had largely recovered by the end of 1993.


0018 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

EXXON VALDEZ;  Tanker spillage unleashed wave of anger

Abbie Wightwick

NIGHTMARE THAT POLLUTED 1,000 MILES OF COASTLINE

MORE than 11 million gallons of oil spewed into the sea off Alaska when the Exxcon Valdez supertanker ran aground in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989.

The spill, the worst in North American history, caused an environmental nightmare polluting 1,000 miles of beach and killing thousands of fish, birds and sea mammals.

Disaster struck when the 937-foot vessel, owned by the Exxon Corporation, hit a reef and started listing 25 miles from the oil port of Valdez.

Eight of its 13 cargo tanks were damaged and oil seeped into the waters causing a disaster estimated to cost up to $200m to clean up and inestimable damage to marine life.

The spill led to the sacking and criminal prosecution of the ship's captain, Joseph Hazelwood.

A massive clean-up operation was assisted by President George Bush sending in armed forces to help.

Alaska's Governor Steve Cowper announced a state of emergency in Prince William Sound, one of America's richest and most beautiful waterways.

Cleaning teams used sweeper on barges to try to suck up the spilled oil which at one stage formed a 50 square-mile slick, and booms were placed as barriers around it.

Eventually, two weeks after the disaster on April 6, the tanker was successfully lifted off Bligh's Reef, the submerged reef it hit.

However, the pollution it had left behind remained and the clean-up operation, especially the Exxon Corporation's efforts, were criticised for being too slow.

The company was ordered to pay $5bn in punitive damages to fishermen and other groups.

Environmentalists and wildlife campaigners warned sea life would be devastated for years to come.

Whales, fish and otters were affected and herrings failed to spawn after the spill.

Clean-up teams were hampered by 45mph winds and waves up to seven feet high.

The environmental tragedy unleashed a tide of indignation about big oil firms.

Campaigners started lobbying hard to deny oil firms new areas to explore for drilling, especially in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge adjacent to Prudhoe Bay, the most productive US oil field.


0019 (17 Feb 96) The Western Mail

TARNISHED IMAGE COULD COST TOURISM INDUSTRY MILLIONS

PHIL DAVIES

West Wales tourist industry last night faced a multi-million pound backlash from the supertanker accident.

Thousands of holidaymakers could shun beautiful Pembrokeshire because of the adverse publicity, a leading hotelier feared.

Such a boycott would affect shops, pubs, restaurants and hotels who rely on the image of golden sands and an unspoilt environment to attract tourists from all over the world.

Yet that image has already been tarnished by the second shipping accident in Pembrokeshire within four months, according to West Wales hoteliers' Association chairman Ian Bell.

"It's something we all worry about because so many people come to this area specifically because of its beautiful area and wildlife," said Mr Bell.

"Many potential visitors are at this very moment probably thinking where to go this summer and this accident has to be a deterrent to them."

Private marina manager Paul Warrington feared thousands of holidaymakers and weekenders who were attracted to Pembrokeshire because of its stunning coastline might be put off.

Mr Warrington, who runs the 400 berth Neyland Yacht Haven, described the accident as a disastrous advert for the entire region.

"We always go on about our environment and our wildlife but the only real press we get is on the disasters here," he said.

Some sail and cruise enthusiasts from the rest of the British Isles and abroad already had a prejudiced view because of the area's commercial association with the oil industry.

Mr Warrington said comments were too often made about not wanting to come and sail in an oil slick. Real-life accidents only confirmed the prejudice.

"We are a private marina and its tough enough as it is trying to make some money in an area where economic recovery is more than a year behind the rest of Britain.

"But there is a chance of an economic backlash from this accident in the long run. You can spend so much time and effort trying to get people on holiday here and then go right back to square one with just one incident."

Tourist honeypots like the picturesque coastal village of Dale will be the first to suffer if Pembrokeshire's image is marred by accidents and environmental pollution

Dale is still relatively unspoilt, a pretty postcard-type of place where 200 people play host to thousands of visitors all year round.

The pub there is the Griffin Inn and yesterday landlady Pat Cosnett was already worrying what the affect would be on the summer trade.

She said the adverse affect of publicity had been shown recently. Many people like keen birdwatchers, who were planning day and week-end trips around their area, had cancelled after hearing exaggerated stories about severe weather.

"It's a worry just thinking holidaymakers might be thinking of cancelling a visit to West Wales  because of the effects of this accident," said Mrs Cosnett.

"We are usually so busy in the summer so we shall have to wait and see. Let us hop there isn't a disaeter on the beaches."

Under the threat of pollution is the coastal area around St Ann's Head up to the Skokholm and Skomer Islands, both world-renowned havens for wildlife.

The islands and their habitats are managed by Dyfed Wildlife Trust which has expressed horror at the environmental threat posed by such a big oil spill.

Marine conservation officer Brian Elliott said Pembrokeshire's environment was probably the major attraction to the area for tourists.

Up to 300 pople visit their two islands every day and those numbers could fall if people see that oil pollution is damaging the quality of the environment locally.

"What happens to a great extent is where the oil goes and how it is cleaned up," said Mr Elliott.

"We have had small disasters before and the region has recovered, but this is yet another one and we shall have to wait and see what the economic and environmental effects are."

Wales Tourist Board marketing executive Roger Pride said his colleagues were clearly concerned about the possible effects on West Wales tourism this year.

He said the industry was the most vital element in the region's economy and ensuring it remained vibrant during l996 was essential.

"The worries are well founded. If potential tourists see images of oil slicks off the Welsh coast at this stage of the year they may be concerned," said Mr Pride.

"But until we know the full extent of any danage it's very difficult for us to say what the impact on the economy will be."

Wildlife workers last night urged the public to stay away from coastal areas likely to be affected by the Sea Empress oil spill today.

They are worried thousands of curious people will turn up to watch what is happening.

Mr Elliott said volunteers and professional workers feared idle bystanders would hamper wildlife rescue and clean-up operations.


096.Feb.18

0020 (18 Feb 96)  Wales on Sunday

0021 (18 Feb 96)  Wales on Sunday

0022 (18 Feb 96)  CCW PRESS CONFERENCE


0020 (18 Feb 96)  Wales on Sunday

LEAKING TANKER HAS 140,000 TONS OF CRUDE ABOARD

OIL SPILL TREATENS TO SWAMP COAST

By Andrew Hill

A VOLUNTEER disaster team was alerted last night as more oil began leaking from the crippled supertanker Sea Empress.

Heavy seas and gale force winds were threatening to break up the giant vessel and spill its cargo of 140,000 tons of crude oil into the Milford Haven estuary.

Offcials from the Marine Pollution Unit (MPU) and dozens of wildlife volunteers were on standby in case a massive slick developed.

The supertanker, which ran aground last Thursday, crashed into rocks as salvage experts tried to move it to face the oncoming storm.

Joe Small, head of the MPU team at Milford Haven, confirmed more oil had begun to leak from the vessel into the estuary, which is home to two nationally important colonies of sea birds.

Experts hoped to be able to bee the vessel during high tide at 5am this morning RSPB spokeswoman Louise Tickles said dozens of volunteers were put on alert in case the vessel broke up and released a massive oil slick.

"From what I understand there are more than 100,000 tons of crude oil on board and if the tanker did break up there would be a huge oil slick and no way of controlling it," she added.

"We had a warden at the scene last night monitoring the situation and mobilising a volunteer task force. There were a lot of people on standby in case the situation worsened.

"If the worst did happen, the cost to the local marine and bird life would be immense. We are all keeping our fingers crossed."

Members of the Dyfed Wildlife Trust were calling for an investigation into the incident to ensure it did not happen again.

Trust conservation officer Brian Elliot said: "We remain anxious about the risk ol further spillages as the tanker is moved and we will continue to be on full alert."

The Marine Accident Investigation Unit will be looking into the incident and will be speaking to everyone directly involved including the vessel's crew and Milford Haven pilots, whd led the tanker into harbour.

RUGBY CLUB IS REFUGE

CREW and salvage experts airlifted bom the strieken supertanker were flown to a local rugby club and driven to nearby evacuation centres.

The two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters involved in the dramatic rescue operation were taking off and landing from the pitch at Milford Haven Rugby Club. There the men were met by paramedics and firemen, given hot drinks and food and driven to evacuation centres

CATALOGUE OF DISASTER

The Sea Empress is the latest name to be added to the list of supertankers to sail into trouble.

The Borga, a 122,655 ton Norwegian vessel built in 1992, was the last tanker to run aground at Milford Haven. It was full with North Sea oil but none spilt. The accident happened in good weather as the tanker was being guided into the sound by a pilot on board.

The last major tanker accident in Britain occured in January 1993 when the Liberian-registered Braer oil tanker, carrying 619,300 barrels of oil, ran aground on the rocks in Quendale Bay, Shetland. Some 80,000 tonnes of oil was spilled. Oil was spread over the islands and the surrounding water was declared unfishable for months. Claims by Shetlanders still exceed £50m.

In the worst oil spill in the US, the supertanker Exxon Valdez crashed into Bligh Reef in Alaska in 1989, losing 11 million gallons of crude oil over 1,800 miles of coastline.


0021 (18 Feb 96)  Wales on Sunday

At Mercy of Gale Force Winds

Andrew Hill

THE stricken supertanker Sea Empress was last night stranded off the Welsh coast at the mercy of gale force winds, as fears of an enviromnental catastrophe grew.

Rescue helicopters flew to airlift 26 people off the vessel after she ran aground on rocks in the Milford Haven estuary, sparking fears of an explosion.

Householders in the St Ann's Head and Block House area, which overlook the scene were ordered to evacuate.

Salvage crews were attempting to re-position the vessel in readiness for last night's gale when tow lines to tugs snapped.

The tanker drifted and ran aground some 500 yards off St Ann's Head.

The latest crisis came as experts hoped that the threat posed by the tanker, which ran aground on Thursday, might be coming to an end.

Plans were being made to pump the 130,000 tons of North Sea crude from the Sea Empress into a smaller tanker.

But last night, after the latest setback, more oil was leaking from the vessel.

Joe Small, head of the Marine Pollution Unit tackling the emergency, said: "It is

thought to be around the same quantities as we experienced on Thursday evening. Surveillance flights are now trying to ascertatn where the oil may be heading"

Salvage experts were pinning their hopes on being able to free the crippled supertanker on the next high water, at around 5am tomorrow.

Mr Small said the vessel was resting on a sand and shale seabed.

The new alert came after the salvage crews successfuuy turned the ship through 180 degrees to meet the oncoming storm.

Mr Small said this operation was completed by 4pm but a sudden squall caused three of the tugs to part their lines.

Two hellcopters from Royal Navy Culdrose and RAF Chivenor were called in together with the Angle and St David's lifeboats.

The helicopter crews took off 26 people considered to be non-essential but 28 of the Russian crew were remaining aboard last night.

The rescued were taken to Milford Haven Rugby Club before being ferried to evacuation centres at the Coastguard Jetty and Hubberston School in Hakin. No casualties were reported.


0022 (18 Feb 96)  CCW PRESS CONFERENCE

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILL

The Countryside Council for Wales' Director of Science and Policy, Dr Malcolm Smith, will be available for questioning on the environmental threats of the Milord Haven oil spill on Monday 19 Februry 1996.

The press conference will take place around 9.30a.m. at the Kaleidescope Discovery Centre in Milford Haven, immeditely after the first main press briefing of the day by the Marine Pollution Control Unit.

Also at the Centre and available or interviews wlll be Dr Mandy Richards, CCW's marine ecologist.

The press onference will be an opportunity to emphasise the international importance of the area in environmental terms.

                                                               ends

For further information, you can also contact Helen Roberts or Mike Gash at CCW headquaters on (01248) 370444.

Dr Malcolm Smith is also contactable on a mobile telephone number 042141102.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Countryside Council is the Government's statutory adviser on wildife, countryside and maritime conservation matters in Wales, It is the executive authority for the conservation of habitats and wildlife. Through partners it promotes the protection of landscape, opportunities for enjoyment, and the support of those who live and work in, and manage the countryside. It enables these partners, including local authorities, voluntary organisations and interested individuals to pursue countryside management projects through grant aid. The Countyside Council is accountable to the Secretary of State for Wales who appoints it and provides its annual grant in aid.


096.Feb.19

0023 (19 Feb 96) Western Mail

0024 (19 Feb 96) Western Mail

0025 (19 Feb 96) Western Mail

0026 (19 Feb 96) The Western Mail

0027 (19 Feb 96) HANSARD

0028 (19 Feb 96) CCW PRESS CONFERENCE

0029 (19 Feb 96) CCW Update


0023 (19 Feb 96) Western Mail

HELICOPTER RESCUE

PILOT PLUCKS TIRED CREW TO SAFETY AS SEA EMPRESS LISTS

The helicopter pilot who airlifted crew members to safety from the deck of the stricken Sea Empress supertanker spoke yesterday of the horrendous conditions they faced.

Flight Lieutenant Simon Williams piloted the RAF Sea King helicopter through gale-force winds and heavy seas to fly a total of 43 people off the crippled vessel early yesterday, after she ran aground again.

As he and his crew returned from their 15-hour mission, Fl Lt Williams said, "We're all pretty pooped."

The pilot and the three-man crew from RAF Chivenor made a total of four flights.

They were forced to hover perilously close to the tanker, stranded some 500 yards off St Ann's Head as she pitched in the heavy swell.

"The sea was getting progressively rougher as the tide came in. The waves were up to 0 feet at times," he said.

"When we first got on the scene early on saturday evening the boat was sitting fairly fast on the bottom, but by 4am it had lifted off the bottom and was listing pretty badly."

Fl Lt Williams held the helicopter steady in winds of up to 40 knots, keeping the rota blades clear of the tanker while winch man Flight Sergeant Paul Trethewey hooked the crew on deck.

He said, "The conditions on deck for the winch man were pretty hairy. Not only was the sea breaking across the deck but the combination of oil and spray made it extremely slippery."

As the team made the last of their five-mile trips to bring 14 crew members back to the emergency base at Milford Haven Rugby club, the Sea Empress was listing at an angle of 25 degrees, making the on-deck rescue very difficult.

The heavy slick of oil seeping around the tanker combined with spray to give off powerful fumes.

"As the night went on the fumes were getting worse," Fl Lt Williams said.

"It was just a question of getting as many people on board as quickly as possible."

He praised the hard work of his team, who fought the elements.

'We were just told to get out because of fumes'

EVACUATION

'WE WERE JUST TOLD TO GET OUT BECAUSE OF FUMES'

AS the Sea Empress broke away from her attendant tugs on Saturday night and headed once again for the rocks of St Ann's Head, another drama was being played out on the headland.

Residents on the bleak westerly outpost were roused by police at around 7pm and told to move immediately to the nearby village of Dale.

"We were just told to get out," said a woman who lived at the lighthouse.

"They said it was because of the danger of fumes. I've no idea when we're going to get back. They're stopping everyone going up to the headland."

On the small back road leading to St Ann's Head, national park officers helping the police were turning back traffic.

"It's no good," one officer told a motorist. "We can't let you through."

In Dale, as the predicted gales began to lash against the sea wall, a small party of holiday-makers from London who had been turfed out of their holiday accommodation on the headland were enjoying the unexpected drama of their weekend break.

"The police knocked on our doors around seven," said Dave Laycock, one of a group of seven university friends.

"We went outside and immediately smelt the oil, so we knew it was probably serious.

"We're not too bothered really. We'll sleep in our cars if necessary. We're here on holiday. You just have to get on with it, don't you?"

As the weather brightened yesterday, all the sightseers who had been urged by police to stay away from the area turned up in force.

Hundreds of cars packed the narrow coast road from Milford Haven to Dale, forcing police to put up a road block so that emergency vehicles could get through.

"Dale is absolutely chaotic," said a national park ranger.

"Last night I even turned away a family at 10.30 in the evening who had come along with their kids to see the tanker explode."

The authorities put the village hall at the disposal of the evacuees but most stayed with friends and relatives in the village.

St Ann's Head residents were allowed to return to their homes at 6.30pm yesterday after police decided there was no imminent danger.

A spokesman for Dyfed-Powys Police said, "The ship is now secured by tugs, and while that situation remains there is no danger to people in the area.

"If it were to break free and head towards the shore we would have to review the situation."

Earlier, West Angle Bay residents who had also been evacuated were allowed back home.


0024 (19 Feb 96) Western Mail

OIL DISASTER FEAR GROWS AS GALES HALT RESCUE

STEVE DUBE AND  CERI JONES

THE chances of a major environmental disaster along the West Wales coast increased last night as salvage experts admitted it could be another four days before oil is taken from the stricken Sea Empress.

A force-nine gale and 10ft waves led to the airlifting of five salvage workers as the supertanker was left at the mercy of atrocious weather for a second night.

Although there was optimism because the vessel had stood up well to the buffeting she had received, some of the 130,000 tonnes of crude oil she was carrying continued to spew from a hole on the starboard side. The big fear remained that the ship could break up if the conditions continued.

An attempt to secure the 274 metre-long ship on Saturday failed when she broke free from tugs and ran aground for a second time.

She eventually floated free on the tide, and yesterday salvage teams managed to attach two tow lines from the Chinese supertug De Yue, one of the six strongest tugs in the world, which was called to Milford from Falmouth. They were also hoping to attach lines from other tugs in a bid to keep the tanker steady overnight.

Senior rescue operational officer Joe Small said that for eight hours there had been no one on board and at one pint the tanker was drifting out of control. He could not say when it would be possible to start pumping oil from her holds, but conditions could improve by Thursday.

Early estimates that 6,000 tonnes of oil had been spilled were downplayed by Saturday to 1,000, but there are no accurate estimates of how much has been lost since then.

Mr Small said, "St Bride's Bay, Skomer and Skokholm are still free of oil at present."

Apart from a slick around the tanker, four main sites have been affected around Angle Bay and Freshwater West. Some oil is also moving slowly into the haven and a slick has passed Caldey Island on its way up the Bristol Channel.

Aircraft have been spraying slicks offshore with dispersal agents.

 CREW: RUSSIANS' STAY WATCHED BY FIRM'S LAWYERS

THE Russian crew members of the Sea Empress were staying in a Pembrokeshire hotel last night under the watchful eye of company lawyers.

The 27 men, including the captain, who were winched aboard helicopters to safety when their ship broke free of its tugs at the weekend, were spending their time in relative comfort, mostly in the hotel lounge.

The company's representatives insisted that they were being looked after.

"We are not controlling them," said one. "They have chosen to stay in this hotel under guidance.

"We are not manacling them; we are looking after them in their own interests. There is nothing to be gained from them being swamped by the Press. They are very tired men."

The crew members, most of them relatively young, have a room each. They are allowed access to snooker tables and the games room and have been allowed to telephone home, but the hotel has been instructed not to serve them any drink.

The company lawyer said that although the crew had to stay in the area until the Marine Accident Investigation Bureau allowed them to leave, he believed some of the non-essential personnel would be flying back to Russia today.

Key crew members, including the captain, would stay to help with operations on the tanker and with the investigation into the cause of the accident.

The company lawyer said the crew were happy and had been well looked after by the hotel and people in the area.

"They have no complaints."


0025 (19 Feb 96) Western Mail

UNKNOWN FACTOR KILLED SHIP'S ROUTINE

ANDREW BUNCOMBE AND FINOLA LYNCH

IT should have been totally routine.

When the Sea Empress entered the mouth of Milford Haven in the dark of Thursday night, there was nothing to indicate anything was wrong.

The journey down from Hound Point near Grangemouth at the mouth of the River Forth had been uneventful.

She was being skippered by Eduard Bolgov, a veteran of hundreds of voyages and the Sea Empress's captain since she was built in Spain in 1993.

Like many of his 28-strong Russian crew, who have been working for the ship's managers Acomarit UK for three years, Mr Bolgov is a fluent English speaker.

Assisted by two local pilots and in good sea and with moderate weather conditions, bringing the Sea Empress into port should not have presented any problems.

What exactly went wrong shortly before 8.07 pm when the ship struck rocks in Mill Bay, just off St Ann's head is not yet clear.

Speculation immediately focused on either engine or steering failure, something adamantly denied by Acomarit even though Transport Secretary Sir George Young, who visited the scene, said it was clearly one of two.

Attention also turned to the chances of human error, which remained the only other possible reason for the incident.

But on Thursday night blame was not the first priority.

A ten-mile shipping exclusion zone was ordered and tugs and helicopters dispatched, as the port's pollution control plan was launched to try and control the spillage of the ship's 130,000 tonne cargo of light North Sea crude.

By 10pm three tugs had towed the listing vessel further out to sea and managed to refloat it. At this stage it was feared 6,000 tonnes of oil had leaked into the sea. The estimate later emerged to have been wrong. Perhaps 1,000 tonnes had leaked.

As winds strengthened overnight, four tugs held the Sea Empress in place. Water pressure was all that prevented further leakage.

"God knows what we will find in the morning," said one wildlife expert.

Friday morning found a situation not as bad as was originally feared.

Pollution experts had already set up contingency plans and plan pump the remaining cargo oil off into another tanker and then tow it back to port. This was postponed amid  strengthening winds.

Saturday morning saw the salvage experts further postpone the operation and focus efforts on turning the ship around 180 degrees to face the tide.

It was soon after that the situation began to deteriorate.

A sudden squall saw lines attached to three of the tugs snap and the ves el once again ran aground.

More tanks were damaged and fresh oil, perhaps 300 tonnes, leaked out.

At 7pm helicopters from a naval base in Cornwall and from RAF Chivenor were called in lift off of the crew.

As people living on St Ann's Head were evacuated amid fears of an explosion of escaping gas, a decision was taken to lift off the remaining crew. Mr Bolgov was said to have been among the last to leave his ship.

Yesterday morning six salvage experts  were air-lifted back on board as a powerful Chinese-built tug , was dispatched from England's south coast.

As it seems unlikely the experts will try to pump off the oil before Thursday, attention will focus on keeping the vessel steady, hoping it does not break up.

Meanwhile, others will be investigating what went wrong as the Sea Empress approached the port. A venture which should have been routine.

THOUSANDS  OF BIRDS' SAFETY IN  THE BALANCE

THE safety of thousands of birds and other wildlife hung in the balance last night as an oil slick threatened key breeding and nesting sites.

Scores of volunteers worked thughout the weekend searching for birds and animals coated with oil.

By last mght only two dead birds had been found. A dozen, including rare redthroated divers and guillemots, were cleaned of oil.

Experts warned against false optimism, however, saying that it could be some days before the full extent of the harm to sea birds was known because many birds likely to be affected would be still at sea.

Yesterday moming the wind was blowing the oil towards the islands of Skomer and Skokholm, both important sites for puffins, guillemots, gulls and manx shearwaters.

In the afternooon tons of dispersant was sprayed on to a two-mile slick heading for the islands, whose waters are also home to around 100 seals and porpoises, but during the day the wind veered and began blowing the oil back towards Milford Haven and the bay at Freshwater West.

Louise Tickle, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said, "If this had happened in a month's time it could have been a disaster for all types of bird populations. In a month, Skomer and Skokholm will be home to half a million birds from overseas.

"But we get the impression things are definitely getting worse, especially if more oil is coming off the ship. The situation is in the balance."

WARDEN HELPS SECOND COLONY

A BIRD warden who worked in the Shetlands during the Braer oil spill now has another pollution disaster on his doorstep.

Simon Smith, warden of the Skomer island reserve in Pembrokeshire, has joined other wildlife experts monitoring beaches near the stranded Sea Empress.

Mr Smith moved to Skomer last year from the Noss National Nature Reserve in Shetland. Both islands are rated major international wildlife sites.

In 1993 Noss and its 100,000 birds escaped pollution when the tanker Braer ran aground and broke her back, shedding her 85,000-tonne cargo of oil.

But the pollution threat was eased because the ferocious weather dispersed the oil, and the island's seabirds nested as usual.

But yesterday, as the Sea Empress continued to leak oil, Mr Smith said he was not sure the birds on Skomer or the neighbouring island of Skokholm would be so lucky.

"There's no oil reported at Skomer or Skokholm," he said. "Yet there's a very strong smell of oil. The wind ha gone round to the north and that takes the oil away from the islands.

"But the islands aren't the immediate problem because most of the birds are still out at sea, waiting to come ashore to breed in a month's time.

"It looks like this is going to drag on for a while. But all the environmental organisations are working very well together and not treading on each other's toes."

'SAFE JOB AT HAVEN' PLEDGE

  A government minister emphasised the need for safety work to prevent more oil spillages just hours before the Sea Empress broke free on Saturday night.

Aviation and Shipping Minister Viscount Goschen then became the third government minister to visit the scene of the accident.

Speaking on Saturay afternoon at a press conference in Milford Haven after he flew over the affected area, he said, "We are not going to have a rushed job, we are going to have a safe job. People are working out there in an extremely hazardous and dangerous situation."

As he warned the incident may take several more days to resolve, he resisted calls from wildlife organisations to hold a public inquiry into the sccond accident in four months. He said the best way forward was for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch to look at it.

Yesterday, as the scale of the incident became clear, Shadow Shipping Minister Graham Allen said, "We must pray the Sea Empress does not split open and create an ecological disaster in this highly sensitive marine environment.

"If we get a further day's grace we must then look to longer-term measures to prevent a recurrence.

"These must include ending the cuts in the coastguards and marine safety agency, bringing forward proposals to implement double-hulled vessels, stiffening the penalties for transgressors and, above all, rebuilding the British merchant fleet."


0026 (19 Feb 96) The Western Mail

MP FEARS CONSERVATION WILL LOSE TO COMMERCIALISATION

STEVE DUBE

NEW calls will be made today for a public inquiry into the Milford Haven oil disaster.

Labour MPs will ask for a statement in the House of Commons and press for an inquiry that looks at the broader issues of oil transportation and the handling of cargo at Milford Haven as well as the actual incident.

Pembroke MP Nick Ainger fears that standards may have been cut at Milford since 1988 when the Milford Haven Conservancy Board became the port authority and the emphasis changed from conservation to commercialism.

"Milford Haven has been fortunate up to now with a 36-year history without any really big incident." he said.

"Now this has happened questions need to be asked about the port's attitude, and we need to refocus the conservation issue.

"We seem to be going backwards n terms of safety and conservation."

Port authority general manager Mike Hyslop said the change of emphasis from conservation to commercialism had no bearing in this instance.

"The causes will have to be looked into carefully," he said.

"We have taken steps to secure the evidence and we will be looking into this after the event."

Fuller details of the early moments of the shipwreck emerged yesterday.

The 147,000-tonne Sea Empress hit the rocks at St Ann's Head at 8.20pm on Thursday, about 15 minutes after a harbour pilot had gone on board to guide the supertanker through the two-mile-wide entrance to the haven.

A second pilot later boarded the tanker to help out, but by then the ship was firmly on the rocks.

Early reports from the pilots were that the ship's steering had failed. This was categorically denied later by the ship's Russian captain, and port authority and oil company personnel said the the cause was unknown.

On Friday four tugs refloated the ship and held her steady just offshore.

The first attempts to remove the oil from the stricken vessel were delayed

because of misunderstandings

between salvage teams and the Russian crew, who could communicate only through an interpreter. The language problems were not believed to have caused serious delays as salvage was postponed until Saturday because of

impending storms.

Salvage teams lost control of the supertanker as tugs tried to manoeuvre it to face the storms on Saturday.

Tow ropes snapped and some of the tugs were slightly damaged.

All but three of the crew were evacuated as the ship, by then broadside to the storm, was buffeted by a wind of 35 knots and a four-metre

The anchors were cut and the ship abandoned as the situation became critical.

Lifeboats were launched from Angle and St David's and residents were evacuated from their homes at St Ann's Head as the smell of crude oil filled the air and the risk of an explosion.

INSIST ON DOUBLE-HULL SHIPS, OIL FIRMS URGED

NiCK Ainger last night called on oil companies to insist that ships using

Milford Haven are double-hull vessels such as the Borga, which lost none of its cargo despite being holed in four places when it hit the rocks at St Ann's Head last October.

European Union transport commissioner Neil Kinnock has also pledged to press for twin-hull vessels.

National Power has already promised to accept Orimulsion only from double-hull vessels for its proposed power-station conversion at Pembroke.

Mr Ainger said the oil companies had the right to insist on the same conditions.

"There is nothing to stop the oil companies restricting the type of vessels that are allowed in, and if they did that it would encourage the whole industy to adapt," he said.

Texaco spokesman Dorek Lloyd sald he thought it unlikely that oil companies would insist on double hull vessels.

"There are not enough of them around for us to make that sort of choice he said.     Mr Ainger also wants assurances that the Sea Empress was not cheap as well as modern.

Ships entering Milford Haven have to negotiate the headlands at speed in order to steer effectively, and the Sea Empress could have encountered steering problems despite having no mechanical failure.


0027 (19 Feb 96) HANSARD

Pariliamentary debate: OIL TANKER (MILFORD HAVEN) 4.17 pm

The Secretary of State for Transport (Sir George Young): With permission, I wish to make a statement about the continuing operation to salvage the oil tanker Sea Empress.

At 8 pm on Thursday 15 February 1996, the Sea Empress ran aground at the entrance to Milford Haven on her passage inward to port. She began to spill oil shortly afterwards. The vessel, built in 1993, is Liberian flagged and managed by a British company. At the time of the incident, she was carrying about 131,000 tonnes of light crude oil. As a result of the initial grounding, about 2,000 tonnes of crude oil were spilt. That formed an oil slick, causing pollution along a stretch of coastline near the entrance to and in Milford Haven.

The Marine Pollution Control Unit, part of the Coastguard Agency in the Department of Transport, quickly implemented the agreed national contingency plan for oil spill response. A joint response centre was established with Dyfed county council and other interested parties, including environmental groups. The shipowner quickly reached agreement with a salvage company to undertake the necessary salvage operations.

The immediate problem was that the vessel had listed and was too deep in the water to be brought into the shelter of Milford Haven for the removal of the crude oil remaining on board. Therefore, attention was concentrated on stabilising the vessel as a prelude to salvage and on preventing a further escape of oil.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I visited the site on Friday, and my noble Friend the Minister for Aviation and Shipping inspected salvage and recovery operations by helicopter on Saturday 17 February. On Saturday evening, in worsening weather, the vessel broke loose from salvage tugs and grounded uutside the main channel into the haven.

The current position is that the Sea Empress continues to be held by two tugs in the entrance to Milford Haven. Salvors are back on board undertaking preparatory work to allow for a transfer of oil to a smaller tanker. Throughout this morning, oil leaked from the vessel, much more slowly than yesterday, but at low water she appeared to touch bottom and a quantity of oil escaped from the starboard side tanks as the sea level dropped. The oil was quickly sprayed with dispersant by MPCU aircraft. Undoubtedly, most of the Sea Empress's cargo is still on board. The prevention of further pollution depends crucially on the success of the salvage operations.

Beach-cleaning operations are continuing at three main sites and more than 150 people are involved. Within the Haven, two booms have been rigged to protect sensitive sites and more will be put out today if conditions permit. Three small specialist craft are recovering oil from the sea surface in the Haven

During the incident, oil was sprayed with dispersant from aircraft under conditions agreed with the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food.

It is too soon to assess the likely impact of the pollution caused by the incident, but the House will appreciate the great environmental sensitivity of the area. The coastline falls within the Pembrokeshire coast national park reflecting its great natural beauty. The area is of importance to wildlife, particularly birds. Accordingly, the local authorities, the Countryside Council for Wales and other environmental and welfare interests such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are playing their full part at the joint response centre. Every action is being taken to help protect those areas and the wildlife from contamination.

There is a system in place under international treaty to provide compensation in such incidents—first, from the shipowner's insurer and secondly, if that is not sufficient, from the international oil pollution compensation fund. The independent marine accident investigation branch, which will report directly to me, has initiated an investigation into the causes of the accident and will provide a full report. As usual, that report will be published. At this stage, it would be unwise to speculate on the outcome of the investigation.

The Government's policy is first and foremost to seek to prevent incidents of this type through improvements in vessel safety. In that context, we are implementing the vast majority of the recommendations of Lord Donaldson's report "Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas". However, carriage by sea will always have some element of risk. Where an incident does occur, we are determined to react swiftly, thus effectively to reduce the pollution or damage caused.

In this instance, despite severe weather, the practised implementation of our national contingency plan should ensure that the situation will be brought under control. The House will recognise that the weather will remain the crucial factor in making progress. The immediate priority is to anchor the ship in position, so that we do not have to continue to rely on tugs alone. When the weather abates, we shall start to lighten the vessel, so that she can be moved to a less-exposed anchorage. The operation will take time and needs to be done carefully and safely. Every effort will be made to prevent any further release of oil.

I am sure that the House will join me in recognising the extremely hard work put in by all who have helped to mitigate the effects of this regrettable incident. Work will continue to be done to stabilise the vessel, minimise further release of oil and deal with oil that has come ashore. The House will recognise the hazardous nature of that work in an exposed location, and it will wish to pay particular tribute to those who have returned to the ship as part of the salvage operation. We wish them every success in a satisfactory conclusion to a distressing incident.

Ms Clare Short (Birmingham, Ladywood): I join the Secretary of State and the rest of the House in sending our best wishes to the salvage team working on the Sea Empress, with our hopes that it manages to transfer enough oil from the vessel to allow her to be refloated and moved without a major accident or large-scale oil leak, which would do terrible damage to the beauty of the Pembrokeshire coastline and the wildlife in the surrounding sea.

Does the Secretary of State agree that it is most disappointing—following the 1993 Braer disaster, the fine work undertaken by Lord Donaldson's inquiry and the acceptance of most of his recommendations -that we should continue to suffer the danger of major spillages from oil tankers in areas of great natural beauty?

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that—as Lloyd's List International claimed on Saturday 17 February—the Sea Empress is the 12th tanker to have grounded in United Kingdom waters since early 1993? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of suspicions in the industry that masters have failed to disclose a number of other incidents in which damage was avoided?

Will the Secretary of State confirm that there is increasing concern that Milford Haven has become accident prone, that this is the second reported incident in the estuary in the past four months and that—again ' according to Lloyd's List International—there are fears that other close shaves at Milford Haven have been covered up? In those circumstances, does not the right hon. Gentleman think that the port authority's inquiry into Milford Haven should be extended, to establish whether commercial considerations are outweighing safety and environmental considerations?

Does the Secretary of State accept that there are four possible causes of the Sea Empress disaster—pilot error, engine or steering problems, and crew error. Given that the Sea Empress is only three years old and was involved in an incident in Sullom Voe in 1994, is the Minister aware that many suspect that the problem with that vessel and other cheap designs lies in the lack of engine power and back-up for the steering system? May I suggest that it is essential that those matters are properly and independently investigated? Will he give urgent consideration to excluding all ships without adequate design protection against spillages—either double hulling or mid-deck design—from all environmentally sensitive waters?

Given the importance of the issue, will the Secretary of State reconsider his decision today? An internal inquiry by his own marine accident investigation branch is inadequate, given the serious questions that have been raised. Will he instead recall Lord Donaldson and ask him to review the problems that remain following the implementation of the previous report?

Last but not least, will the Secretary of State admit that, as the Merchant Navy officers union said, the Government have allowed increasing amounts of "sub-standard flag of convenience shipping to take trade from Britain while presiding over the demise of the British fleet.'? Will he immediately set up a commission—and chair it himself—with the remit to rebuild a strong British fleet with high standards of safety and respect for the protection of the environment?

Sir George Young: I am grateful for the comments that the hon. Lady made at the beginning of her remarks, and I endorse them. The Donaldson report made 103 recommendations. The Government accepted 86 and 13 are under further consideration. Half of those that we accepted have been implemented, so we have made good progress in taking forward the wide-ranging report that Lord Donaldson initiated. The hon. Lady suggested that unreported incidents have taken place, and I shall make inquires to see whether there is substance in that suggestion. As for her speculation as to the causes of the incident, it makes sense to await the outcome of the MAIB investigation. Although the MAIB reports to me, it is independent and its credibility and integrity are widely recognised in the marine world.

I was interested to read what Lord Donaldson said about double hulls and their merits in paragraph 23.14 of his report:

"We have some doubts on the merits of double hulls and consider that there is scope for discussion we accept the line that IMO has taken in promoting double hulled tankers or equivalents but believe that there is a need for further research.-'

One needs to be cautious about the suggestions in the press that it would make sense to exclude single-hulled vessels from the United Kingdom.

In regard to the hon. Lady's other suggestions, the priority of the House is to initiate an authoritative, speedy inquiry to find out what went wrong and then to take action on that. Some of the alternative suggestions, such as public inquiries, would inevitably take longer and might deny us the information that we need urgently if we are to get to the bottom of the matter.

Mr. Paul Tyler (North Cornwall): I am sure that all hon. Members will join the Secretary of State in paying tribute to the speed, professionalism and efficiency of the emergency services and we wish them well. As the Secretary of State ciearly appreciates, oil tankers tend to operate in coastal waters that are peculiarly environmentally vulnerable and ecologically sensitive. Is it not time, therefore, for the right hon. Gentleman to consider what steps the United Kingdom can take to make progress on the issues on which he has just spoken?

It is some time since the Donaldson report examined the case for double hulls. Is there not a case for a British initiative on the issue, to prevent the use of vessels that are clearly not up to the required standards in our very vulnerable waters?

Sir George Young: As I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows, there is on-going work within the International Maritime Organisation on double hulls. The present position is that single-hulled ships have progressively to be phased out, the date varying according to particular countries, and double-hulled ships or those of equivalent safety introduced. That is the right way forward. Although at the end of the day the United Kingdom will retain the right to take unilateral action, I am sure that the House will agree that, where possible, it makes sense to make progress on an international basis, given the nature of the shipping trade.

Mr. Nick Ainger (Pembroke): 1, too, should like to send my best wishes to my constituents, many of whon are involved in the clean-up and the salvage operation. I have been closely involved since late on Thursday night, when the vessel first went aground.

I am grateful that the Secretary of State took the trouble to come down and look at the operation, but I must tell him that an MAIB investigation is far too restrictive. This is the second time in four months that a large crude carrier has run aground at the entrance to Milford Haven. The indications are that there were steering and—possibly- propulsion problems connected with both incidents. Both were modern vessels; had they been motor cars they would not even have qualified for MOTs yet.

I believe that there is something wrong with the minimum standards that have been set; only a public inquiry can deal with such wider issues. We also need to sort out, once and for all, the issues of double-hull and mid-deck design.  I appreciate what Lord Donaldson said, but the point is that he did not argue in favour of single hulls.

The Secretary of State did not tell us that the IMO has recommended that it will be 25 to 30 years before all the single hulls have been phased out. That means that we will be about 80 before the last single hulls disappear. If the Secretary of State is willing to accept that, I am not.

I believe that there are sufficient grounds for a public inquiry, to examine some of the issues specifically related to Milford Haven. Everyone accepts that it is probably the most environmentally sensitive area in the United Kingdom, and professionals working at Milford Haven, or who have retired from it, have flagged up serious problems.

The right hon. Gentleman must ask the port authority how on earth a modern port can function without radar cover at its entrance. That cover has been out of action for about six months, which shows that something is seriously wrong with the whole operation at Milford Haven. I urge the Secretary of State to hold a public inquiry.

Sir George Young: If the hon. Gentleman's last point was a contributory factor to the incident, I would expect the MAIB to reflect on that while compiling its report. I am grateful for what the hon. Gentleman is reported as saying in The Guardian today—he said that he had no criticism to make of the salvage efforts. He speaks with feeling about a matter of deep concern to his constituency.

The MAIB inquiry will look at allegations about power and steering. I hope that the report on the earlier incident will be available shortly, when it will be published.

The hon. Gentleman pressed me again to hold a public inquiry. The MAIB is usually entrused with the investigation of sea accidents, however serious. There has been no formal public inquiry into a major shipping accident since the formation of the MAIB in 1989. Indeed, there has been no formal public inquiry into an air accident since 1973. My view is that MAIB and air accident investigation branch procedures have so far commanded wide public acceptance.

Mr. Cynog Dafis (Ceredigion and Pembroke, North): My constituents in north Pembrokeshire are worried about the environmental impact of this incident. I support the points made by the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger).

It is inevitable that this crisis will also concentrate people's minds on the proposals to burn orimulsion at Pembroke power station. Is the Secretary of State aware of the great concern in the area about the effects of burnlng orimulsion? Does not this incident revive fears about the transportation of orimulsion into the Haven, especially as that will involve significantly increased quantities?

While pursuing the question of the public inquiry, will the right hon. Gentleman press his colleagues in the Department of Trade and Industry to hold a public inquiry into the application to burn orimulsion, which is currently under consideration?

Sir George Young The plans for an orimulsion jetty are being considered by a number of regulators, including the Department, and no decisions have yet been reached. There are a range of objections to the proposals, including concerns about new dangers to navigation in the Haven.

Mr. Alan W. Williams (Carmarthen): I represent an adjacent constituency, that of Carmarthen, and I well remember, when Milford Haven was developed, the serious concern throughout Dyfed that it was at the heart of the Pembrokeshire coast national park. Regular assurances were given that the highest standards would be imposed and maintained, and that was the case in the 1960s and 1970s. Can the Secretary of State explain to me and to the people of Wales why incidents now happen regularly? We have heard today about the incident four months ago and about the Braer incident in the Shetlands. Why is there now such a high accident rate in oil transportation?

Sir George Young: The objective of the two inquiries, into the earlier incident involving the Borga and into the Sea Empress, is to find out why there are incidents and to take appropriate action. My Department's priority is to prevent such incidents taking place, and that is why we set up the MAIB inquiries, which are published, and take urgent action to implement them.

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe and Nantwich): If the Secretary of State wishes to demonstrate good will, he should take some vigorous action on those ships, which are now plying British waters, that are not suitable. However good the MAIB investigation of the Sea Empress accident is, if the Secretary of State will not take immediate action against sub-standard, non-British ships carrying oil in British waters, that is a dereliction of his duty and everyone's time is being wasted. It is vital that the evidence on double hulls, given to the Select Committee, is studied by the Secretary of State now and that he follows up the evidence and the conclusions of Lord Donaldson as quickly as possible.

Sir George Young: As I am sure the hon. Lady knows, the Government take tough action against sub-standard vessels. We published lists of vessels that had been detained following Lord Donaldson's report. Safety at sea is a matter that I take very seriously. I am anxious to make progress as fast as possible on the Donaldson report and related recommendations.

Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West): Does not the Secretary of State realise the sense of horror and outrage felt by everyone, at the risk that we permit that billion-dollar industry—the richest, most profitable industry in the world—to run? We allow that industry to cut costs with ramshackle vessels at the expense of the British environment and wildlife. For too long, we have been permissive with the entire maritime industry. Why do we not follow what happened in America after the Exxon Valdez disaster? Action was taken to ensure that the polluter pays more, and that discourages vessels that are sub-standard from visiting America. Is not that the way forward? New standards must be introduced and they must be imposed first on areas such as Milford Haven, which are in special peril.

Sir George Young: It is the case that the polluter pays. The shipping industry pays the premiums for the insurance policies that are validated to pay for the damage caused.


0028 (19 Feb 96) CCW PRESS CONFERENCE

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILL

The Countryside Council for Wales' Director of Science and Policy, Dr Malcolm Smith, will be available for questioning on the environmental threats of the Milord Haven oil spill on Monday 19 Februry 1996.

The press conference will take place around 9.30a.m. at the Kaleidescope Discovery Centre in Milford Haven, immeditely after the first main press briefing of the day by the Marine Pollution Control Unit.

Also at the Centre and available or interviews wlll be Dr Mandy Richards, CCW's marine ecologist.

The press onference will be an opportunity to emphasise the international importance of the area in environmental terms.

                                                               ends

For further information, you can also contact Helen Roberts or Mike Gash at CCW headquaters on (01248) 370444.

Dr Malcolm Smith is also contactable on a mobile telephone number 042141102.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Countryside Council is the Government's statutory adviser on wildife, countryside and maritime conservation matters in Wales, It is the executive authority for the conservation of habitats and wildlife. Throuh partners it promotes the protection of landscape, opportunities for enjoyment, and the support of those who live and work in, and manage the countryside. It enables these partners, including local authorities, voluntary organisations and interested individuals to pursue countryside management projects through grant aid. The Countryside Council is accountable to the Secretary of State for Wales who appoints it and provides its annual grant in aid.


0029 (19 Feb 96) CCW Update

CCW Update to Members of Council

This is to bring you up to date on the above as at 11.00 a.m. on Monday 19 February.

We attended the briefing this morning in Milford Haven given by the Marine Pollution control Unit (MPCU).  They reported that overnight the Sea Empress had been held stable in the Western Channel by 2 tugs, although they had to replace the Chinese tug at 1.00 a.m. this morning because she had broken a shackle.  (clearly the control unit had prepared for this emergency because the replacement tug performed the job in a satisfactory manner).  This morning 2 people were winched down to the Sea Empress from a helicopter and 7 people landed from a launch.  Since that time a further 11 have been landed taking the total number in the salvage team to 20.

The MPCU reported that their main priority today was to get all the auxiliary machinery of the Sea Empress in working order, particularly the generators and winches; apparently the pumping room and engine room have remained relatively undamaged. During the course of the day a further 42 tonnes of essential equipment is being brought to Milford Haven.  Some of this will include additional pumps to enable the oil transfer to be undertaken as quickly as possible.

Tomorrow it is expected that the oil on the ship will be readjusted between tanks to achieve a better balance.  Subsequently a lighter will be brought alongside and moored and the oil transfer can then take place.  That process alone will take 24 hours and the earliest time by which the ship can be lightened and brought to port is some 4/5 days hence- assuming that the salvage operation can cope with the weather conditions.

At the press conference the Unit was unable to confirm how many of the tanks on the Sea Empress had been breached and what the amount of oil spillage might be.

As to the impact on the shore, the Unit reported the area worst affected was West Angle Bay where unfortuntely there was little tidal scouring action and the oil had collected. By contast in Freshwater West although oil had come ashore it had been scoured by tidal action. The Dyfed Wildlife Trust reported that a colony of rare starfish - one of only 7 in the UK - had been wiped out in West Angle. We

are unable to verify this but undoubtedly the colony will have been badly affected).

As regards oil at sea it was reported that some was drifting towards the islands but it tended to be a light sheen because of the high evaporation factor. There was also a slick drifting to the south. In respect of both the Unit indicated - with mass approval - they would be undertaking spraying today.

Following their press conference we conducted a press conference of our own and by and large all the media present stayed to put questions. Those present were Malcolm Smith, Mandy Richards, Chris Fuller, Blaise Bullimore and Nic Wheeler from the National Park. Dr Allan Evans also attended the press conference. The points we endeavoured to get across were:

1. A count of sea birds had been undertaken over the weekend (some 30,000 being recorded on the Haven) and sone 43 oiled birds had been noted. However additional casualties were certain to be reported in the next few days.

2. We were fully involved in the salvage operation and the advice that Stephen Evans had offered was being implemented.

3 We had established with our partners (National Parks, National Trust and the voluntry bodies) a system for monitoring the impact on birds over the next few days including arrangements for the collection of corpses and their subsequent autopsy.

4. As far as we were aware there will be limited impact on seals, dolphins and porpoises because they tended not to ingest and were likely to move away from the oil ( one of the audience indicated that a seal or some seals had been seen around the Sea Empress).

We remained extremely concerned about the impact of oil spillage because of the vital national and international importance of the area.

Following the press conference Malcolm Smith gave 4 television interviews, one of which was shown on ITN news at 1.00 p m. I gave a radio interview for Radio Wales of which they have used extracts in their hourly news bulletin. During the course of the day we have put in place 2 support teams of Stephen Evans, one working from our Fishguard office and one from the Warden's Office at Stackpole. We have also put in place arrangements for an ongoing presence at subsequent press conferences.

I am sure that we are all extremely grateful to Stephen Evans for his sterling work in the control room of the MPCU; it is quite clear he is doing a magnificent job. I am also extremely grateful to lan Bonner and Malcolm Smith for organising at very short notice the strengthening of our operaional team and for arranging

participation at the press conference. I am also grateful to Helen Roberts and

Nerys Sanpher for going into the office on Sunday to transmit faxes about our

presence this morning to the media.

Situation as at 4.00 pm

We have just had a report that the MPCU are now reporting that some 15 of the Sea Empress' 18 tanks have in fact been ruptured and they are now estimating a loss of oil of some 15,000 tonnes. This clearly makes the clean-up situation an operation of much more significance and longer term. There are reports that a  sheen of oll has been seen around Caldey Island and it therefore seems likely that some of the oil is now getting into the Bristol Channel. We have alerted English Nature.

We have also alerted the JNCC and are discussing with them the possibility of some aerial surveillance, using their fixed wing plane, of birds at sea who may be affected by the oil. It is unlikely however that this will become a feasible option until Thursday when the sea conditions are expected to have calmed down somewhat.

We will further reinforce the Pembrokeshire team from other Area Offices if this proves to be necessary.

We will of course continue to monitor the situation very carefully and to report.

Paul Loveluck

(Dictated by Mr Loveluck

      and signed in his absence)


096Feb20

0030 (20.02.96) East Anglian

0031 (20.02.96) CCW Press Release

0032 (20.02.96) CCW Update For Members of Council

0033 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

0034 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

0035 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

0036 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

0037 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

0038 (20.02.96) The Western Mail


0030 (20.02.96) East Anglian

Scientists asked to solve birds mystery

by David Green

Scientists are to be asked to try to solve a mystery surrounding the discovery of cores of dead seabirds on the Suffolk coast.

The birds show no signs of being victims of the usual black oil contamination, but are covered by a clear, sticky substance which could be another form of lubricant.

All are thought to have been dead before they were washed up on the shore.

Reports on the mystery deaths came yesterday from the Landguard nature reserve at Felixstowe, where 67 bodies were found, and from further up the coast at Shingle Street.

A series of other deaths were reported, at Aldeburgh and elsewhere, as a result of black oil contamination.

Hundreds of birds are found dead along the East Anglian coast each year as a result of the illegal cleaning of the bilge tanks of cargo ships and ;discharges from tankers.

However, the cause of the latest fatalities are puzzling experts.

Paul Holmes, wildlife ranger at Landguard said, "Birds which die because of oil contamination are usually covered with the stuff but there are only one or two spots on these ones".

Mr Holmes said some of the bodies are being sent away for scientific analysis to sea if a cause of death could be established.

He believes the birds, covered in a "slimy, sticky substance", die far out at sea before being swept ashore by the winds and tides.

Mrs Alexandra Williams, who lives at Shingle Street and regularly walks the coast found a large number of birds similarly contaminated.  "It is a catastrophe." she said.

Derek Moore, director of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, said: "Something nasty has undoubtedly been discharged at sea and we need to find our what it is.  It is time effective action was taken to stop this kind of thing happening".

Conservation groups want a tightening of shipping regulations, to force ships to discharge waste at ports.


0031 (20.02.96) CCW Press Release

CCW TO CONDUCT AERIAL BIRD SURVEY

For immediate release

The Countryside Council for Wales is today putting into operation an urgently needed aerial survey of the seabirds around the Pembrokeshire Coast as the scale of environnental damage increases from the oil which continues to be spilt from the stricken Sea Empress off Milford Haven. CCW is particularly concerned at this stage about the vulnerability of internationally important concentrations of wintering Common Scoter (a black coloured sea duck) in Carmarthen Bay.

Aerial srveys, conducted by CCW in Carmarthen Bay in 1994, showed that there were over 1,600 Common Scoter close inshore between Saundersfoot and Pendine - over half of the UK's population. These may be seriously threatened by the approaching oil. The surveys will initially be for three days to determine the numbers of ducks in the Bay and where they are.

CCW urgently needs this data to advise the Marine Pollution Control Unit about where to use aerial dispersants in the attempted clean-up operation. Spraying dispersants on to the birds could be as damaging as oiling them.

Last winter, about 40 dead Scoter were washed up on to south Wales beaches following a relatively minor oil slick of unknown origin.

CCW is also deeply concerned about the fate of other seabirds, such as Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills which have just started to collect near their breeding grounds. Indeed there is major concern for marine wildlife as a whole around the U K's only coastal National Park.

Carmarthen Bay has been accepted by the Government as a proposed Special

Protection Area under the EC Wild Birds Directive (1979), in recognition of the  large numbers of Common Scoter and their international importance.

                                                           ends

Fo further information contact Helen Roberts on (01248) 370444. CCW's spokesman at Milford Haven is Brian Pawson 0374 110181.


0032 (20.02.96) CCW Update For Members of Council

OIL SPILLAGE  UPDATE AT 3.30 P.M

CYNOR CEFN GWLAD CYMRU      COUNTRYSIDE COUNCIL FOR WALES

AT/TO:   Chairman

             Vice Chairman

             Council Members

cc.          Dr M E Smith

              I R Bonner

              C Fuller

              S Evans

              H Roberts

1. You are probably au fait from news reports with the current situation. The Sea Empress went aground again last night suffering further damage. She remains aground and the latest estimate is that up to 50,000 tonnes of her original cargo has now been lost. The current operation is intended to refloat her at high tide tonight and to move her to  new position (see below). We have been involved in the following operations today.

2. We have been asked to advise on an alternative location for the Sea Empress, either further into the Haven - the favoured place being roughly equidistant between Watwick Bay and West Angle - and a deeper water location. We have advised that as long as the ship can be safely manoeuvred, a deeper water location would be preferable on environmental grounds because any oil spillage might then be dealt with by dispersant. We have made it quite clear that a location further up the Haven is very much a last resort alternative.

3. We have commissioned an aerial reconnaissance to try to identify bird concentrations over the area which are or might be affected by the oil slick. The oil is now very much into the Bristol Channel and on current estimation may reach as far as Lundy within 3- 4 days. There are also ribbons of oil around the islands including a ribbon stretching into Jackson's Sound. We have provided such information as is available about sea duck and auk distribution in the area to assist in determining the location of dispersant spraying operations.

4. We have further reinforced our local team in the area. It has now become necessary to have a representative both in the Marine Pollution Control Unit (MPCU) and with  new group set up under the Chairmanship of Dyfed County Council to control all on-shore operations. Stephen Evans and Chris Fuller between them will cover these groups with replacements for them already nominated.

5. We have identified officers within the organisation who have expertise

relevant to the present situation and these will b drafted in as the need

occurs.

6. On the public relations front Helen Roberts will continue to man the office in Bangor but we have drafted in Brian Pawson from the Swansea Office to be our lead spokesman at Milford Haven supported by Mandy Richards.

7. We are preparing proposals for a long-term monitoring programme to measure the impact of the polluion, to guide a recovery programme and to assemble knowledge which may be of benefit to others. This will be a partnership project involving international agencies, local authorities, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, other Govenrnent agencies and the voluntary bodies. We hope to fax poposals about such a study out tomorrow in order that we can 'set the agenda'. We are, however, inviting suggestions on the Terms of Reference of the study from our parners. This programme will be announced at a suitable press conference in Milford Haven and also referred to at the Conference of Welsh Wildlife Trusts in Llandudno on Thursday.

8. We have kept in touch with the Welsh Office constantly and offered them advice.

9. The Secretary of State will visit Milford Haven tomorrow. He will be met by the Chairman at Withybush Airport, who will accompany him on a tour being arranged by Blaise Bullimore. Councll Members will appreciate that this is a rapidly developing situation but the above information indicates how we are responding.

Paul Loveluck  20 February l996

Since dictating the above Malcolm Smith has reported a long conversation with Joe Small, the person in charge of the MPCU. Small has given the opinion that technical reasons prevent the Sea Empress being towed to deep water and that therefore the location to which they will endeavour to move the ship tonight is between Watwick Bay and West Angle. Malcolm has made it quite clear to Small that the risks involved in this are of major environmental damage within the Haven.


0033 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

'TANKER 'TIME BOMB WHILE OIL ON BOARD'

Warning as salvage team fights to stabilise vessel

ALISTAIR MILBURN

THE Sea Empress is an environmental time bomb while its cargo of oil remains on board, wildlife groups said last night.

The transfer of the 130,000 tonnes of oil still on board the tanker is unlikely to take place until Thursday and the salvage team is battling to stabilise the vessel before any such operation.

Yesterday it emerged that the oil spill had claimed its most serious environmental casualty.

The 3,000-strong population of the rare starfish asterina phylactica found at just seven sites in British waters, has ben wiped out at Angle Bay, the worst affected area.

Environmental groups fear that while the oil remains on the Sea Empress there could be similar disasters.

Dr Malcolm Smith, the Countryside Council Council for Wales's director of science and policy, said the death of the starfish was indicative of the damage that could occur from an oil spill.

"We will not be content until that oil is off the tanker- People are saying

that things are looking better but we have a long, long way to go."

Louise Tickle, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said, "The RSPB is very concerned the oil is still on board the vessel.

"That boat could still break up at any time and that would be a massive environmental disaster."

Friends of the Earth Cymru's Gordon James said his organisation was concerned at the length of time the salvage operation was taking, and said a public inquiry must be set up to examine how tankers were handled coming into Milford Haven.

"The port authority must consider the tugs meeting up with the tankers

beyond St Ann's Head.

"The same thing now happens at Sullom Voe in the Shetlands - the pilot meets the tankers quite a way out to ensure there is someone with expert local knowledge on board at an early stage."

But the salvage team defended the delay in transferring the oil to the smaller, 38,000-tonne vessel the Bergen Star.

A spokesman for the joint rescue centre said work to stabilise the tanker would take two-and a half days.

The work involves fixing moorings from the vessel to the sea bed which should bring the vessel back on to an even keel before transferring the cargo.

The salvage operation is also dependent on the weather with gale force winds not expected to recede until at least Thursday.

A coastguard spokesman said a 20-man salvage team, including five members of the ship's crew, were put on board by helicopter at first light yesterday.

"They are battling to bring the ship's generators and boilers back on line but the Sea Empress's engine room is not affected by the accident."

Yesterday afternoon it was confirmed that any transfer will take place only once the vessel has been stabilised and the winds have died down.

Brian Elliott, of the Dyfed Wildlife Trust, defended the delay.

"More damage could be caused by trying to transfer the oil in difficult conditions than leaving it in the tanker," he said.

COLONY OF 3,000 RARE STARFISH FIRST MAJOR CASUALTY OF SPILL

THE first major casualty of the Sea Empress tanker disaster was yesterday confirMed as a 3,000-strong colony of rare starfish.

West Angle Bay was one of just seven sites in British waters where the green rock pool starfish asterina phylactica thrived.

The site was the first in the world where the Asterina phylactica, which measures about 15 millimetres across, was discovered seven years ago.

The starfish is not expected to recolonise the area.

The asterina unlike other starfish which have a free-swimming planktonic stage and do therefore move around, broods its eggs which are laid on the rocks for up to three weeks.

Dr Robin Crump, marine biological recorder for Dyfed Wildlife Trust, and warden of the Field Centre near Pembroke, said that before the spill West Angle Bay was one of the finest wildlife beaches in Britain.

Dr Crump, who has used the bay for field trips for marine biology courses, said it was internationally-renowned for its marine bio-diversity and was perfect for marine education.

"West Angle Bay is one of the best teaching sites in the whole of the British Isles for future marine biologists. It is a classic site visited by students from all over the country.

But he said the rock pools had been damaged so badly by the spill they were unlikely to recover for several years.

The trust's marine conservation officer, Brian Elliott, said the toxic effects of the oil would be largely undetected but its effect on the whole food chain would be catastrophic.

"The spilled oil will disrupt the whole ecosystem, from oiling and killing animals and plants, to disrupting the whole food chain.

"Toxins and aromatic hydrocarbons in the oil will accumulate on small particles and in plankton in the sea, be eaten by fish and crustacea and passed up the food chain. This can lead to high toxic concentrations of these chemicals in fish, birds and mammals, poisoning and even killing them."

Oil vapours will also reduce the air quality, raising fears that rare colonies of lichens on Skomer and Skokholm may be decimated.

Mr Elliott said rain would wash out volatile chemicals and spread them across Pembrokeshire, contaminating cliff tops and farmland.

Eventually, the remaining oil in the sea would sink as tar balls, smothering and contaminating the seabed communities.

"This area is on the boundary between animals and plants suited to the warmer climate of southern Europe and those suited to the colder northem regions," he said.

"Many rare sponges, algae, sea slugs, starfish and corals are found on the sea bed especially around Skomer."


0034 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

QUIT CALL TO HAGUE OVER GAS DRILLING

EXPLORATION: Move has created feeling of mistrust and scepticism, says Plaid branch

ROB THOMSON

Welsh Secretary William Hague was told yesterday he should resign.

Plaid Cymru's Neath branch claimed the Mr Hague had created "a feeling of mistrust and scepticism" over the controversial Welsh Office decision to grant an exploration licence to the US oil and gas giant Enron.

The company has caused an outcry over plans to drill for methane gas at Cimla, Neath.

Branch chairman William Havard denied that the resignation call was a publicity-seeking exercise.

He said it was a "genuine demand" for Mr Hague to quit his Cabinet post after a Welsh Office decision which clearly went against the wishes of the community at Cimla, as well as the local community council, the borough council and West Glamorgan County Council.

"The Secretary of State has decreed that our community live with this flaring monstrosity while he himself can retreat 263 miles back to his North Yorkshire office, well away from any effects that this development may deliver," said Mr Havard. "I feel that this is odious and unacceptable.

"Our branch was appalled by the Welsh Secretary's insensitivity. The consultation process seems only to have been a formality which had to be seen to have been undertaken."

Mr Havard also accused the National Rivers Authority of co-operating by allowing Enron to discharge effluent from its drilling operation into local streams, so "flushing away their responsibility to our community".

But the NRA has expressed concern over the depth of the shaft Enron proposes to sink. It is likely to tunnel more than half a mile into coal measures which have never been mined in order to tap the methane gas.

Neath borough councillor John Warman, a member of the local action committee fighting the drilling proposals, has been told by the NRA that Enron intends to pump the water out of the shaft to lower the pressure in the coal beds so that the gas is released and can be recovered. He said, "There is an EU directive that all offshore drilling should be subject to environmental assessments. We feel this should apply to onshore drilling, too."

The NRA said, "The water, they assure us, will be unchanged from what is in the ground - it is simply an exceptionally deep well.

"We are concerned, however that because the well is so deep they cannot be completely sure of what is down there. Similar installations elsewhere have sometimes found the water is salty or contains metals."

The NRA will include a condition in the consent banning any discharge until the water has been analysed to confirm that it is satisfactory.


0035 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

MILFORD HAVEN:   More oil begins to leak

ALASTAIR MILBURN

 SALVAGE EFFORT HALTED AS SHIP RUNS AGROUND

Marine engineers were evacuated from the stricken Sea Empress late night amid fears that she had suffered serious new damage.

A spokesman for the coastguard said the 21 men, who had been expected to work through the night, had walked to a supporting vessel as one of the strongest tides of the year had forced the vessel on to a sandbank.

Further damage had been sustained to the middle af the tanker and "a further release of oil must be expected as the tide drops," said the spokesman.

The men had been attempting to get the ships's generator and boiler up and running but as the very high tide ebbed they decided there was a risk to the ship's structure and left.

A Marine Pollution Control Unit aircraft was due to carry out surveillance in the early hours today to ascertain the size of the fresh spill.

Earlier in the day it was announced that the tugs already connected to the vessel off St Ann's Head, including the Chinese supertug De Yue, were to be joined by four more as the rescue work intensified.

But the salvage teams said it could be a week to 10 days before the tanker was made safe and moved from the area.

At Milford Haven docks more than 60 tonnes of heavy equipment arrived on four trucks to be transferred to the ship. A Chinook helicopter airlifted pumps and other vital parts.

Although work was said to be progressing well, marine engineers said pumping operations to transfer the oil could not start until at least late today.

Three Dakota aircraft sprayed a slick escaping from the starboard side of the vessel.

The accident has caused its first environmental disaster with news that a 3,000-strong colony of the rare starfish Asterina phylactica had been wiped out at West Angle Bay.

The movement of oil slicks prompted new fears over the safety of nearly 1,300 of the starfish counted on the seashore around the Haven.

RSPCA spokesman Richard Timothy said a slick moving further into the estuary, past the Cleddau Bridge could affect hundreds of birds "sussing out" the Haven before returning to breed.

There were also fears for the wildlife on the Skomer and Skokholm nature reserves, with reports that a slick was spotted moving between the two islands. So far 43 oil-covered birds have been recovered.

But Dr Mandy Richards of the Countryside Council for Wales said the dead birds washed ashore represented only a very small percentage of those affected by the disaster out at sea. "We imagine there will be many more casualties," she said.

In the Commons Transport Secretary Sir George Young was accused last night accused of "stunning complacency" over the Sea Empress tanker disaster.

Newham North West Labour MP Tony Banks said, "We've got a ramshackle ship it would seem, crewed by Russians flagged out to Liberia, and we have to rely on a Chinese tug to assist us. What's going on in the maritime industry of this country?"

Sir George denied complacency, saying the Marine Pollution Control Unit had quickly implemented the agreed National Contingency Plan. As a result of the initial grounding, some 2,000 tonnes of crude oil had been spilled, he said.


0036 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

IRONY OF THE DISASTER

Letter to the Editor

SIR - What a tragedy for South Pembrokeshire the oil slick disaster will be, affecting the region's fragile ecology, economy and tourism for years to come.

And yet how utterly ironic that just a few weeks ago the council passed an application to build a new terminal in Milford Haven for Orimulsion tanker delivery, and in the same breath turned down plans for a small wind farm next to the refineries and power station.

The wind farm would have been totally safe, clean and non-polluting, harnessing the infinite supply of fresh winds sweeping the coast. It would have silently and efficiently provided power for more than 6,000 local homes with no deadly threat of pollution or radiation.

Renewables have to be the future for the energy we all use, before we suffocate in our own fumes and drown in our own pollution.

I wish the people of South Pembrokeshire well in the hugely expensive and difficult clean-up operation, but can't help thinking they have got themselves in the mess they deserve.

DR SIMON POWLES

Renewable Energy Systems Limited,

St Helens, The Graig, Burry Port, Dyfed.


0037 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

EXTRA PHONE LINES FOR EMERGENCY

BT has installed extra phone lines for the emergency services and the media covering the disaster.

Sixteen extra lines have been installed for the Milford Haven Port Authority, nine lines for the Milford Haven Coastguard and 10 have been installed at Milford Haven Town hall foor the media.

'KEEP DOGS AWAY'

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the RSPCA have appealed for dogs to be kept off foreshores in the affected area. Dogs have been contaminated by oil and it is also feared they could frighten sheltering birds.


0038 (20.02.96) The Western Mail

WELSH OFFICE REJECTS CALL FOR PUBLIC INQUIRY

Michael Settle

Shadow Welsh Secretary Ron Davies and Pembroke MP Nick Ainger yesterday called for a public inquiry into the Sea Empress disaster.

But this was ruled out during Welsh Questions in the Commons by Welsh Office Minister Gwilym Jones because a Department of Transport investigation was under way.

Mr Davies said he was very disappointed that Welsh Secretary William Hague had not chosen directly to answer questions about the oil disaster.

"I would like to make it clear to the Government that this side is very concerned about the potential consequences of the incident.

"There is a unique and precious assemblage of bird, sea mammal and marine life in the area affected by the Sea Empress," said the MP for Caerphilly.

He referred to the protected areas of Pembrokeshire cliffs, Skomer Island, the coast around St Ann's Head as well as off-shore islands being areas of particular importance.

"Given the whole coast is a precious part of our national heritage, which good fortune has so far protected, will the Minister now convey to the Secretary of State the great concern that exists on this side of the House and will he ensure that the official view of the Welsh Of fice is that there has to be the fullest possible public inquiry."

I:ater, Mr Ainger echoed Mr Davies's call, saying that there was great concern within the local tourism industry of the impact of the disaster.

Labour MP Mr Ainger said there were a number of very serious questions relating to large vessels' propulslon systems, steering systems and their hull designs.

"These serious questions can only be answered by a full public inquiry along the same lines as the inquiry into the Braer incident."

Mr Jones said he appreciated MPs' concerns.

Mr Jones, the MP for Cardiff North, said Mr Hague's concern about the disaster was aptly demonstrated by the way in which as soon as he heard about it he changed his diary to visit the Pembrokeshire coast.

"On the point about a public inquiry I would suggest to call for that now is at best premature but instead the Department of Transport Marine Investigation Branch will be investigating and reporting," Mr Jones said.

Earlier the Conservative MP for Ealing North, Harry Greenway, referred to the tragedy of disfigurement of the Pembrokeshire coast by the oil spillage from the tanker, which, he pointed out, was not double-hulled.

He also asked if the Government would ensure that marine and bird life would be safeguarded.

Mr Jones said he greatly shared Mr Greenway's concern about what happened in Milford Haven.

"I am advised that all necessary manpower and materials are available to meet present needs," he said.


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0039 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

TIMETABLE TO DISASTER FOR HOLED TANKER

Thurday 8.10 pm: Coastguards alerted as Sea Empress runs aground off Mill Bay. List develops and oil starts leaking.

2. Friday 12 noon: Tugs haul Sea Empress off rocks.

3. Saturday 8 pm: Sea Empress drifts in high winds on to St Ann's Hed Shoals. Oil still leaKing.

4. Sunday 2 am: Ship wallows near Mid Channel Rock as slick spreads.

5. Sunday 2 pm: Giant tug secures tow line.

6. Monday 5 pm: Sea Empress stablises surrounded by seven tugs.

7. Tueday: Aground again after major spill overnight.


0040 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

PORT OPERATIONS INQUIRY CALL

Pembroke MP Nick Ainger has called for an independent inquiry, similar to the one held by Lord Donaldson atter the Braer incident off the Shetland Islands.

He wants four main issues examined:

•  Standards of propulsion and steering in modern tankers after the second

    grounding in four months.

•  How to increase the number of double-skin hull vessels worldwide.

• Only double-skinned tankers to use Milford Haven.

• Independent review of Milford Haven port operations, tug availability and

    escort towing in and out of the port.

"There is considerable concern that the port authority may well have taken their eye off their conservation role and be concentrating too much resource on

commercial development. While I do not disagree with the latter, it should not be at the expense of their basic function which is the safety of port operations and the protection of the environment within Milford Haven," said Mr Ainger. He also felt that lack of radar cover for the entrance to the Haven, although not related to the Sea Empress incident, was another indication that the Port Authority has become complacent. It should have been replaced in 1994 but the 100,000 contract was only awarded by Milford Haven Port Authority a few weeks ago.

The port authority recently appointed marine consultants to examine technical feasibility of tugs escorting vessels in and out of Milford haven Waterway.

This might not be possible at certain states of the tide and if that is the case

then vessels should not be allowed to enter at those times," said Mr Ainger.

He added "A 1ot of professional criticism has been aimed at the port authority. People have been concerned about what has been going on in recent years. I would like to see an independent review of port operations. It is important  that Lord Donaldson or someone of similar stature and technical background should look into these issues."

• Transport Secretary Sir George Young rejected a public inquiry in a Commons statement on Monday. Instead a Marine Accident Investigation Branch inquiry will be held.


0041 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

HOUSEWIFE'S PETITION FOR BAN

A Freshwater West housewife who fears profit is being put before pople in the operation of the Milford Haven oil port is organising a petition calling for a total ban on single-skin tankers.

"I am hoping to collect thousands of signatures on the petition to go to Milford Haven Port Authority urging them to ban these tankers which are already banned in America," Mrs Val Jones of Corside Farm, told the Western relegraph.

' 'This is our back yard and we are very upset about the latest tanker incident, which is going to cause such environmental destruction.'

Mrs Jones said the Borga incident demonstrated how much safer the double-hulled tankers are in terms of cargo spillage and accused the Port Authority of cutting corners in reducing the tug fleet and changing the pilot system.

"Since they cut down the number of tugs operating in the harbour we have had two major incidents, one a near disaster with the Borga last October and now a real disaster with the Sea Empress.

"They are putting profits before people and ecology and we believe the port deserves the best available technology, including double-skinned tankers and proper tug cover.

"This is a very windy area and if tankers are going to be brought in through the narrow entrance of the harbour without proper control and tug assistance, we will inevitably see furher disasters. When the port was much busier and with much bigger ships coming in we had much better controls and very few incidents."

Mrs Jones said she hopes to circulate the petition throughout South Pembrokeshire and will be sending  copy to the Welsh Office.

She added "I am just an ordinary mother whose children love to go to Freshwater looking for crabs and shrimps in the pools. How long will it be before we have crabs and shrimps in the rock pools again after this disaster?

''In an area that relies so much on tourism |we need the best possible safeguards

 to prevent this sort of thing happening again."


0042 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

BLACK TIDE OF MISERY FOR ARMY OF WORKERS

You could smell the oil washed ashore at Angle even before you entered the village.

The beach was almost unrecognisable.

The sand was covered with a foul smelling layer of oil while the rocks looked as if someone had run amok with a tin of black paint.

And each new wave of the incoming tide brought more misery for the small army of workers battling to clear the mess.

Brought in by Texaco, their machines sucked up 8,200 gallons of liquid on Sunday alone. A third of that was oil.

"It's a messy job." sid Phil Jenkins of Hundleton in the understatement of the year. "but I think we're winning."

It w as all too much for one old lady who said she and her husbsnd walked on the beach almost every Sunday during the winter.

"I'm heartbroken" she said. ''Will it ever be the same again?"

Cars blocked the approach roads to the village with motorists eager to park on any bit of open space.

Traffic jams were the order of the day for the lane leading to East Blockhouse with sightseers willing to undertake a half-a-mile hike to the headland just to glimpse the drama unfolding on the sea below.

• One of the first places affected by the spillage was Freshwater West, with oil sweeping, up onto the rocks and sand of one of the county's most picturesque beauty spots. Those on the scene included Terry Ledbetter of Wales Marine Life Recue. He said the group had received nationwide offers of help and assistance, while 20 local volunteers were also on stand-by to rescue any stricken birds.

Pembrokeshire College students and lecturers searched out sea bird casualties at the weekend. A college minibus was used to ferry razorbills, guillemots and other birds to cleaning centres.

HELPLINE

A special 24-hour helpline has been set up for concerned residents or people offering help. The number is 01646649551.


0043 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

RAF HELICOPTERS PLAY A VITAL ROLE

Sea King helicopters from RAF Chivenor have been flying in gale force

conditions airlifting crew and salvage teams on and off the stricken Sea Empress.

A giant Chinook helicopter from RAF Odiham was also involved in the tricky operation of getting a towline on board the Chinese tug De Yue after heavy seas parted the cables holding the wallowing tanker.

Highlighting the need for helicopter cover in Pembrokeshire, the Chivenor Sea Kings took 45-min, ;s to reach the Haven to perform their vital tasks, which included winching off 43 persons - Russian crew and salvage team members.

"The weather was not too bad when we were first involved on day one of the incident, and on Friday and Saturday we were ferrying out VIPs, including the Secretary of State for Wales," said one of the winchmen, Sergeant Jamie Hamilton.

"But it was pretty rough at the weekend when we had to take the 43 off. I was

not involved in that operation, but the winchman who was, had to make four drops onto the tanker to strop up the crew. They were lifted in sticks of 11, two at a time, and the vessel was moving about quite a bit with waves breaking over the forward decks in a big swell and high winds."

The last of the crew was lifted off at about midnight on Saturday and on Sunday evening the Sea King took the salvage crew off the vessel as the weather deteriorated. They were put back on the ship on Monday when the weather moderated.

The Sea King crew operating on Saturday was: pilot, Flight Lieutenant Simon Williams; co-pilot, Flight Lieutenant Frank Slatter; winch operator, Sergeant Graham Phillips; winchman, FlightSergeant Paul Trethewey. The Sunday crew was: pilot, Squadron Leader Michael Fairburn; co-pilot, Flight Leiutenant Pip Wolfendale; winch operator MAAER, Ted Little; winchman, Sergeant Jamie Hamilton.


0044 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

COAST ON THE BRINK

Stricken supertanker threatens county with oil carastrophe

by Len Mullins

Pembrokeshire faced environmental catastrophe (Tuesday) as the stricken supertanker Sea Empress appeared to be on the verge of breaking up.

Twelve of the ship's 17 tanks have been ruptured and as much as one-third of her cargo of 140,000 tonnes of North Sea crude oil has already been lost.

Ever since the Liberian-registered vessel went aground at the entrance to Milford Haven on Thursday night, salvage experts have been battling to save her.

Six days later, they seem to be losing the fight.

In winds gusting to Force Eight on Monday night, 21 men onboard the Sea Empress were taken off by boat as she began to drift inexorably on to the rocks under St Ann's Head.

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning her keel was grounded with bow and stern afloat. Salvage chiefs hoped to beach the vessel and unload the remaining oil into a second tanker.

The coastline has already ben badly hit by pollution with the holiday beach at Angle among the worst affected. Although wildlife experts say it is too early to assess the consequences, already 360 seabirds are said to be lightly oiled and five dead.

Other casualties include a 3,000 strong population of starfish found at only seven sites in British waters. It is not thought the colony will recover.

Also under threat are the marine nature reserves of Skokholm and Skomer islands.

Over the past few days the skies have echoed to the sound of anti-pollution aircraft spraying chemicals on to oil slicks out at sea.

AGROUND

Already the recriminations are beginning with the tanker's operators denying that mechanical failure was to blame and appearing to implicate the port pilot on board the Russian-crewed vessel on Thursday night.

The drama began shortly after 8 pm as the 274 metre long Sea Empress entered tbe Haven, just an hour or so before low tide.

She ran aground in shallow water off Mill Bay, rupturing several of her tanks and developing a list to starboard.

With gale force winds forecast, events took an unexpected twist late on Saturday afternoon when an operation to turn the Sea Empress seaward went radically wrong.

A vicious gust of wind over 40 knots caused the tow lines on three tugs to part, allowing the tanker to be blown under St Ann's, Head.

EVACUATED

As two Sea King helicopters airlifted the 28-strong Russian crew and salvage workers off the ship, police evacuated houses and cottages at St Ann's because of the risk of an explosion.

Householders in Milford Haven and surrounding villages were warned to shut windows and doors to keep out the powerful fumes.

Swinging around in huge waves, the massive vessel leaked a further, 300 tonnes of oil as waves crashed over her foredeck.

Her haphazard voyage, from the St Ann's Shoals to the Mid Channel Rocks, was only brought under control on Sunday with the arrival of the world's sixth most powerful tug, the De Yue, which managed to get two lines onboard with the help of a Chinook helicopter from RAF Odiham in Hampshire.

The incident comes just four months after the 112,000 ton Norwegian tanker, Bora, ran aground under similar circumstances and in a similar position. Fortunately her double bottom and skin prevented any pollution.

The reason for that grounding has not been disclosed.


0045 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

'NO STEERING PROBLEM'

The Sea Empress  has an entirely Russian crew commanded by experienced 59-year-old Captain Eduard Bolgov.

A spokesman for Edinburgh-based operator Acomarit (UK) Ltd said there was no steering problem with the ship as she entered the harbour.

"The vessel was under the con of a pilot as she came in and although the skipper still has responsibility, he has to take the instruction of the pilot. On the approach to the western channel the vessel carried too far to the eastern side where she struck the mid-channel rocks along her starboard side and eventually grounded due to increased draught caused by the damage.

•'lt was quite clear to everyone in charge that at no time was there any steerng gear failure or lack of propulsion.

The spokesman said the master of the Borg had been in touch with the company and had said the circumstances of the Sea Empess incident appeared to be exactly the same as the Borg stranding.

On Monday a salvage team of 20 men, including five crev members, was put aboard the crippled tanker to restart the generators and boilers to help pumping and get the vessel on an even keel to transfer its cargo of light North Sea crude oil, en route from the Murray Firth to the Texaco refinery.

The spokesman said on Monday the total spill was less than 1,000 tonnes compared with the 80,000 tonnes spilled by the Braer and 40,000 tonnes spilled by the Exxon Valdes.

Teams praised

Working around the clock in some of the most atrocious conditions seen this winter are salvage, tug, lifeboat, helicopter, fire, police, conservation and local authority teams. Co-ordinating the whole operation is the Coastguard Marine Pollution Control Unit. And at Milford Haven Coastguard headquarters staff are working extra shifts and Coastguards are being brought in from Swansea and Holyhead. Praise for all those concerned was given by Pembroke MP Nick Ainger.


0046 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

WARTIME DAKOTAS FLY IN FOR A LOW-LEVEL MISSION

In an operation to disperse oil slicks the services of seven wartime Dakota aircraft are being employed.

The planes - built in the mid1940s - are specially equipped to carry detergents to get the oil to emulsify in the water.

The detergent, described as a heavy type of industrial washing-up liquid, bonds with the oil and makes it easier for water to break it down.

Five of the Dakotas were brought in on stand-by on Friday morning to Withybush Airfield from Coventry. The other two were later flown down from Scotland.

A 3,000 feet air exclusion zone, ten miles in radius, was imposed around the tanker to protect the Dakotas, which spray the detergent at a very low level.

The Dakotas, belonging to Coventry-based Air Atlantique had taken part in exercises in Pembrokeshire last summer. Their crews have extensive experience of dealing with oil spills - most notably the cleanup operation after the Braer incident off the Shetlands in January 1993.

• One of the Dakotas is a veteran of the Arnhem campaign in 1944 and others took part in the post-war Berlin Airiift.


0047 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

MINISTERS VIEW STRICKEN SHIP

Transport Secretary Sir George Young and Minister for Shipping and Aviation, the Viscount Goschen, flew over the stricken tanker on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Viscount Goschen later spent time with staff at the Milford Haven Coastguard Rescue Centre and the Joint Responses Centre.

The previous day Welsh Secretary William Hague - in Haverfordwest to meet local Tories- also gained first hand information about the disaster.

Speaking later at a lunch for Preseli Pembrokeshire Conservatives, he paid tribute to the work of the emergency services.


0048 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

PAGE ONE COMMENT

Another fullyladen oil tanker has gone on the rocks at the entrance to the Milford Haven oil refinery. Only this time there is no miracle escape.

Black, sticky crude oil clings to the coastline exuding the suffocating stench of  a pollution disaster.

Four months ago, when the double-hulled tanker Borga hit rocks at the same spot the Western Telegraph suggested that large tankers should be under tug escort from the port entrance. Next time, we warned, we may not be so lucky.

Well, next time is here. Now Milford Haven Port Authority must take the initiative  and act to safeguard our precious coastline from further devastation.

We can't afford to wait for years while Europe dithers.

We need an immediate ban on ALL single-skinned tankers entering the Haven.

And a port bylaw, resolutely enforced, demanding that every supertanker should be under tug escort from the port limits.

The cost, insignificant compared to the tanker's value and 130,000 tonnes of oil, is a price that must be paid to protect us from further needless desolation of our coast.

Finally, we must have an independent inquiry with enough muscle to ask some very searching questions of the port authority.

Why, for example, was a deep-draught fully laden supertanker allowed to enter the port just an hour before low water on a falling tide?

Even keeping to the channel, a supertanker of this size has less than three feet of water to spare at low water springs. It is a course charted for disaster.


0049 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

PARK FRIENDS PUT THEIR QUESTIONS TO HAGUE

Could confusion between the Leading Lights guidance system and lighting from recently developed industry around theMilford Haven Waterway have contributed  to the Sea Empress disaster?

This is one of several important questions being raised by the Friends of the Pembrokeshire National Park in a letter to Welsh Secretary William Hague.

Mr Bob Powell, writing on behalf of the executive committee, asked Mr Hague to ensure the correct department and authorities carry out a full and wide ranging inquiry

There are a number of other questions which need addressing, say the Friends:

• Is mechanical failure of ships' equipment a cause. If so, are ships being properly maintained and who is responsible for ship suitability for the task?

• Is the meeting point for tugs too far into the Haven?

• Is the land based navigation equipment for Milford Haven waterway being correctly operated and maintained?

• Who is responsible for handling such an investigation into these questions and other matters?

'We know that you personally understand the value to the whole nation of National Park designation, its landscape, scenery and wildlife habitats that can be seriously damaged by such incidents', added the letter.

It continued: 'Only a few hundred yards from the Sea Empress are some of our most precious sand beaches, enjoyed by thousands of families every year. The adjacent spectacular foreshores, rocks and cliffs are all habitats for a wide variety of birds and other wildlife'.


0050 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

FERRY TERMINAL FACES ITS OWN EMERGENCY

Just hours before the Sea Empress ran aground, the ferry terminal at Pembroke

Dock was faced with its own crisis.

Shortly after lrish Ferries' afternoon sailing had left for Rosslare, staff at nearby Marine and Port Services noticed that the terminal's vehicle pontoon was sinking.

Divers were sent down to investigate and it was found that one of the chambers underneath the pontoon was flooding.

Delfryn Davies, of Irish Ferries at Pembroke Dock, said: "It was noticed after the vessel left that the pontoon was lower in the water than it is normally. The Port

Authority brought in some bowsers or effluent tankers to pump out the chamber and then brought in its own large pump. "

He added: "The floating pontoon is like a honeycomb of tanks underneath and from time to time we have to pump it out through rainfall. By 8 pm we had solved the problem. "

Because the ferry was not due back from Ireland for another five hours, and with the pontoon steadily rising in the water, Mr Davies contacted Rosslare to give the all clear.

But less than an hour later he had to cancel that decision when he learned the Sea Empress lay stricken at the mouth of the Haven.

"The Port Authority rang and said you cannot bring the ship in, so we had to backtrack and hold her in Rosslare," he said. "Fortunately, we were a little bit late because of the work on the pontoon but the ship had loaded up and was about ten minutes from sailing."

Irish Ferries was eventually given the go-ahead to sail from Rosslare on Friday morning, although the ship was told to obey certain instructions when passing the grounded tanker. "We were told to enter the Haven by the eastern channel and there were to be no naked lights and no smoking," said Mr Davies.


0051 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

POLLUTION WIPES-OUT RARE STARFISH COLONY

The first major wildlife tragedy hit on Friday as a 3,000 strong population of rare and beautiul green rockpool starfish, Asterina Phylactia, were wiped out in West Angle Bay.

The starfish are found at only seven sites in British waters and are unlikely to

recolonise.

Dyfed Wildlife Trust says that it wil take years for the internationally renowned marine teaching beach to recover from the oil damage.

At Angle Bay, a large bed of Eel Grass, the basic food of many birds and waterfowl, has also been badly oiled.

Said a representative of the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW): " We expect a severe kill of intertidal invertebrate such as limpets, marine snails and barnacles which graze the rocks in this area.

At present, there are estimated to be some 13,000 birds of 30 species in the Haven, but up to Monday only 43 had been discovered, lightly oiled, by wardens

patrolling the coast. Three of the birds were already dead and seven are being treated at the Texaco sanctuary. Larger numbers are expected to be found over the next few days.

Mrs Jean Hains, of the Oiled Bird Centre at West Williamston, ssld: "I have had one red-throsted diver which I passed on to Mr John Hayes at Texsco, where he had a similar bird as well as five guillemots. There will inevitably be many birds which die at sea and whlch we will be unable to count."

The Milford Hsven Waterway is extremely important nationally for its overwinter populations of over 7,000 wildfowl and 9,000 waders, especially shelduck, widgeon, curlew, teal and redshank.

Mr Paul Loveluck, the chief executive of the Countryside Commission for Wales, said: "If you were looking for a place not to spill oil, this would be it. The Pembrokeshire cosastline is one of the most important European marine areas, if not in the world. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

Dyfed Wildlife Trust's marine conservation officer, Brian Elliott, said that the situation was being carefully monitored.

"It is amazing that despite current technology, computerised navigstional systems and modern safety systems, an incident like this can still occur. Any tanker using the Haven should be double hulled and the navigational and piloting system into the Haven should be reviewed and resssessed to prevent an incident like this happening again," he said.

Pembrokeshire National Park officer Nick Wheeler confirmed that they would be using the environmental monitoring baseline set up a few years ago to assess the damage.


0052 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

ORIMULSION: THE GREAT DEBATE

The Pembroke Power Station Orimulsion issue has generated so much heat and such a vast volume of data that the public is in danger of losing sight of the wood for the trees. As Dyfed County Council's final planning committee meeting prepares to reach a decision on the jetty plan for the project - one of the most important and controversial planning applications in its history-

Western Telegraph senior reporter DEREK REES highlights the pros and cons in the debate.

D-DAY FOR PORT AUTHORITY PLAN

There can be no more significant swan song for any local authority than the debate at County Hall, Carmarthen, on Tuesday when Milford Haven Port Authority's application 'to construct and operate a jetty and associated landward facilities for the handling of fuels, limestone and gypsum' at Pembroke Power Station is considered.

The oil-fired power station was completed in 1970 at a cost of £110 million and was opened in 1973 by former Prime Minister Edward Heath.

National Power is now seeking to modify the station to burn emulsified fuels such as Orimulsion - the trade name for an emulsion of water and natural bitumen from the Orinoco region of Venezuela.

The proposed jetty is being designed to accommodate tankers of around 150,000 deadweight tonnes and to handle limestone and gypsum carriers of between 10,000 and 35,000 dwt.

FRIENDS AGAINST

Friends of the Earth Cymru say the development will:

O  Increase annual sulphur dioxide emissions from 10,600 to 17,000 tonnes.

O  Boost levels of oxides of nitrogen from 3,000 to 18,200 tonnes (exceeding the all Wales total future emissions by car traffic).

O  Cause acid rain and harm human health.

O  Increase dust laden with toxic metals like nickel, vanadium and arsenic from 300 to at least 500 tonnes a year, with ultra-fine particles penetrating lungs and crops.

O  Generate the quarrying and transportation for flue gas desulpurisation ol 600,000 tonnes of limestone a year.

O   Result in the disposal of up to a million tonnes of gypsum and 11,000 tonnes of hazardous waste each year.

O   Discharge environmentally damaging nitrates and metals and heated and disinfected cooling water into the Haven, increasing the risk of ecological damage.

O  Promote toxic algal blooms and possible harm to fishing.

O  Cause ecological disturbance to important herring and flatfish spawning and sea bass nursery sites by blasting, dredging and the disposal of 60,000 cubic metres, sediments and rock.

Spilled Orimulsion, say the conservationists, unlike oil would be practically

impossible to clean up using conventional methods, and the fuel also contains a potential damaging 'gender bender' chemical which poses a serious threat to wildlife reproduction and the food chain.

National Power says the development will:

• Give the currently under-used power station many years of economical and environmentally accepta1e power generation.

• Present an opportunity to use a valuable and plentiful source of fuel.

• Remove the highest proportion of sulphur, dust and oxides of nitrogen, enabling the plant to produce clean electricity at a competitive price for homes, schools, hospitals and industry.

• Secure long-term employment for 3,000 and over 1,000 sub-contractor jobs during the four-year construction period.

• Provide training skills opportunities for local youngsters.

• Raise living standards and improve the quality of life.

• Create investment of around £500 million - the biggest in South Wales for years.

• Generate money, a significant proportion of which will be spent locally.

National Power adds that Orimulsion is no dirtier than other fuels and produces lower levels of carbon dioxide and methane and nitrogen oxides than coal or oil.


0053 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

FOE HIGHLIGHTS ORIMULSION IMPLICATIONS OF OIL SPILL

The Sea Empress disaster has really brought home the need to prevent the

burning of Orimulslon at Pembroke Power Station and the building of another large jetty within the Haven, say Friends of the Earth.

"No-one really knows how an Orimulsion spill would behave. There is no experience of it, but our research indicates it would be more difficult to clear up than oil bcause it becomes suspended in the water and therefore cannot be scooped up easily," explained spokesman Gordon James.

Part of the Milford Haven Waterway and offshore islands are being proposed as a Special Area of Conservation under the European Habitats Directive - the highest form of protection to be given.

Opposed to this designation is the Port Authority, which plans to build the jetty in the middle of this area.

''This latest incident should also raise a question mark over offshore oil and gas

exploration," said Mr James.

Friends of the Earth have also called for a broad ranging inquiry into the incident They feel the Government's  proposed inquiry would be 'too narrow' and they want a number of points raised, including last year's report from tugmen over cuts in the service, the fact that the radar system is not working properly and the issue of tug bringing vessels into and out of the port.

"We are also asking for the oil industry to operate in an area of superb natural environment to the very highest standard of production and this does not apply at the moment. There have been two groundings of tankers on the rocks in calm weather within four months of each other," said Mr James.

He added: "We also want oil companies to use the very best shipping companies We are concerned that many vessels sail under flags of convenience and we also

want to emphasise the need to use double-skinned hull ships. While this will not stop a major incident, it will help alleviate the consequences.

"We also question the salvage capacity in the Haven. Tugs are being used from Ireland, Scotland and Liverpool in the Sea Empress salvage operations."


0054 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

LIFEBOATS ON ALERT

Angle and St David lifeboats were launched on Saturday to stand by the 147,253 ton Liberian-registered Sea Empress.

In strong wind and a heavy swell the two lifeboats remained in the vicinity of the 274-metre-long vessel for over three hours while helicopters lifted off the crew and salvage teams. "It was unppeasant weather with a nasty swell but our services were not required," said Angle Coxswain Mr Jeremy Rees.


0055 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

NO LUCKY ESCAPE FOR US THIS TIME!

Sir,- It is truly sad and depressing to see so soon after the last fiasco yet another large tanker aground at the entrance to Milford Haven.

On the last occasion we were saved from  pollution disater by sheer luck - that vessel's double hull kept the cargo tanks intact long enough for the ship to be salvaged.

No such good fortune this time! The Sea Enpess is going to cost all of us very dear - millions of pounds to clean and repair the polluted environment, thousands of dead sea birds and other creatures, miles of filthy beaches and coast.

Port officials md DTI will show how they can run around doing everything humanly possible to minimise the damage and will no doubt blame the ship's crew, the pilot, the weather, the navigation hazards, etc. etc. Too late, everyone's mind becomes concentrated.

Why did they allow this to happen? Surely all the great ships with their huge cargoes of toxic and dangerous pollutants should not be permitted to approach closer than five miles to our port and haven unless they have a substantial tug made fast to the bow? This is standard practice in many parts of the world

The one tug would be sufficient in most cases to hold the ship off the rock until help could arrive, even allowing for the failure of the ship's engine or steering gear.

As far as I know, the practice in Milford Haven is to make fast the tug when the ship is well inside the port and close to the final berth. Another example, one could say, of how purely commercial decisions of cost put the public at great risk from catastrophic consequence.

We are entitled to ask why this simple precaution is not taken at this port. We may also ask what attempt was made to slow the ship's charge to disaster by dropping both the anchors. Were the anchors made ready, in fact?

In time we shall recover from this accident. North Sea crude oil is more benign than other oil products in that it decomposes fairly quickly. But all those who live in Pembrokeshire should know that a similar disaster involving a cargo of Orimulsion will have far worse effects.

Its inert and tarry mixture will cause it to cling to rocks and beaches for years. Much of it will float in huge rafts just below the surface of the water, moving up and down the coast with tide and currents. It will drop the heavier particles in a  blanket on the sea bed. It will be almost indestructible, irrecoverable and as deadly to tourism as it will be to marine life.

We have not really weighed the marginal benefit of using it at Pembroke Power Station against the appalling damage which could arise from Orimulsion pollution. Do we really need to import this deadly stuff?

S. T. GUDGEON  Marine Surveyor

'Swn-y-Don',  18 Cross Square, St Davids.


0056 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

Who Takes The Blame?

Sir,—The  spillage of oil from the Sea Empress near Milford Haven has only

highlighted the imminent threat we live with.

We all know what will happen when an oil tanker runs aground in an ecologically sensitive area with 147,000 tons of oil on board. We seem quite cotent to sit back and apportion blame to anyone but ourselves.

Due to the traffic of oil (and soon to be Orimulsion) ferried back and forth in these waters, it is highly prodable this will happen time and again.

Most of the sea along this coast has been proposed as a Marine Special Area  of Conservation. This incident exposes this title to be complete rhetoric.

Surely the solution is not to make safer hulls to carry more oil, but to endeavour to implement safe,  renewable energy sources that do not have such  a catastrophic effect on our environment.

While this coastline is home to large populations of wild fowl and waders

we, the people who live here, are its guardians. If anybody treated your home in this manner, aware of all the conquences, you would ask them to leave.

If sustainability is to be achieved, a critical goal is to recognise that there can be, in effect, a trade off between standard of living and quality of life.

Sustainable development requires that meeting needs is distinguished from meeting demands. If we demand oil we have to accept the consequences. By making the small step of using less we reduce the demand. The only real failure

is not to try.

JOSEPHINE MASON

Representative for national Friends of the Earth

6 Greenfield Row, Cardigan.


0057 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

ACTIVE RESPONSE JUST NOT ENOUGH

Sir,  Whether or not more care would have prevented the stranding of the Sea Empress and the subequent oil spillage is a matter for the promised inquiry.

I am more concerned with some of the views expressed and actions taken subsequent to the stranding.

Following the stranding there was no shortage of 'experts' speaking on television on the effects of the spillage on the local flora and fauna. There was a facile comment informing viewers  'the shearwaters had gone to the South Atlantic for their holidays'.

Other contributors emphasised the point that the seals had pupped in the autumn and that sea birds would not be returning to nest on Skomer and Skokholm for another six weeks, but I heard no mention of Milford Haven.

To me those words indicated a blinkered attitude. Given the time of year, the main threat of the spillage is to the wild fowl and wader populations ' which rest and feed on the large intertidal areas of mainly mud inside the Haven.

mainly, mud inside the Haven. These are areas which, once oiled, will be almost impossible to clean. This could result in a massive kill of these birds.

I have no knowledge of the current Port Authority Emergency Plan for Milford Haven, but actions I observed on Friday, February l6th, were reactive rather than proactive.

At 1200 hours on Friday an oil slick had passed the Texaco jetty and was approaching Pennar Gut. By 1300 hours it was in the Pembroke River,

which I believe is an SSSI. Later the same day a Harbour Authority launch went into the Pembroke River, a boom was deployed on the shore arm of the Texaco jetty and there was  an attempt to put a boom on the Gut buoy.

This was reaction to an event. A proactive operation would have deployed booms earlier, at the Texaco jetty and across Pennar Gut. This would have greatly reduced the amount of oil entering the Pembroke River.

If the Emerency Plan does not require the prior blocking of choke points to, say, Pennar Gut, Barnlake, Cosheston Pill and possibly Lawrenny, then I would suggest it is flawed by lack of awareness or advice.

However good proactive planning is, it will never work without the necessary hardware. On Friday it was nnounced, with what appeared to be relief, that two loads of pollution control equipment had arrived from Southampton. Why is there not a sufficient stockpile of equipment held locally? The transport and refining of oil in an area of National Park and SSSls and a proposed special area of conservation under EU law, should only be allowed if sufficient emergency equipment is available for a worst case scenario, for which there is a plan.

KEN MACCALLUM

'West Winds',  Llanreath,  Pembroke Dock.


0058 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

REFLECT ON THE RISKS

Sir, —If gear failure, pilot error and/or nature conspired together with single skinned tankers we could have the westerly gales sending hundred of thousands of tons of oil\Orimulsion into the Haven.

Supporters of Orimulsion, including one local MP, should reflect on the incredible risk being taken in pursuit of profits by the power generator.

Once again I appeal to your readers to express their opposition - contact the Secretary of State for Wales now.

R. J. WEEDON

Dolphin Cottage Landshipping Quay,

Narberth.


0059 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

GOVERNMENT BLAMED FOR INADEQUATE TUG POWER

MATTHEW BEARD

Tugs trying to stabilise the Sea Empress were not powerful enough to prevent her running aground on Monday, it was claimed last night.

Pembroke Labour MP Nick Ainger said government inaction had left the tug capacity incapable of dealing with the vessel.

He told The Western Mail that information from oil industry sources he received yesterday proved that the devastation could have been avoided.

He said that while the tanker needed tugs with a pull capacity of 800 tonnes only 400 tonnes capacity was available. This was denied last night by the ship's owners.

He said, "The reason why the Sea Empress ran aground was because the tugs that are available are inadequate for the job. Fifty thousand tonnes of oil has been leaked into one of the world's most environmentally sensitive areas because the Government did not implement the recommendations of Lord Donaldson's Report (in 1994 on the Braer disaster)."

Yesterday  in the Commons he called on Transport Secretary Sir George Young to make a fresh statement. He said that Monday's statement in Parliament by Sir George had produced an optimistic gloss: that the Sea Empress was under control.

Peter Cooney, for Sea Empress owners Acomarit, said last night there had been pressue of up to 800 tonnes on the hull and there was 800 tonnes of tugpower available.

Welsh Secretary William Hague will revisit the site today accompanied by officials from the Countryside Council for Wales.

A call by conservationists for the Government to declare the Pembrokeshire coast "in a state of environmental disaster" was rejected by the Welsh Office yesterday.

The Welsh Office and the Environment Department said the practical

meaning of the phrase was unclear.


0060 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

EXPERTS FEAR CATASTROPHE FOR BIRD LIFE

Environmental groups yesterday claimed the number of birds affected by the oil could be a -hundred times worse than official figures suggested and then declared a state of emergency.

The island nature reserves of Skomer and Skokholm were said to be enveloped in oil while a large slick moved towards Carmarthen Bay where thousands of migratory birds are wintering.

While there were few reports of oiled animals RSPB officer Richard Farmer said only one per cent ever made it to shore, usually four to six days after being contaminated.

"We now have a situation which can only be described as catastrophic," he said. "We'll have a lot of oiled birds by the end of the week."

Dyfed Wildlife Trust director David Saunders said it was clear 40,000-tonnes, one-third of the Sea Empress's cargo, had leaked from the ship's battered tanks.

The first oil came ashore yesterday at The Wick, near the south-western corner of Skomer.

Mr Saunders said, "Our warden is back on Skomer and tells us there are no razorbill or guillemots in shore.

"But if the wind increases they may start coming onto the cliffs as they did last week."

The islands are a haven for rare and scarce sea birds.

Ten per cent of the UK's 1,500 pairs of the scarce red throated diver winter there. Some have already been found oiled.


0061 (Feb 21 1996) Western Telegraph

ISLE FAMED FOR OBSERVATORY

Skokholm became one of the most intensely studied islands in the world after Britain's first bird observatory was established there in 1933.

The study centre was established by Ronald Lockley, who rented Skokholm for £26 a year.

The Private Life of the Rabbit, the book he wrote after surveying Skokholm's rabbits inspired the classic tale Watership Down.

In 1933 Lockley constructed a bird trap on the island, so thousands of migrating birds could be ringed. He was then able to carry out unprecedented research into the habits of various birds, notably the shearwater.

Lockley, now 92 and living in New Zealand, also conducted detailed research on puffins and guillemots while he lived on Skokholm.

He was alarmed when the Govemment announced plans in the late 1950s for Milford Haven to become Britain's principal port for importing crude oil. At a public inquiry he warned of the threat to wildlife that would arise even from occasional oil leaks, let alone a massive tanker running aground.


0062 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

WHY DISASTER INQUIRY MUST BE IN PUBLIC

Oil from the stricken Sea Empress is threatening the wildlife havens of Skomer and Skokholm islands.

The tourism industry in Dyfed fears holidaymakers will stay away in droves this year.

The cost of the damage to the internationally-renowned wildlife and the tourist  economy of Wales is immeasurable. Yet we are told there will be no public inquiry into the tanker disaster.

Transport Secretary Sir George Young says the independent Marine Accident Investigation Branch will examine every aspect of the accident and that its report will be published.

He says the agency usually investigates sea accidents and has so far commanded wide public acceptance.

But this shipping accident is likely to have a devastating effect on the economy of Wales, as well as on its coastal wildlife.

Events since Thursday have thrown up dozens of questions which must be publicly addressed by the relevant parties.

It is not sufficient to allow the MAIB to proceed with what is essentially an internal inquiry.

It would be wrong to cry "cover-up" before an inquiry has properly started but the fears are unlikely to be allayed unless they are satisfactorily answered in public.

The public must have the chance to cross- examine all the parties to find out how such a catastrophe was allowed to happen.

The public wants to know what went wrong as the Sea Empress passed St Ann's Head. Was there sufficient tug coverage at Milford, one of the busiest oil tanker ports in Britain?

Why has the port radar been out of action for more than-six months? Could the oil cargo have been removed in the early stages of the salvage operation? Should only double-hulled tankers be allowed into the estuary?

The oil industry at Miilford Haven is as crucial to the West Wales economy as the tourism trade it now threatens. That is why everybody's opinions, everybody's evidence and everybody's fears must be raised and discussed at a public inquiry. There is no possibility of the oil industry at Milford being run down because of this accident.

Whatever the findings of the MAIB investigation there will be claims of hidden agendas, whitewashes and the like.

No such room should be left for these suspicions. The oil industry, the environmentalists and the politicians must be seen to sit down and thrash out what has gone wrong in the past week so that such a disaster is never allowed to happen again.


0063 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

WHY WATERWAY WAS TURNED INTO INDUSTRIAL METROPOLIS

RHODRI CLARK

Milford Haven waterway is an odd industrial metropolis separated from any large centres of population by a wide tract of rural Wales.

Ideally Britain's principal oil refineries would have been much closer to the bulk of the consumers, probably on the southern or eastern coasts of England, but when the issue was examined in the mid-1950s Milford Haven was the only place to offer sheltered waters at a depth of 70ft or more - the depth needed to accommodate the supertankers which were then on the drawing boards.

The first to open was the huge Esso refinery near Herbrandston, which began operation in 196O. A jetty 1,000 yards long could accommodate five tankers at a time.

Next to come on line, in 1961, was the BP terminal at Popton Point, near Angle, where the control centre and some storage tanks were located within an ancient fort. A 400-yard jetty accepted oil from ships and this was then transported in a 70-mile pipeline to BP's refinery in Llandarcy, near Swansea. Constructing the pipeline, which srosses several rivers, including the Towy dowstream of Carmarthen, was a greater feat of engineering than the terminal.

Other oil companies muscled in, determined not to be at a commercial disadvantage by using English ports which could only take small tankers. In 1964 the Oueen Mother opened Texaco's 925-acre refinery near Rhoscrowther, the only refinery on the south side of the waterway.

Milford Haven grew rapidly in national importance as Britain underwent a wholesale change from steam power to the internal combustion engine, and it was the Queen herself who travelled to Waterston in 1968 to open the latest refinery. Gulf's site was the only one to include a petrochemical plant to process some of the refinery's products.

The site was seven miles east of the mouth of the Haven and, since the water was too shallow there to accommodate the biggest tankers, Gulf began unloading 325,000-tonne ships at Bantry Bay, Ireland. Their contents of Kuwaiti crude oil were then shipped to Waterston and Holland by smaller tankers.

With the choice sites already snapped up, latecomer Amoco opted in the early 1970s to locate its refinery two miles inland near Robeston Cross and shift the oil by pipe from its 1,000-yard jetty in the Haven.

The most significant transport infrastructure to be constructed was the "3Ms" pipeline - from Milford Haven to the Midlands and Manchester. The cost of £15m was borne by a consortium of Esso, Texaco and Gulf. Shortly after its opening in 1973 it was taking a fifth of the Esso refinery's output to Birmingham, Nottingham and Manchester.

Price increases and other factors hit Pembrokeshire's oil industry in the 1970s. Esso announced the closure of its refinery in 1982, with the loss of 200 jobs, to concentrate operations on its refinery at Fawley, near Southampton.

The Amoco plant kept going after Elf bought a 70 per cent stake in it in 1980.


0064 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

ACTION URGED TO PREVENT BOYCOTT BY HOLIDAYMAKERS

PHIL DAVIES

A tourism charm offensive may be launched to counter the threat of

holidaymakers worldwide being turned off Wales by the Sea Empress emergency.

The Wales Tourist Board is discussing ways to counter the growing global image of Wales gripped by an environmental disaster.

Spokesman Marc Evans said firm plans were being laid, declining to comment in detail about possible initiatives.

"It is obviously of increasing concern to us. Overseas visitors as well as those from the UK will think that the whole Welsh coastline is threatened," Mr Evans said.

"We want to take what action we can to undo that impression. The difficulty is that the situation is still unfolding."

International television agencies and foreign correspondents have been sending reports of the Sea Empress operation around the globe.

Countries with particular interest in the story are precisely those targeted by in the last 18 months by the WTB's ambitious marketing initiatives.

Delegations promoting the delights of Wales as an all-purpose tourist destination have been active in America, Australia, Japan, South Africa, and the EU.

Some business managers seriously worried about a possible boycott of Wales by tourists are meeting in Saundersfoot this morning.

The Pembrokeshire Hotels and Restaurants Association has nearly 200 members spread throughout the West Wales region who deal with tens of thousands of tourists.

Spokesman Bobbie King said overseas visitors were a big factor in Welsh tourism. He urged th WTB to do all it ould to prevent a serious downturn in visitor numbers for the rest of this year.


0065 (Feb 21 1996) The Independent

COUNTDOWN TO CATASTROPHE AT ST ANN'S HEAD

Thursday 15 February

2010: Liberian-registered supertanker Sea Empress (147,000 tonnes and 274 metres long) runs aground on rocks in Mill Bay at entrance to Milford Haven en route to Texaco oil refinery. A harbour pilot is on board with 28 Russian crew and ship's master Eduard Bolgov. Full port emergency declared shipping banned from 10 mile radius - lifeboats and helicopters sent to scene.

2200: Three tugs refloat vessel but some 2,000 tonnes of oil pours into sea through damaged tanks. Crew and salvage engineers remain on board.

Friday 16 February

Aircraft spray slicks out at sea. Conservation groups warn of ecological disaster unless oil is offloaded because of Pembrokeshire's international importance as seabird reserve. Salvage operations postponed for 24 hours because of force 8 gale forecast for Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Saturday 17 February

 l6.00: Sea Empress, afloat off St Ann's Head, turned 180 degrees by tugs to face storm 35-knot winds and 10ft waves.

17.30: Sudden 60mph gust catches vessel, lines to three tugs snap, damaging vessels. Tanker breaks adrift and goes aground again causing more damage. More oil spews out.

19.00: Helicopters from RN Culdrose, Cornwall, and RAF Chivenor, Devon, airlift off 26 non-essential crew. 28 men remain on board, mostly salvage engineers. Police evacuate residents from St Ann's Head amid fears of explosion from escaping fumes.

Sunday 18 February

05.00: Tanker abandoned. Helicopter lifts offremaining crew because of worsening weather.

11.15: Five salvage workers return to ship to assess damage. Engine room found to be dry. Giant Chinese tug Deyue, one of the world's most powerful, attaches tow line:

1700: Salvage crew lifted off again because of force 9 gale. Tanker abandoned for second night, attached to two tugs.

Monday 19 February

Strong winds but weather eases. A 21-man salvage crew goes back on board to prepare ship for oil transfer.

1300: Three aircraft spray slick coming from damaged starboard tanks. Chinook helicopter delivers heavy equipment.

1900: Serious setback when tanker breaks adrift in high winds and goes aground just 300 yards from headland.

2257: Salvage crew evacuated to support vessels because of grinding noises from ship and fears of structural damage.

Tuesday 20 February

Experts calculate around a third of original cargo of nearly 130,000 tonnes of oil has now poured out. But inspection shows no sign of vessel breaking up. Ten-man crew put back on board. Plans brought forward to move tanker on evening high tide to offload remaining oil.


0066 (Feb 21 1996) Countryside Council For Wales

CCW UPDATE

AS AT 16.30,

CYNGOR CEFN GWLAD CYMRU     COUNTRYSIDE COUNCIL FOR WALES

AT/TO:           Chairman

                      Vice Chairman

                      Council Members

cc-                Dr M E Smith

                     I R Bonner

                     C Fuller

                     S Evans

                     H Roberts

MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILLAGE  21 FEBRUARY 1996

1.The current situation fs that approximately 500% of the 135,000 tonnes of

cargo oil has been lost. Oil hs been reported 'gushing' from the tanker

again. The main extent of the oil is known to be from Gower to the islands

of Skomer and Skokholm. Oil sheen hs been spotted at Ramsey Island nd

in St. Brides Bay. Oil is anticipated to reach Cardigan Bay. Oil sheen has

been seen on the Cleddau and Carew River.

2. At lunchtime today the Secretary of State announced in response to our request, £250k funding for environmntal impact/monitoring work. CCW has written to potential partners setting out our proposals and inviting their cooperation and ideas on appropriate work.

3. CCW has already committed funds for aerial surveillance of sea duck populations in Carmarthen Bay and adjacent ares. Aerial and land based surveys have confirmed the presence of 10,000 Scoter. In addition boat surveys are in the process of being commissioned to cover the affected areas.

4. JNCC have offered scientific support from the Seabirds and Cetaceans Branch and survey teams within the Marine Nature Conservation Review.

5. It is intended tonight to attempt yet again to refloat the vessel. We feel that this attempt is fraught with difficlties with the falling tide and the fact that tanker is now known to be impaled.

The Welsh Office has been advised of our concerns, and of the concern that the MPCU said that this might not be the last such attempt.

MPCU have advised that they have 2 contingency plans ; one involves ship to ship removal of oil and the othe oil removal by flexlble hose to a ship further away. We have advised Welsh Office that with a small weather window one of the contingency plans should be put into operation as the next step taking safety considerations into account.

Concern has been expressed by some Government representatives that CCW should not have been so outspoken.

6. Welsh Office have asked for suggestions for a posslble Chair of an inquiry; we are not yet aware if this inquiry is to be in public (which is our preference) or not. Professor Alasdair Mclntyre was put forward by ourselves.

7. Our local team is working very effectively with Stephen Evans, Blaise Bullimore and Mandy Richards in the Joint Response Centre now supported by Chris Fuller organising and overseeing the logistics of our operation and Brian Pawson working with the media.

Mike Alexander is on Skomer and additional staff and resources are being sent there to deal with anticipated oil pollution and bird casualties.

David Wheeler, Bob Haycock and spporting staff are at Stackpole helping with the oganisation of the collection, counting and identification of dead and oil affected birds.

The bases at Fishguard and Martin's Haven are manned and staff further east in Llandeilo, Swansea and Cardiff are ready for action.

                                                       Paul Loveluck 21 February 1996


0067 (Feb 21 1996) Countryside Council For Wales

CCW ADVICE ON SALVAGE OPERATION

- for immediate release

The Countryside Council for Wales is strongly advising the Marine Pollution Control Unit in Milford Haven to put its contingency plan into immediate operation if tonights attempt fails to refloat the Sea Empress. Whilst recognising all the safety concerns, this action is of the utmost importance if there is any chance of safeguarding the environment from the70,000 tonnes of oil which remain on board the stricken supertanker.

CCW is advising that all possible resources should be deployed to ensure the total cargo of oil is not lost to the sea. The contingency plan must be put into action immediately - while good weather holds - by the salvors.

Dr Malolm Smith, CCW Director of Science and Policy said: "We are informed by MPCU that contingency plans to move the remaining oil into a smaller tanker (ship to ship, either directly or via flexible hoses) have been drawn up. Our advice is on the immediate need for this to be implemented if tonight's effort to move the Sea Empress fails again. To allow the vessel to break up where she is, and releae the remaining oil, would case an environmental disaster on an even more catastrophic scale than we are already dealing with.

"We already have reports of oiled dolphins passing throuh the middle of slicks just west of Skomer Island. Coping with the current clean up operation is proving to be a mammoth task, even without losing the whole cargo."

Should the total cargo be lost to the sea, this would be the largest single oil spill ever within UK waters. EVERY effort must be taken to ensure that this does not happen.

CCW has been working at the Joint Reponse Centre in Milford Haven to advise the MCPU on all environmental matters relating to the oil spill and use of dispersants throughout the salvage operation.


0068 (Feb 21 1996) Countryside Council For Wales

CCW TO MONITOR EFFECTS OF SPILL WITH EXTRA £250,000

The Countryside Council for Wales is planning a comprehensive impact assessment and monitoring programme to measure the environmental damage of the oil spill from the stricken Sea Empress, off Milford Haven. The work is made possible with the £250,000 which has been made available to CCW today by the Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague.

So that work can start as soon as possible, CCW is today writing to all relevant statutory agencies and voluntary environmental goups to invite them to take part in the progamme with us.

CCW's initial outline is that a monitoring progrmme will:

* map out the areas which are affected by oil and assess the immediate impact on coastal and marine habitats;

* assess the impact of oil and chemical dispersants on the concentrations of seabirds, seaducks and marine mammals;

* assess the damage to marine communities at subtidal and intertidal sites which were being studied before the oil spill, suh as Skomer Marine Nature Reserve and Milford Haven Waterway, The recovery of these sites, and other key survey sites, will be assessed;

* measure the levels of chemical pollutants in the seawater and coastal sediments and monitor the changes.

* monitor the recovery of the biological systems in general over the long-term.

Dr Malcolm Smith, CCW Director of Science and Policy said: " We must learn a number of lessons from an environmental disaster on this scale. The monitoring programme will at least give us an opportunity to fully assess the environmental damage, which could be catastrophic in an area of such international importance.

"The envionmental monitoring studies which already exist in Milford Haven Waterway and the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve will be an important baseline from which to measure the damage. Our investment in this monitoring at Skomer MNR is now paying substantial dividends."


0069 (Feb 21 1996) Daily Telegraph

OIL SLICK SPREADS AS TUGS FAIL AGAIN TO REFLOAT TANKER

The oil tanker Sea Empress remained stuck on rocks off Milford Haven last night despite an attempt by eight tugs to pull her off at high tide.

There are fears that she is about to break up, discharging a further 90,000 tons of oil and causing an ecological disaster that would rank as one of the worst in history.

An eight-mile slick, larger than the 37,000 tons that spilled from the Exxon

Valdez off Alaska seven years ago, is threatening the Dyfed coast.

Lord Goschen, the shipping minister, who flew over the area during the day, said time was against the salvage men. If last night's plan to haul the tanker off the rocks at St Ann's Head failed "the vessel will break up—the only question is when"

The tugs succeeded only in getting the ship to see-saw slowly from side to side, but she remained fast amidships.

Three tugs were remaining on station throughout the night and a fresh attempt was planned for this morning's 5am high tide.

Labour criticised the Government for failing to ensure that a tug powerful enough to control the tanker as soon as she got into difficulties was stationed at the busy Welsh port.

Nick Ainger, Labour MP for Pembroke, said recommendations of the Donaldson Inquiry, set up after the Braer disaster, had not been implemented. Since the report was published in 1994, the Government had provided two salvage tugs.

Simon Lyster, director general of the Wildlife.Trust, said of the failed salvage plan: "This is a national disgrace."

Twelve out of 17 cargo tanks on the Sea Empress ruptured when she broke free of tugs on Monday and grounded on rocks at the highest tide of the month.

Salvage experts — who were lifted off the vessel for their own safety on Monday night — re-boarded yesterday and tried to refloat her at the evening high tlde by pumping air into her tanks.

Government experts said about 50,000 tons of oil had already gushed from the

tanker. The slick, a mile wide, was movmg out to sea; but oil reached the

internationally important wildlife sanctuaries of Skomer and Skokholm,six miles from the ship, and the Dyfed Wildlife Trust has declared a state of emergency on both islands.

The slick was attacked throughout yesterday by seven Dakota aircraft from the Marine Pollution Control Unit, which sprayed dispersant on it.

Three hundred council staff and oil refinery workers have been deployed on cleaning beaches, and a detachment of German Nato troops from the nearby Castlemartin range is on standby.

Last night council workers used boulders and shingle to block off the entrance to Gann Flats, a site of special scientific interest which is home to wading birds and is visited by little egrets.

 The Countryside Council for Wales reported a "worrying increase" in oiled birds with 360 found lightly oiled within the haven.

The National Trust, which owns 40 miles of coastline in the Pembrokeshire National Park and 28 miles on the Gower Peninsula. said it was "extremely concerned"

Dr Sian Pullen, oi the World Wide Fund For Nature, said the oil could have short-term effects on bird populations and longerterm effects on lobster fisheries and the soft corals and sea fans of the marine reserve.

"The problem is that oil dispersants are toxic in their own right and can have an effect on fish eggs and shellfish larvae."

Paul Horsman, of Greenpeace, said: "This spillage should never have happened. You are talking about Britain's busiest mainland oil port and there was no ocean-going tug of the power required stationed here."


0070 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

THE CRUCIAL QUESTIONS

ALASTAIR MILBURN

The Sea Empress tanker disaster poses more questions than answers.

Environmental groups and politicians are demanding that those questions be addressed by a full public inquiry into the grounding and subsequent spill from the tanker.

But the Government is already warding off those demands, claiming that an inquiry by the independent Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) will be sufficient.

So what are the key questions the agency's investigation must answer?

Did the pilot meet the Sea  Empress early enough?

The tanker's approach to Milford Haven was apparently trouble-free.

In a routine operation the pilot boarded the Sea Empress just beyond St Ann's Head, 15 minutes before the vessel ran aground.

Environmentalists are claiming that the grounding might have been averted if the pilot had met the tanker earlier, giving sufficient time to prepare the tanker for entry into the two-mile-wide mouth of the Haven.

Friends of the Earth Cymru claims that because of cutbacks at Milford Haven port there are no longer the resources to send pilots to meet incoming vessels earlier - a view backed by local tugmen.

Indications from the pilot suggest steering and possibly propulsion problems led to the grounding.

How can a tanker which went into service just three years ago suffer mechanical failure?

Pembroke MP Nick Ainger had no doubts. He said that if both the Sea Empress and the Borga, which grounded just a few hundreds yards away, had been cars they would not yet be required to undergo an MoT test because they are less than three years old.

If there were potential mechanical problems on every modern vessels they need to be detected.

"I believe there is something wrong with the minimum standards that are being set," he said.

So what were the minimum standards the Sea Empress had to adhere to?

Tougher ship inspection procedures in British waters were introduced as a result of Lord Donaldson's inquiry into the Braer disaster off the Shetlands in 1993.

But the MAIB investigation will have to find out what checks the Liberian-registered vessel has had, and by whom. Standards vary considerably from country to country.

Radar at the entrance to the port to help guide tankers in has been out of action for six months. Could this have contributed to the grounding?

If the vessel was experiencing mechanical difficulties before the grounding the radar question does not enter the argument.

If there were no mechanical problems, however, the MAIB will be eager to flnd out if an operational radar would have helped to prevent the tanker from grounding.

In such an environmentally sensitive area the agency will surely question whether the port authority was guilty of complacency by not returning the radar to action.

But when all is said and done, if the Empress had a double hull and not a single skin would the catastrophe have been avoided?

Opinion is divided. Lord Donaldson said a great deal of research remained to be done before anyone could say unequivocally which was the most effective.

After the Braer disaster the International Maritime Organisation was advised to monitor the performance of double-hulled vessels.

Lord Donaldson said double hulls could help to prevent pollution in minor collisions or groundings, but only when just the outer skin was broken.

Critics say that in an area such as the Pembrokeshire coast risks should not be taken with single skins.

Did the Marine Pollution Control Unit implement the National Contingency Plan and set up the joint rescue centre quickly enough?

Yes. The plan and centre were fully operational within hours.

Did they have all the necessary resources?

No. The tugs at Milford Haven have been unable to stabilise the Sea Empress. The salvage team lost control of the tanker as tugs tried to manoeuvre it to face the storms on Saturday night.

On Sunday the Chinese supertug De Yue arrived from the south-east of England to add tug power, but there are claims that even its inclusion was not enough to hold the tanker.

So why wasn't there sufficient tugpower at Milford when so many supertankers pass up and down such a environmentally sensitive stretch of water?

A thorny problem. Local tugboat workers said last November that until now only their skill and good weather had prevented a disaster such as the Sea Empress running aground. They say cutbacks at Milford have reached dangerous levels. The port authority denies this.

The day after the first grounding, attempts to remove the oil from the stricken vessel were delayed because of misunderstandings between the salvage team and the Russian crew, who could communicate only through an interpreter. Did language difficulties create delays in the salvage operation?

Almost certainly. but difflcult to gauge at this stage. It is extremely unlikely that the MA inquiry would recommend at least one English-speaking crewman on any tanker in British waters because that would be hard to enforce. But the proposition would be attractive to British marine authorities.

Did the lack of tugpower and language difficulties prevent the oil being transferred from the vessel on Friday or Saturday, resulting in Monday night's massive spill?

This is certainly a contributing factor, but the salvage team says the weather has dictated the whole operation.

Yet any delay which resulted in the the loss of more than a third of the tanker's cargo of oil needs serious examination by the MAIB inquiry

So would it be prudent to prevent such a spill ever happening again by either banning vessels from the area or limiting access, as suggested by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature?

A ban is totally impractical.

The oil industry at Milford Haven is a major slice of the West Wales economy, worth tens of millions of pounds.

Restrictions on shipping would also have a knock-on effect on the area's economy.

Since thousands of jobs has been lost in West Wales in recent years the argument of the economy versus the environment will rage for months.


0071 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

BEACHES COULD TAKE UP TO 30 YEARS TO RECOVER

HANNAH CLEAVER

Beaches in West Wales could be deserts for up to 30 years, bereft of the wildlife which has made Pembrokeshire famous with biologists and nature-lovers.

The world-recognised rare birds and rich sea-life around Milford Haven could be devastated for decades before a slow recovery begins, said an environmental expert last night.

Dr Peter Ferns, lecturer in biology at the University of Wales, Cardiff said, "We are going to have some beaches where everying is dead in a worst-case scenario, I would guess for about 20 to 30 years we will still be able to detect the damage."

And he said the danger was increasing by the day as rare birds headed south to breed on the Dyfed islands.

"So much depends on how long the oil stays around. Many birds will come inshore soon. It could wipe out the breeding colonies if large slicks stay around."

Dr Ferns said it would be a long time before the affected species were back up to strength.

Puffins, guillemots, stormy petrels and the Manx shearwaters were all one-egg brooders, producing a maximum of one chick each year.

"These species would take a lot of breeding elsewhere to repopulate the colonies. I would think we are talking about hundreds or thousands which will die."

He said he hoped the weather conditions remained rough.

"The Shetlands were saved from the Braer by the winds breaking up the oil and spreading it over a wide area, " he said. "The worst thing to happen now is that the winds drop off and the oil stays where it is."

Some beaches around Milford Haven could escape pollution altogether and they could help affected beaches to recover said Dr Ferns.

"Provided the oil decomposes during the summer, some organisms will come back and gradually the animals will come back too. The effects on the beaches are pretty disastrous but not totally irreversible."

He said the pollution could be made worse by detergents and dispersal agents sprayed on the slick. These chemicals were longer-lasting than the oil itself, he said.

"One of the big lessons learned after the Exxon Valdez, from studies of polluted beaches, was that those treated with detergents and dispresants are still damaged. Those without the chemicals have recovered."

He said some bacteria could break down oil but not detergents and dispersants.

The outlook for the Pembrokeshire coast was looking grim, he said, and even if all went well, it would be five to 10 years before the wildlife could recover.

"It is one of the worst environmental disasters in Wales for a long, long time. I'm trying to think of something that compares to it but they all seem like pinpricks compared to this," he said.


0072 (Feb 21 1996) The Independent

CHINESE TAKEAWAY CALLED TO THE RESCUE

Rebbeca Fowler

From the shore it was the perfect scene for an adventure story. The supertanker Sea Empress lies perilously close to the cliffs grounded on the Dyfed coast, south-west Wales, just beyond the lighthouse; a salvage team works desperately to save her; and her broken anchors lie at the bottom of the sea.

But how did the 147,000 tonne supertanker come to be off course on her way into Britain's busiest mainland oil port, in moderate conditions when shipping safety is supposedly vigilantly policed? And why have the Anglo-Dutch salvagers failed to free her?

The disaster struck between 8.07 and 8.20 last Thursday night. The Liberian-registered tanker was heading into Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, aiming for the Texaco oil refinery. A pilot boarded to help guide her on the last lap of her journey. But within 15 minutes of him boarding she hit a sandbank and rocks in the waters around St Ann's Head. The vessel, carrying 140,000 tonnes of crude oil, was one-quarter of a mile inside the outer Channel marking as water gushed in and she began to sink.

Captain Eduard Bolgov, head of the 28-strong Russian crew was on the bridge. But he had handed over control to the pilot by the time water swept across the tanker, equivalent in size to three football pitches. He described afterwards how they experienced " a great shuddering" as the ship went through the entrance to the outer harbour.

It was not just a shipping disaster, in exactly the same waters where a vessel ran into trouble three-and-a-half months ago. For the surrounding waters and shoreline, Britain's only coastal national park which boasts some of the finest marine life in Europe, the Sea Empress was an ecological time bomb. Already thousands of tonnes of oil were gushing from the damaged tanks to form a three-mile slick.

Government officials, from the coastguard, port authorities and marine-pollution unit, were mobilised immediately. Their first task was to establish a salvage team, and evacuate anyone in danger both on the vessel and on shore. There were fears of a gas explosion on the ship.

By Friday the winds had whipped up a five-mile oil slick. Environmentalists hoped that the direction of the wind meant the oil would not be carried towards the coastline, home to 500,000 sea birds, colonies of grey seals and communities of rare shellfish.

The marine pollution unit sent seven DC Decota aircraft fitted with spray equipment to drop chemical dispersants. It also oversaw the installation of protective booms in front of marshlands. The technique was perfected in Kuwait during the Gulf war when Iraqi troops threatened to manipulate an environmental disaster.

Coastguards declared the tanker disaster a full-scale emergency. Their priority was to move the vessel to a position where she could be secured, so that her potentially lethal cargo could be pumped off onto a smaller ship.

But the elements have frustrated the salvage operation from the outset. "We've seen the Sea Empress run aground three times in four days," a St Ann's lighthouse keeper, who wished to be anonymous, said. "That ship's got a mind of her own she's not doing what anyone wants her to do."

Two teams of Dutch divers assessed the damage to the tanker's pump room and 17 cargo tanks. Meanwhile, four tugs kept her in position off St. Ann's Head, at the entrance to Milford Haven, intending to bring'the 30,000 tonne Star Bergen alongside to take off the oil.

   .

But by Saturday norning it was clear that the winds were intensifying and dramatic gale force winds were forecast. The salvagers decided to turn the ship around so her bow was facing out into the gathering storm.

But at 6.30pm when the storm struck, two of the tugs holding her lost their tow lines and the stern swung back round. Two other tugs held on, but the supertanker's anchor chains snapped and it was all they could do to stop her going out of control.

On Sunday the salvage experts were dropped on board by an Royal Air Force Sea King helicopter - they were still hopeful that the vessel was salvagable.

Despite the ship's heavy list, the engine room was not flooded. Yet by the evening the operation had collapsed again, and had almost descended into farce.

A 21,000hp Chinese tug, the seventh most powerful in the world, had managed to get a tow line to the ship, which was still threatening to drift out of control. However, the captain spoke only Cantonese, while the British pilot on board spoke only English. The coastguards called the local Happy Garden Chinese takeaway out of desperation, and Paul Chung, the chef, was called to the port at 10 pm to translate. The Chinese tug was later put to one side "or stand by".

On Monday, the authorities allowed themselves a further display of optimism. But once again their hopes were dashed by the weather.

The 21-strong salvage crew on board the Sea Empress attempting to get the super tanker's systems running again were driven off at 11.45pm by more gale-force winds, and the supertanker drifted one-quarter of a mile along the coast in  the highest tide of the month before coming to rest beside the cliffs.

It was, according to the rescue officials, "disappointing".

The salvage team annouced that they were bringing forward their plans to move the vessel to a secure mooring by two days to last night, so pumping could begin immediately.

Stephen Dennison, director of Cory Tugs, one of the three companies involved in the salvage operation, insisted: You ultimately cannot fight again the weather ."

But visitors, who had gathered at St Ann's Head to watch the spectacle, were growing increasingly sceptical yesterday.

"Why wasn't something done? We can't understand how it came to this. We've been coming here on holiday for 20 years and it's one of the most beautiful parts of Wales," Nick Roberts, a teacher from Cardiff, said.


0073 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

DEATH THROES OF THE EMPRESS

High tide rescue fails as 50,000 tonnes of oil threaten ecological catastrophe.

STEPHEN CARR

Bathed in pale yellow light in a black sea, the Sea Empess last night stubbornly refused to be saved.

For three hours eight tugs tried to pull the stricken tanker clear of rocks at

St Ann's Head but a loud crunch just before 8pm signalled defeat. The 35ft high tide was, many believed, the best chance of preventing the vessel breaking up and releasing the remaining 80,000 tonnes of its cargo.

Although the tugs return this morning hopes are fading that what is already an environmental disaster can be prevented from becoming Britain's largest oil spill.

The equivalent to the contents of 1,833 fully loaded oil tanker lorries has already spewed into the sea since the ship ran aground last Thursday.

Within 30 minutes of the start of the rescue operation last night it was clear that the attempt would fail.

The tugs filled sections of the hull with compressed air to make it more buoyant. Hopes were raised when the Sea Empress began to move.

Crowds watching from nearby cliffs saw her start to float away from the danger area towards a shallow, where it is hoped to unload the rest of the oil.

But moments later the huge vessel stopped  and began to drift back, before hitting the rocks again with a loud crunch.

Salvage teams and the tugs desperately maintained their efforts until just before 8pm. Then the operation described by leader Stephen Dennison as risky, was abandoned.

The crew on board were removed. The tugs withdrew, leaving the vessel alone again, still leaking oil.

Today there is another small glimmer of hope when the high winds drop to 10 miles an hour. But poor weather is forecast for tonight.

Paul Horsman, head of Greenpeace's oil camplugn, who watched last night's failed rescue attempt from St Ann's Head, said, "If this operation fails, she will be stuck where she is until she breaks up or until the tides are strong enough to pull her off, or until she leaks enough oil to float again."

But long before the end of last night's rescue attempt many of the crowd who had gathered on a bitterly cold night to watch had drifted away convinced they had seen the death throes of the Sea Empress.


0074 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

SLICK SURROUNDS ISLAND BIRD AND SEAL HAVENS

Alastair Milburn

A state of emergency was declared by environmentalists last night as oil from the stricken Sea Empress surrounded the wildlife havens of Skomer and Skokholm.

The accident already ranks as one of the world's biggest oil disasters in the past decade.

Wardens have been mobilised to return to the two islands after receiving reports that the first significant oil has come ashore at Skomer.

Fearing for the safety of the seals and thousands of birds which thrive on the islands, environmentalists said the response to the disaster had been 'underplayed" and was lacking in urgency.

Yesterday it emerged that more than a third of the tanker's 147,000 tonne cargo of North Sea oil had leaked from the vessel.

Most of that oil leaked during heavy storms on Monday night which caused the tanker to move more than 400 yards back on to rocks.

Marine Pollution Control Unit operations leader Joe Small said the level of the oil in the tanker had fallen by about two metres on Monday night, the equivalent of about 20,000 tonnes, and that 12 of the tanker's l7 oil tanks had been punctured.

He said a slick eight miles long and one mile wide was heading southeast from the ship.

Before last night's abandoned rescue attempt Shipping Minister Lord Goschen said, "This is our last chance given the weather conditions."

Some fear it will be four weeks before there is a sufficiently high tide to attempt another operation which will be too late to stop the remaining oil leaking.

The tanker could break up if it continued to take a batterlng from the high winds and tides, Lord Goschen said. "If the vessel remains in her current location for much longer there's a very large chance of her breaking up and all the cargo that remains on board will be lost."

The Minister, on a flying visit to the area, said salvage workers faced a huge task in trying to save the ship, which has gone aground twice since it first hit the rocks at St Ann's Head last Thursday night. "People have been putting their lives at risk to make sure pollution is minimised."

But tensions rose during the day as it became apparent that early fears of an environmental disaster were becoming justified.

Judith Phillips, of Dyfed WildlifeTrust, said, "We are angry that this tanker incident has been underplayed by the authorities.

"There must now be an urgent response to what is going on."

Lord Goschen said that in the early stages of the incident it had not been realised how serious the situation was.

Meanwhile, the Countryside Council for Wales launched an aerial survey of the seabirds in the area. So far more than 200 oiled birds have been spotted but cannot be caught. More than 50 carcases have been washed up and 12 birds are being treated at wildlife hospitals in West Wales.

Iolo Williams, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said,"It could be months before the full extent of this diaster is known."

Peter Cooney, representative for the owners of the Sea Empress,  Acomarit, admitted the spill was an ecological disaster.

He said there were lessons to be learned by all parties involved in the accident.

The 47,000 tonnes of crude oil which has leaked from the vessel is 9,000 more tonnes than that which leaked from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in March 1989, northern  America's worst spill.

In January 1993, the Braer tanker which broke up off the Shetlands lost 84,500 tonnes of light crude.

In December 1992, the Aegean  supertanker lost nearly 80,000 of crude oil after running aground in a storm off northern Spain.


0075 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

SHUTTLE SERVICE TO SAVE WILDLIFE

The cost of cleaning birds in the wake of the Sea Empress oil tanker disaster could run in to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

RSPCA officials say they do not yet know who will foot the bill for the massive wildlife rescue operation. A spokesman said yesterday: "All we can do is save as many birds as we can and think about the price of the rescue later."

The average cost of cleaning one bird is estimated at about £30 and rescue workers and volunteers expect to pick up thousands from along the Pembrokeshire coastline over the coming weeks.

The birds that can be saved - normally only half of those that are rescued - will need intensive care for at least a week after they are found.

Three wildlife centres run by volunteers in the South Wales region can cater for only 300 casualties between them - and already 400 oiled birds have been spotted along the coastline.

The RSPCA has three shuttle vehicles standing by to ferry birds to its wildlife hospital 200 miles away at Taunton in Somerset the only centre in the country that has the facilities to cater for thousands of oiled birds.

Romain DeKerckhove, an RSPCA officer, said: "The cost of a rescue operation on the scale we are expecting doesn't bear thinking about. But our main concern is to pick up as many birds as possible before they die."

The biggest killer of oiled birds is dehydration caused by ingested oil and shock. Rescuers' first task when they find casualties will be to administer lectade - the bird equivalent of a drip - through a tube inserted in the throat. Then they

will be loaded in to cages in the waiting trucks and taken on the four-hour journey to Taunton.

Colin Seddon, deputy manager of the RSPCA Wildlife Hospital, said the birds will

receive round-the-clock care, but many are expected to die.


0076 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

SALVAGE NOT EXACT SCIENCE EVEN ON CALMER SEAS

Ceri Jones

Professional salvers know effecting the recue of a crippled ship is not an exact science.

The process of getting the oil out of the stricken tanker, Sea Empress, would not have been straightforward even if the had been shining and the sea was millpond calm. Given the force nine gales, it has so far proved an almost impossible task.

When the Sea Empress hit the rocks last Thursday the tanks were not the only parts of the ship to be torn open and epoxed to the sea.

Also badlly flooded with water was the ship's pump room, which needs to be effective for any atternpt to get the oil off the ship.

Although portable equipment is available, its capacity is less than 10 per cent of the ship's own system.

That was why, in the first two days of the drama, salvage teams worked to dry out the pump room and repair the equipment needed to transfer the remaining oil. That and damage assessment ate up the best part of those first hours, said Stephen Dennison of Cory Towage, one of the three firms involved in salvage operations.

In addition he said they had to transfer over 780 tonnes of equipment worth more than 2m onto the vessel.

"We lost time because we had to take the salvage workers off on Saturday night due to the expected storms," said Mr Dennison.

That was a significant setback. The vessel's anchor winches burned out and the anchors now lie on the sea bed. Then the tow rops linking the vessel to the tugs snapped, leaving the ship out of control.

By day the salvers believed  they gain the upper hand, by night storms wrest back control of the ship.

With each grounding and low tide, more oil has seeped out, culminating in Monday night's crisis when an estimated 20,000 tonnes were lost.

Yesterday, the lessons of the stop-go attempts appeared to have been learned. The 30-strong salvage team from British firms, Cory Towage and Klyne Tugs and Dutch company Smit Pak, planned to make the sea work for them.

The idea was to use the month's  highest tide to.move the ship away from The Haven's mouth.

Mr Dennison said they would either take remaining 100,000 tonnes off at a rate of one to two thousand tonnes an hour, or take enough to allow a patching-up operation and move the vessel again.


0077 (Feb 21 1996) The Independent

DISASTER WARNING WARNING WAS IGNORED

 Rebecca Fowler and Steve Boggan

Britain was last night on the edge of its biggest oil pollution disaster since the Torry Canyon as a political row broke out over the operation to keep the supertanker Sea Empress off the rocks of west Wales.

The government was accused of rank complacency when an MP claimed in the House of Commons that the ship had leaked up to 50,000 tonnes of oil simply because not enough tugs were available to control it.

Salvors last night braved heavy seas in a bold attempt to move the vessel to safer waters where it was intended to begin off-loading part of its 138,000 tonne cargo of light crude oil on to another tanker.

However, the operation was overshadowed by claims that the pollution -control team fighting the eight-mile slick had not been given the tools to do the job. Nick Ainger, MP for Pembroke, said an adviser to Sir George Young, the Transport Secretary, had confirmed that only 400 tonnes of tug pulling power had been available to withstand.the 800 tonnes exerted by the 147,000 tonne Sea Empress as it grounded again and again off the mouth of Milford Haven, Britain's biggest oil terminal and the site of protected bird, seal and dolphin populations.

The rescue team last night rejected Mr Ainger's claims, but the Labour MP said the Government had been warned of the shortage by Lord Donaldson of Lymington in his report on the Braer oil spillage in the Shetland Isles in January 1993.

"I have been told that not enough pulling power has been available and that the tanker has been pulling the tugs - my sources have told me it has been on and off the rocks at least l0 times," he said. "Lord Donaldson said he believed the Government needed to set up a system to ensure tugs with sufficient salvage capacity were available at strategic points around the UK shores, but that does not seem to have been done.

"He warned that there was a shortage of salvage tugs because, thankfully, vessels run aground less these days, so they are not commercially viable. The Government should have provided back-up but it didn't." There has been criticism and consternation among environmentalists since the tanker ran aground last Thursday night over the inability of the salvage team to stabilise

the vessel and offload some of its cargo, which had been destined for the Texaco oil refinery in Milford Haven. "Now we have had a simple explanation of why they couldn't do it and it has made me very angry," said Mr Ainger.

David Thomas, a spokesman for the joint response centre dealing with the crisis said nine tugs were working at the scene and there had been "no problem" in finding them. However figures given to the Independent suggested they had a total pulling power of only 680 tonnes.

As oil began spilling on to the island of Skomer, where seabirds are due to begin nesting next month, salvage experts began the operation to move the Sea Empress on what will be the last very high tide for four weeks.

The government team responsible for the rescue operation denied it had failed to respond adequately. Lord Goschen, shipping minister said workers had faced terrible obstacles including gale force winds and storms.

Although Lord Goschen stressed the plan to move the vessel carried risk, he said experts believed it would start to break up if not controlled and moved to safety.

He said: "We believe this is the best chance given the weather conditions, coming up to high tide, and the state of the vessel for coming to a successful conclusion."

The Sea Empress was lurching perilously close to the cliffs at St Ann's Head, near Milford Haven, yesterday, and creaking in the wind. A stream of crude oil continued to flow from the hull, transforming the white waves to thick brown foam.

An Anglo-Dutch team of 18 salvors were on board, attempting to repair the pump and hybraulic systems.


0078 (Feb 21 1996) The Western Mail

£ 7m FISHING INDUSTRY PUT UNDER THREAT

Milford Haven:  Oil slick strikes just as area degins to enjoy record catches

Colin Hughes

Fisheries worth more than £7m a year to the economy were threatened

last night when buyers in France and Spain began a boycott of Welsh crabs

and lobsters.

Shellfish merchants in Milford Haven were forced to close down as oil from the Sea Empress began to pollute the rich spawning grounds off the Pembrokeshire coast.

South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee director Phil Coates said yesterday, "There are serious implications for the fishery industry.Just how big a risk it faces we do not know at the moment."

The tanker disaster could not have come at a worse time for the local fishery industry, now enjoying record catches after fishery officers succeeded in turning the tide of decline.

An export boom was forecast this year but with continental buyers already taking action most at risk are:

• £2.5m cockle industry.

• Whelk exports worth £1.5m.

• Shellfish valued at £1.5m, and

• £1m worth of sea bass.

Mr Coates said, "We have advised the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food where the fisheries are and we are looking at remedial measures to minimise the damage.

"I am aware there are potential problems regarding the health aspects of eating contaminated fish and shellfish. But the committee is keen to establish that merchants do not stop taking these fisheries as an immediate reaction to the tanker catastrophe."

February is normally the quietest time of the year for landings of crustaceans, particularly lobsters and crabs. But the 1990s boom in whelks continues, with new Far Eastern markets opening up in Korea and China.

These "marine snails," are fished mainly in Carmarthen Bay, now at risk from the oil slick. Prices have shot p from £300 to £800 a tonne.

Fisheries officers ate talking to the Welsh Office to try to establish the extent of any potential risk to public health. "It depnds on the quantities of oil and the area of contamination along with the relative susceptibility of the fish species - they will all have different susceptibilities because of their varying habitats," said Mr Coates.

The fishermen would be losing their livelihood and looking for compensation, he said

Local fishermen met their solicitors at Milford Haven last night to discuss the question of compensation as a result of the impending disaster.


0079 (Feb 21 1996) The Daily Telegraph

VALUED COASTLINES ARE STILL DENIED PROTECTION

Toby Moore

A Central recommendation of the inquiry into the1993 Braer tanker disaster off Shetland has still not been implemented nearly two years later.

Lord Donaldson, a former Master of the Rolls, said after his inquiry that "marine environmental high risk" areas should be designated on busy shipping routes. None has been.

Conservation groups are to press the Government to make the designations following the Sea Empress spillage and to accompany them with tougher protection for coastlines.

Sian Pullan, marine conservation officer for the Worldwide Fund for Nature, said: "A full environmental assessment should be carried out of the whole coastline, in line with Donaldon to identify high risk areas.

"Where these are identified, tankers should be allowed to enter ports only if they have double hulls and are under the guidance of a tug. Neither is the case at present. "

The Braer inquiry has led to more random checks on ships, with powers of

detention; a central recommendation that tugs be kept on stand-by around the coast was also implemented.

The Donaldson report added to an already long list of studies and

recommendations to make tankers safer, dating back to the 1967 Torrey Canyon disaster which poured 119,000 tons of oil on to the Scilly Isles.

Tanker operators point to a general decline in the volume of oil spilt into seas as

evidence that the problem is more apparent than real: the volume lost in 1994 was 71,000 tons. However, the statistical decline masks a growing potential for

disaster.

Under rules brought in after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska seven years ago all new tankers must have double hulls, which have a two-metre gap between two skins of hull.

The Sea Empress, built before the regulation came in, has a single hull. Of 3,500 oil tankers plying the oceans, only 251 have them. Most of the world's tankers were built in the oil boom years of the 1970s, since when demand for oil has slumped and with it the building of new ships.

An ageing world tanker fleet is now coupled more ship owners operating under flags of convenience.

Lord Donaldson noted that registrations were rising fastest under flags that had the lowest standards and lost the most shipping each year.


0080 (Feb 21 1996) The Daily Telegraph

WHY DID IT ALL GO WRONG?

Long after oil from the Sea Empress disperses, questions will remain about a salvage operation that ended up leaving a tanker becalmed on rocks for five days, writes Toby Moore.

Concern will centre on why half a dozen tugs, including one of the most powerful in the world, failed to free the ship and make use of the vessel's unaffected engine room.

The worst oil spill happened after lines broke on Monday night, sending the ship 400 yards back onto the rocks and rupturing 12 of her 17 tanks.

One safety expert expressed "some surprise" last night that the tanker was not towed to a haven where oil could be pumped out safely.

Tankers are prticularly  vulnerable to breaking up on hitting rocks, making speedy salvage vital.

Salvage teams have to juggle judgment, the weather  and tides: in this instance, the last two worked firmly against them.

                                                      OIL SPILLAGES

                                    Oil spillages around Europe since 1967

Ship                                Date                  Location                           Oil lost

                                                                                                       (tonnes)

Torrey Canyon               1967                Scilly Isles                        119,000

Jakob Maersk                 1975                  Oporto                              80,000

Urquiola                        1976                La Coruna, Spain               108,000

Amoco Cadiz                  1978                Off Brittany                       227,000

Haven                            1991                    Genoa                           140,000

Aegean Sea                    1992                 La Coruna                          72,000

Braer                             1993                Shetland Isles                    85,000


0081 (Feb 21 1996) The Independent

Wildlife at risk from the Sea Empress spill

Wildfowl and wading birds: shelduck, widgeon, common scoters.  Oil will affect coastal feeding grounds, killing burrowing shrimp and worms in mud the birds search for food.

Danger areas: Milford Haven Waterway (7,000 wildfowl; 8,000 waders); Carmarthen Bay (15,000 scoters)

Puffins: Damaged feathers from diving into oiled water. Eating contaminated fish, their main diet, will also kill.  Danger areas: Skomer Island (15,000 puffins) and Skokholm Island.

Diving birds: guillemots, gannets, Shearwaters, gulls.  Have to dive thorough oiled sea surface to feed on fish.  Cannot fly with contaminated feathers.  Hypothermia also a problem.  Ingestion of oil can kill.  Crucial areas: Skomer Island (16,000 guillemots; 40,000 gulls); Grassholm Island (70,000 gannets); Skokholm Island (200,000 shearwaters).

Cetaceans: 8 recognised communities of harbour porpoises and bottlenosed dolphins near spill area.  Contaminated fish most serious problem.  Most affected area: Southwest Pembrokeshire, Skokholm Island and Skomer Island.

Starfish:  a rare population of green rockpool starfish probably already destroyed at West Angle Bay.  Toxins in oil would have destroyed the community. Spawn in area also destroyed.  Rare algae such as seaweed also poisoned by oil in shore areas around Milford Haven.

Grey seals and otters:  three seal communities in area.  Damage to food chain especially fish will cause serious problems.  Ingestion of oil toxins will also kill.  Area in danger: Skomer Island.

Long term damage:  The physical smeering of oil in the coastal areas, and the poisonous toxicity of oil could do lasting damage to the natural habitats around the spill area.  With the experience from the Exxon Valdeez clean-up, the use of dispersants means the clean-up operation can often do as much damage to the marine and coastal environment as the oil itself.


096Feb22

0082(22.02.96) Independent

0083(22.02.96) The Guardian

0084(22.02.96) The Guardian

0085(22.02.96) Independent

0086(22.02.96) Independent

0087(22.02.96) Independent

0088(22.02.96) Independent

0089(22.02.96) The Guardian

0090(22.02.96) The Guardian

0091(22.02.96) The Guardian

0092(22.02.96) The Guardian

0093(22.02.96) CCW News Release

0094(22.02.96)  CCW News Release

0095(22.02.96) CCW Update


0082 (22.02.96) The Independent

Was this spill inevitable?

by Alasdair McIntyre

The launch of the first supertanker in the early Sixties was hailed as a triumph of marine engineering, but there were pessimists who feared the consequences of an accident at sea. In March 1967, this pessimism was justified when the Torrey Canyon, bound for Milford Haven, ran on to the Seven Sisters Rocks off Land's End and spilled its cargo of 119,000 tonnes of Kuwait crude. Thereafter the names of stricken tankers became household words: the Amoco Cadiz, the Exxon Valdiz, the Braer and now the Sea Empress.

It is too early to access the environmental impact of this recent incident, but it will certainly be immensely serious. Local people will be looking back to some 10 years ago when a much smaller tanker, the Bridgeness, went aground in the same area, and they will remember that although only 167 tonnes of oil escaped, around 130 km of shore was affected and 5,000 seabirds killed.

The Sea Empress was carrying 136,000 tonnes and the scale of the damage will be commensurately greater. Already seabirds have been killed off southwest Wales, fishing operations have been interrupted and shores have been contaminated. The final outcome will depend to some extent on the changing force and direction of the wind, but oil has reached the Isle of Skomer, one of  Britain's two marine nature reserves.

The story is depressingly familiar. Nearly 30 years after the Torrey Canyon, have we learnt nothing from successive experiences of oil spills?

In fact, a great many lessons have been learnt  about the use of detergents and their replacement by relatively nontoxic dispersants; about the possibility of containing and picking up oil from the sea; about optional cleanup procedures ashore, and about when to act and when to leave things to nature. Also, in Britain, there are contingency plans for each part of the coast, and guidelines for the most environmentally sensitive areas.

Further, there are stocks of clean-up equipment stored at strategic points round the coast, and supplies of dispersants available for dedicated spraying aircraft.

All these measures, however, relate only to dealing with the immediate aftermath of a spill. After the Braer incident at Shetland in 1993, it was felt that as well as the usual detailed examination of the specific events there should be a much broader review, so Lord Donaldson was asked to inquire into how the coast of the UK could be protected from pollution by merchant shipping.

His report was published in May 1994. As well as dealing with cleanup measures, it examined emergency procedure for ships in distress. In that

context the report made, among other things, a 13part recommendation for a system to ensure that tugs with adequate salvage capacity should be available at key points round the UK shores. 1t went on to suggest how these tugs might be staffed and administered. But the main thrust of the Donaldson report was its recognition that by far the best approach was to prevent accidents occurring in the first place. Thus, it looked at a whole spectrum of issues ranging from ship structure, design and maintenance, through navigation, routeing and tracking, to manning, handling and crew training.

The report was regarded as a blueprint for action, and indeed of its 103 recommendations the Government immediately accepted 86 and agreed to consider another 13. As a result many substantial improvements have been made, others are in hand, while some are delayed by the need for interational consultation and agreement.

It is against this background of vastly improved safety consciousness that we

come back to the central question of this week's disaster: how was the Sea Empress accident able to occur? Must we conclude that such sporadic accidents will always be a feature of transporting oil?

It has been suggested that immediate steps should have been taken to transfer

cargo from the Sea Empress to other vessels, that more tugs should: have been on the spot at the beginning, so that the ship once pulled off the rocks could have been held clear, that even after the final grounding, powerful tugs could have hauled it free.

It is always easy to criticise a particular action or lack of action after the event, but only those on the scene can make the necessary carefully balanced

judgements in the light of what seems best at the time. If stronger tugs had been able to pull the ship clear, this may have been done at the expense of damage to the hull and a release of more oil  a distinct possibility. To which the critics would have accused the salvors of overreacting, saying that brute force was not the answer.

On the information available, however, the official and obligatory inquiry will certainly want to know why the vessel, having first been pulled free, was not immediately towed welloffshore.

It will also want to know why, at an earlier stage with a pilot aboard, the Sea Empress was out of the normal shipping channel, and what action was taken at that time. The tanker was a relatively new ship, built in 1993, and so far there has been no sign of mechanical failure. The possibility of human error will undoubtedly be raised.

These matters are for later. The immediate issue is too important to be turned into a tugofwar between political parties. In my view, the salvors are pursuing the only course they can. The important thing is to ensure that they have access

to the necessary facilities and expertise to avoid further serious damage.

As to the environment, damage is already done. Even with the most effective cleanup operation and favourable weather conditions carrying the slick away from shore, the coastine of southwest Wales will be visibly affected for many months to come.

In the longer term, we have to face up to the problem of conflicting interests located in the same area. On one hand we want to be able to enjoy a pristine marine environment, with its wildlife, opportunities for recreation and its possibilities for fishing. On the other, there is society's need for oil, and the fact is that any laden tanker approaching a refinery or leaving an oil terminal must be a potential hazard. No matter how advanced our technology, human error can never be wholly eliminated.

The writer is professor of fisheries and oceanography at Aberdeen University, and a member of the Donaldson inquiry team.


0083 (22.02.96) The Guardian

The sea that turned to treacle

Eyewitness      Edward Pilkington on Skomer

The Wick on Skomer island in west Wales looked like a haven of tranquillity

yesterday in an angry tossing sea. Greater black backed gulls were sheltering in the fissures of the cliff's sheer face and nearby a grey seal basked on a rock, if it is possible to bask in driving snow.

In a few weeks' time, the Wick will be heaving with 14,000 guillemots, razorbills, shags, gannets and puffins. They will occupy every inch of rock, in one

of the greatest densities of nesting birds in Britain.

Despite success last night in pulling the Sea Empress off the jagged rocks on which it was impaled, the oil spilled so far could turn this annual celebration of bird life into a mass disaster. Already there are ominous signs for miles around.

Only 30 metres from where the gulls and a solitary razorbill are sheltering, the water has a faint, wispy sheen on its surface like the scummy film in a kitchen sink. As our boat, a small fishing vessel called Sabre Tooth, pulled  away from the island we saw the sheen thicken and deepen, turning the water from stony green to muddy brown.

As we watched, one of the  greater blackbacked gulls flew overhead. Its breast feathers were visibly stained yellow, like the colour of a smoker's fingers. As the

boat rounded the Wick the shore line appeared to have been painted black.

The source of this contagion was clearly visible beneath St Anne's Head, about four miles south along the Pembrokeshire coastline. Even from that distance the Sea Empress loomed, her hulk towering over the army of nine tugs that struggled to control her.

As we drew closer to the Sea Empress, the area took on the semblance of a battle zone. A stream of Dakotas flew low overhead, dropping their dispersant bombs.

At a distance of half a mile from the Sea Empress the wake of our boat turned suddenly into a bubbling cauldron of treacle, the sea foam became corruscating and stung the eyes, and the air grew thick with fimes, scraping against the back

of the throat as if we were breathing vapours in a petrol station.

The oil has landed ashore along miles of Milford Haven estuary, drawing a dark line on the rocks along the high water and causing havoc for local wildlife. The question now on everybody's minds is whether a similar fate awaits the migrating birds about to arrive on Skomer island.

The authorities in charge of the salvage and clearup operation insisted yesterday that Skomer and its sister island Skokholm were not in peril. But environmental groups adopted a different tone.

Dyfed Wildlife Trust said that tens of thousands of seabirds would be endangered. "The enormous volume of oil, both raw and dissolved into the foodchain by dispersants. will undoubtedly have longterm consequences for the islands' fragile ecosystems," a spokesman said.

Alistair Macleod from the environmental charity Earth Kind was on board Sabre Tooth and witnessed the evidence of oil close to Skomer's shoreline. "People think of oil spillages as thick, black goo. But oil when it has spread into a thin sheet across the sea and is barely visible can be equally damaging by killing plankton and entering the food chain."

Carl Wollocott, the skipper of the Sabre Tooth, has spent the past five years ferrying birdwatchers from the mainland on to Skomer during the March to November season. He views the Sea Empress saga as a disaster waiting to happen.

"We've been too lucky for too many years. In Milford Haven we built one of the

country's largest oil terminals, only four miles from this beautiful island. The trouble is, everybody wants oil."


0084 (22.02.96) The Guardian

After almost a week . . an armada of tugs shifts the Sea Empress into harbour

by Owen Bowcott

The grounded super tanker Sea Empress was pulled off rocks at the mouth of Milford Haven estuary by an armada of 12 tugs last night and towed slowly in  towards the port at high tide.

Pivoting on underwater rocks, the vessel initially swung around, resisting attempts to dislodge it. At around 7.10 pm, however, it slowly glided out stern first towards deeper waters.

On a calm sea, the ship was swung around and propelled towards Milford Haven. It was not immediately clear whether salvage experts would bring it alongside a refinery jetty to discharge the oil or whether it would be grounded again on the falling tide in a less exposed position, where smaller tankers could offload what oil remained on board.

An estimated 15,000 tonnes escaped from the vessel yesterday, leaving barely half the original cargo in the ruptured hull. As much as 70,000 tonnes is now believed to have leaked out since the tanker ran aground last Thursday.

The South Wales fishing fleet yesterday imposed a voluntary ban on 40 miles of coastal waters. Phil Coates, a spokesman for the industry, said his colleagues were worried that the oil would kill shellfish and affect other catches, and that public confidence would be damaged.


0085(22.02.96) The Independent

Coastline under attack

by Dr Robin Russell Jones

Sir: For those of us lucky enough to have been born and raised in Pembrokeshire, the sickening sight of the Sea Empress disgorging her cargo of oil is distressing beyond words.

We need to know who is responsible for the ineffectiveness of the control measures, and the pathetic inability of the tugs to control the tanker in variable sea conditions. However, the real villain is the Government which has ignored the recommendations of Lord Donaldson, made in the wake of the Braer disaster, and sacrificed the Pembrokeshire coastline to market forces

Yours faithfully

ROBIN RUSSELL JONES

Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire

From Dr R W Jones

Sir: Today I revisited St Ann's Head to view the stricken Sea Empress. It appears that Siberian cold air is Pembrokeshire's only hope in avoiding an environmental disaster.

Parliamentary, oil and shipping industry hot air has failed to bring any comfort or responsibility. The accusation of complacency by Nick Ainger, MP for Pembroke, thus has much support locally.

Yours sincerely,

R W JONES

Haverfordwest, Dyfed


0086(22.2.96) The Independent

Key questions that inquiry into tanker disaster must answer

by James Cusick

Q: How did the Sea Empress end up on the rocks?

A: Just after 8pm last Thursday the tanker was heading into Milford Haven, scheduled to dock at the Texaco oil refinery.

A pilot officer from the harboured boarded the tanker to help guide in the final difficult stretch.

But within 15 minutes of the pilot boarding the tanker she had hit a sandbank and the pinnacle of a rock outcrop about half a mile from St Ann's Head.

A detailed inquiry, carried out by the Marine Accidents Investigation Branch, will determine just why the disaster happened and make recommendations to avoid another.

Q: Who were the crew and captain of the tanker?

A: The crew and the captain of the tanker are from Russia. The captain speaks English.

Q: What international flag was she sailing under?

A: The Sea Empress is a Liberian registered vessel. This a "flag of convenience", sometimes called an "open register".

The ships never have to go to Liberia. There is a vicious civil war there at the moment.

The "flag" was set up after the Second World War by American lawyers to attract business and make money. The "flag" is essentially run by a company in New York.

Owners use flags of convenience for a variety of reasons. At the worst extreme it is to get round safety regulations. The worst flags of convenience have poor or non-existent ship inspection facilities.

Under a British register, there would be a barrage of safety inspections and rules.

Another reason for sailing under a convenience flag is to avoid company tax and save on 'registration fees.

Q: Who actually owns the Sea Empress?

A: Not a clear matter. Its owners are listed as a company in Limassol, Cyprus, called Seatankers Management Company Ltd.

The listed business company, set up for the Sea Empress purchase, is called Alegrete.

Cyprus is recognised in the international marine business as a classic tax haven. The majority owner of Seatankers is a Norwegian called John Fredriksen.

The ship is managed from an office in Glasgow, belonging to Acomarit Marine Sevices which employs and pays the crew.

The company which chartered the vessel is French, called Dreyfuss Energy.

The spilled oil caro belongs to the American multi-national, Texaco.

Q: Was the ship up to standard'

A: Yes and no. International recommendations made after recent oil tanker disasters pointed out the need for double hulled vessels.

Essentially this would mean that if the outer shell of the ship was holed by rocks, its cargo would remain protected by the inner shell.

The Sea Empress is a 1993 single-hull design, built in Spain. There is no international enforcement of double hull designs.

From the beating she is taking at St Anne's Head, some  experts believe a double-hull would have made little difference. Others believe that recent evidence from double-hull ships which have grounded, shows the design would have avoid disaster here.

Other than design, the Sea Empress is assumed to have passed international inspections.

Evidence of such inspections will be part of the inquiry. The  Department of Transport publishes a monthly list of foreign flagged ships detained by the Marine Safety Agency in UK ports. The Sea Empress has not, according to the DoT, appeared on its list.

The inspections, however, are random, not all ships are inspected.


0087 (22.02.96) The Independent

Tons of chemicals fail to protect birdlife

Worried conservationists last night warned of the "serious risks" to migrating sea birds as an oil slick from the stricken tanker Sea Empress reached Skomer, an island of great environmental importance.

They also revealed that large amounts of oil were also menacing the other nearby island sanctuary of Skokholm.

Around 50,000 birds - mostly guillemots and razorbills - are at present on the two islands but tens of thousands more from all over the world will arrive in the next few weeks.

"The lives of 500,000 migratory birds are now seriously at risk," said Judy Phillips, of Dyfed Wildlife Trust, which, runs the nature reserves on the islands. "We are dismayed and angry that Sea Empress has been almost complacently allowed to continue spilling its cargo for almost a week.

"The Government has failed to provide an adequate and rapid response to what is turning into an ecological disaster before their eyes."

Thick black oil lapped ashore on Skomer during Tuesday night from a slick estimated to be 250 metres long. Simon Smith, resident warden on the island, said he feared high casualty numbers because many unsuspecting sea birds were now coming ashore because sea and weather conditions had improved after recent storms.

Simon Lister, the Dyfed trust's director-general, speaking in Milford Haven, said: "This whole affair has been little short of a national disgrace. Nothing like the efforts needed have been put into dealing with this properly. If you ask who is to pay for all this the answer is that wildlife is paying."

A squadron of seven aircraft have continued to spray three main oil areas along the South Pembrokeshire coast - one of them now 25 kilometres long.

Tons more chemical dispersants arrived by truck at an airfield near Haverfordwest as part of the international multimillion pound salvage and clean-up operation. A C130 aircraft, the US equivalent of the Hercules, yesterday joined the spraying operation.

Meanwhile, Kevin Colcomb, a government pollution scientist, said spraying was proving effective because of favourable weather. But only about 1,000 tonnes of the spilt oil has so far been recovered from beaches along the Milford Haven estuary.


0088 (22.02.96) The Independent

Built in Spain; owned by a Norwegian; registered in Cyprus; managed from Glasgow; chartered by the French; crewed by Russians; flying a Liberian flag; carrying an American cargo; and pouring oil on to the Welsh coast

But who takes the blame?

by      James Cusick    Peter Victor   Rebecca Fowler

As salvage teams last night succeeded in refloating the stricken Sea Empress tanker there was growing confusion over where responsibility for the disaster lay.

By the end of the day, 65,000 tonnes of crude oil - half the ship's cargo - had poured into the sea in one of Britain's most valued environmental havens. But the inquiry into the disaster will face a tough task in unravelling the tangled web of business interests across six countries who had responsibility for the ship.

Last night, blame was being apportioned from many quarters. Greenpeace blamed the Prime Minister, John Major, for not implementing safety improvements recommended by Lord Donaldson after the Braer mquiry into the Shetland oil spill in January 1993.

The Labour Party blamed a system which allows ships to sail under flags of convenience. The Norwegian company which operates the ship said neither the vessel nor its Russian captain and crew could be blamed.

The Pilot from Milford Haven sent out to guide the tanker safely into port, issued a statement denying "malicious" rumours that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time the vessel first grounded.

Britain's Marine Accident Investigation Branch will have to examine shipping records from Cyprus, Norway, France and Scotland just to establish who owns and manages the Sea Empress. The Spanish-built tanker was carrying crude oil from the North Sea for the American multi-national Texaco. It was chartered from a French company and was sailing under a Liberian flag of convenience.

John Fredriksen, a flamboyant multi-millionaire Norwegian who owns the vessel through a series of companies in Cyprus issued a statement last night, saying: "The cause of the accident its not established. The vessel was technically in full order at the time of the grounding and its crew and officers on board were tested immediately for drugs and alcohol - and passed."

The ship's managing company in Glasgow said that although the crew was tested for drugs and alcohol, the pilot was not. The company added that it was "horrified" at any suggestion that the pilot was intoxicated. The pilot, who refused to be named, issued a statement through lawyers saying "rumours concerning the consumption of alcohol are completely without foundation." He added that their repetition "could prejudice enquiries?'.

As the search for answers began the vessel was finally pulled from the rocks at St, Ann's Head, near Milford Haven. It was still spewing oil as tugs began towing it to a safer location where the remaining oil could be off-loaded on to another ships.

Aircraft carrying chemical dispersants spent the day trying to break up a 12-mile long slick, with up to 10,000 tonnes of oil, threatening one of the most environmentally sensitive shorelines in the country.

Attempts were also being made to tackle a series of smaller slicks across a 25- to 30-mile front from Milford Haven to halfway across Camarthen Bay while oil was reported to have hit the island of Skomer, home to thousands of seabirds.

A dozen tugs - with a total 750 tonnes of pulling power partially freed the ship at high tide, following the failure of a similar operation on Tuesday. There were fears that if ship was not refloated, she would breakup, allowing the rest of her cargo to pour into the sea.

Two French and two Dutch vessels today joined UK ships fitted with oil dispersal equipment. About 140 tonnes of chemicals were also sprayed in wave after wave of sorties by aircraft trying to break up the giant slicks.

In the Commons, Labour accused the Government of a "gross misjudgment" in its handling of the salvage efforts since the tanker ran aground last Thursday night.

Labour transport spokesman Graham Allen blamed ministers for "turning an accident into a disaster". He claimed prompter action could have helped prevent an "environmental and ecological tragedy".

Mr Allen said ministers had ignored the recommendations of Lord Donaldson's report into the Braer disaster which had called for a powerful salvage tug to be stationed in the Western Approaches.

"The gross misjudgment of the Government over the weekend has turned an accident into a disaster," he said.

All yesterday, helicopters airlifted compressors, pumps and other vital equipment to increase the ship's buoyancy.

Today another operation will be mounted to brings small tankers alongside the Sea Empress so that the remaining cargo can be pumped from the supertanker.

Last night Keith Harrison, a retired marine engineer and former technical manager for BP who lives near the disaster site says he frequently warned MPs and the Commons Welsh Affairs Committee of the possibility of a disaster.

He said: "There should have been a tug permanently on hand to escort every ship into the harbour and large enough to deal with a supertanker. The clean-up is now going to cost tens of millions of pounds, all for the sake of not having a relatively cheap tug on hand all the time."

Mr Harrison said that the problem with pilots was that communication was often difficult with foreign crews: "It's all very well the captain speaking English, but the helmsman who is actually doing the manoeuvring probably didn't and that's where you get problems. I've seen it all over the world."

Department of Transport investigators said yesterday only two main areas of the coastline had been affected, with other areas receiving only light pollution. The main lO-mile oil slick was moving out to sea.


0089 (22.02.96) The Guardian

Ministers 'ignored Braer lesson'     Strong tug could have saved tanker

by David Fairhall and Owen Bowcott

A powerful salvage tug would have been avail able to help free the Sea Empress from rocks on the South Wales coast if the Government had immediately accepted tanker safety recommendations following the Braer disaster three years ago. Its 130,000 tonnes of oil are now threatening environmental catastrophe.

Two tugs were contracted at government expense for emergencies this winter, but they are based at Dover and Stornaway, in the Hebrides, and were not called for by the salvage team struggling to save the Sea Empress at Milford Haven. A third tug for the Western Approaches, recommended as a next step in Lord Donaldson's May 1994 report on the loss of the Braer, has not yet been provided.

Yesterday the Department of Transport conceded that filling that gap "will certainly be foremost in the minds" of the marine accident investigators preparing a report on the Sea Empress as the Government's handling of the problem came under renewed attack.

While the shipping minister, Lord Goschen, insisted that the department had accepted Lord Donaldson's report—Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas—Labour claimed crucial suggestions had been ignored and said that more tugs should have been stationed around Britain's coastline.

Among Lord Donaldson's 103 recommendations was a proposal to provide an emergency towing capability where the danger of tanker accidents and pollution was greatest.

His report said: "We believe that the way forward is to consider first how the two key areas—the Dover Strait and North West Scotland— can best be provided with strong tugs. The Western Approaches should be considered next."

The following year, the then transport secretary, Brian Mawhinney, announced that he was accepting 86 of the 103 recommendations, and established two emergency tugs at Stornaway and Dover at a cost of £2 million a year.

But no contract was provided for the south-western coast, although Smit Tak and Cory Towage, two of the companies involved at Milford Haven, did agree informally to keep the Coastguard posted on the whereabouts of the large tug, Kondor.

And whereas tug operators were originally asked to tender for a three to five-year standby at Dover and Stornoway, the government contract was suddenly reduced to provide only six months winter cover.

In the event, the Kondor was working in Spain when the Sea Empress ran aground last week. Its place was taken by the Anglian Earl which took 24 hours to arrive. Asked yesterday if the provision of a permanent emergency tug in the Western Approaches would have made any difference, Stephen Dennison, a member of the Sea Empress salvage team, said. "It would have enabled one tug to be there a few hours sooner. That's a very fine balance of time.

"The ship had run aground at 8pm on Thursday and the Milford Haven harbour tugs owned by Cory had already pulled her off by 10pm."

In Milford Haven yesterday Lord Goschen said the Government had accepted Donaldson's  recommendations to station tugs in locations with the highest risk.

"We contracted an independent tugs study into where the priorities would be and we have set up tugs in the Dover Strait and in the Minches."

But Labour accused the Government of failing to provide sufficient emergency

cover. The shadow transport secretary, Clare Short, said Lord Donaldson should be recalled immediately to look at the issue. "It's the Government's fault that the Donaldson recommendations were not implemented. He said you have to have tugs of a certain pulling strength standing by and there are not many around."

The Labour MP for Newport West, Paul Flynn, said "This has already become an enviromnental catastrophe as the Government has not brought the heavy tugs they should have. It was a precise recommendation in the report after the Braer disaster."


0090 (22.02.96) The Guardian

Extent of oil pollution makes spill drop in ocean

by Tim Radford       Science Editor

The oil that oozed from the shattered hull of the Sea Empress aground off Milford Haven spread like a black hazard to wildlife. But, marine biologists pointed out yesterday, even 50,000 tonnes of North Sea crude would be literally a drop in the ocean compared with the global assault on the environment by human use of oil.

One estimate puts the continuous, chronic poisoning of the environment by hydrocarbon pollution at 2.35 million tonnes a year. According to a US National Science Foundation study, only two per cent comes from the hulls of tankers or spills at oil rigs.

Eleven per cent comes from natural sources—tar sands and oil seeps—13 per cent from the atmosphere, 24 per cent from all forms of transport and an astonishing 50 per cent slithers down the drains and rivers and into the sea from cities and industries.

"Because it is a chronic input and not visible, like oil spills, it hasn't been noticed before," said Dr John Widdows, of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, who has been working on ways to measure the effect of contamination. "But actually the oil entering the environment from oil spills and tanker operations is only about 2 per cent of the global input. So you have to put it into perspective."

But each menacing slick— from the Torrey Canyon in 1967 off Lands End, the Amoco Cadiz off Ushant in 1978, the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989, the Braer off Shetland in 1993— sets off alarms.

Dr Widdows said: "There is the obvious effects in the, smothering and killing of marine life. But when you have cleared that up, there are less visible effects. The oil is mixed into the water column and accumulated to quite high concentrations into the body tissues of animals, and these obviously have sub-lethal toxic effects."

But each case is different. The destruction depends on the kind and quantity of oil spilled, the time of year of the accident, the weather, the temperature, the wind direction, the environment, the mix of local wildlife and even the way humans react. "In terms of the clean-up operation, we have learned from the past that it is much better to leave it to nature than do a bulldozing job," he said. "There are some beaches and some areas where you want to use detergents. But a rocky shore is very difficult to clean up."

A light crude oil from the North Sea is likely to surrender quickly its more volatile toxins once exposed to air sea and motion. What remains will be quickly subject to attack by microbes.

But other processes will also be at work. Crabs bivalves and fish will also be concentrating quantities of poisons in their tissues:  some of these will be more toxic than the original poisons.

The lesson of most major oil spills in temperate waters was that it took around 10 years for wildlife to recover.

"It really depend time of year the spill occurs, and what effect it has on the algae," Dr Widdows said. "It's very complex: you can't predict precisely."


0091(22.02.96) The Guardian

Government's youngest member left at the helm to brave waves of criticism over handling of spill

by Rebecca Smithers   Political Correspondent

The little-known shipping minister and hereditary peer Lord Goschen has found himself thrust into the media spotlight by the maritime catastrophe of the Sea Empress oil spill.

Giles John Harry Goschen was appointed as a junior transport minister in July 1994 at the age of 28, making him the youngest member of the Government.

At just 26 he had joined the whips office, ranking him with Lord Melchett—a Labour whip at the same age in 1974—as the youngest government member since the war.

Apart from his spell in the whips office, Lord Goschen had also been spokesman on the environment, and in 1993 helped to steer the controversial rail privatisation legislation through the House of Lords.

Although he had no experience of shipping before taking on the job, his interest in transport extends to ownership of a private pilot's licence. A speed freak whose wife Sarah regularly rode on the pillion of his motor bike, he expressed regret at having to give up the machine for the chauffer-driven car that comes with the current job.

The fourth Viscount Goschen comes from a family steeped in politics..His

father was a deputy chief whip in the Lords, his grandfather was an MP and his great-grandfather was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Senior sources within the shipping industry say that he has worked with great enthusiasm to get to grips with the subect matter. But they conceded that he was much less experienced than Lord Caithness, who moved from transport to the Foreign Office and then back to transport again.

Over the last few days Lord Goschen has had to brave the winds of the West Wales coast and rebut growing criticism of the way the Government has tackled the salvage operation.

Until now, he was probably best remembered for his observations during a Lords debate on the dangers of using mobile telephones while driving.

Refusing to outlaw the practice, he prompted sniggers with his comments that "there are many things that can be done in a car with one hand which do not come under the category of specific offences."


0092 (22.02.96) The Guardian

Pass Notes     No 772: VISCOUNT GOSCHEN

Age: Only 30 (looks 24.5).

What do you mean, only 30? By 30, Mozart had given us some of the most sublime masterpieces in our culture.

Maybe. But Mozart never made Minister for Aviation and Shipping in a British government.

Yes, remarkable that: Goschen in government while talents like David Shaw languish on the back bench. To what does he owe his success?

Not to what: to whom. The answer seems to be a brilliant greatgrandfather: George Joachim Goschen (1831-1907); financier and statesman, once the bright hope of the Palmerston Liberals, later Chancellor to the Tory Salisbury; eventually, the first Viscount Goschen.

The Goschen whom Lord Randolph Churchill forgot?

So he said. The brilliant Tory radical, father of Winston, stormed out of the Salisbury government thinking himself so indispensable as Chancellor that they'd beg him to unresign. Salisbury simply appointed Goschen. Lord R never recovered. He had, he later confessed to some hack, "forgotten Goschen."

How does this interesting case of suicidal amnesia explain the extraordinary circumstance that the fate of the grounded Sea Empress and the birds on Skomer and Skokholm now lie in the hands of an infant peer?

That's our political system, matey— even in 1996. The Tories have to rely on a handful of hereditary peers to staff their front bench in the Lords. Goschen— born 1965, succeeded his father the third viscount in 1977, married Sarah Penelope Horsnail in 1991—is less boofy than most, so he got the call.

How's he doing?

Hard to say, given the howling gales. His performance on Tuesday's Newsnight was blown away on the wind, which may or may not have been fortunate for him. But in the quiet of the radio car next morning while being rottweilered by John Humphrys, he at least seemed capable of regurgitating an official brief.

Doesn't sound like a great achievement.

Oh no? Try listening to some of the other hereds. Recent performances at Question Time suggest that he's learning to think on his feet, which some of them clearly can't.

Did he tell a compelling tale?

Not really. His theme seemed to be that everything was extremely difficult and nobody was really to blame. Labour are unimpressed. They say he and his boss George Young are the Lyell and Waldegrave of this fix, and ought to consider their positions.

And how do you rate his position?

Preferable on balance to that of the Sea Empress. Though like the Sea Empress he oozes a bit too much.

Most likely to say: "It's all a question of balancing one's priorities. "

Least likely to say: "Permit me to spread some oil on these troubled waters."


0093 (22.02.96) CCW NEWS RELEASE

CCW CALLS FOR A LONG-TERM STRATEGY TO MONITOR THE IMPACT OF POLLUTION FROM THE SEA EMPRESS

The Chief Executive of the Countryside Council for Wales, Mr Paul Loveluck, said today (Thursday22 February l969) that CCW has outlined proposals for a long-term study to monitor the impact of the pollution caused by the Sea Empress near Milford Haven.

Mr Loveluck said that such a programme is vital to monitor the envionmental damage which has been caused, and so that others might benefit fom the knowledge which would be assembled about the impact of the Sea Empress disaster.

The announcement was made by Mr Loveluck at an all-Wales conference on "Wildlife in the 21st Century", organised by the Welsh Wildlife Trusts at the Aberconwy Centre in Llandudno. Speaking on the theme of partnerships, he said that such a monitoring programme would demand international cooperation, the involvement of a number of local authorities, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Government agencies and of voluntary organistions including the Wildlife Trusts.

The CCW outlined what the monitoring programme might include, but was  also inviting suggestions from its partners.

Mr Loveluck also emphasised the importance of a strong relationship in general between CCW, the Wildlife Trusts and the 22 new unitary authorities which take up their responsibilities on 1 April 1996.

Mr Loveluck announced that CCW has earmarked nealy 2.4 million in the 1996-7 financial year for conservation-related work delivered by local authorities and voluntary environmental roups. This will contribute towards carrying out, at a local level, the commitments undertaken by the UK Government at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.

The cash allocation represents an increase of £430,000 from the amount allocated to local authorities and voluntary environmental groups in this financial year.

The cash boost is designed to support:

* help for the new unitary authorities to introduce countryside strategies and to establish countryside services;

* work to carry out the Local Agenda 21, where unitary authorities, with the

help of voluntary groups, ensure that environmental concerns are fully

integrated into all forms of economic activity;

* partnership work to maintain local biodiversity, where Wildlife Trusts can help unitary authorities by drawing up local action plans for notable species and habitats in their area;

* work with local communities to involve them in managing Local Nature Reserves, greenspaces in towns and villages, and locally important habitats and geological sites;

* knowledge and expertise of conservaion issues which should be considered hand in hand with local planning issues;

* the Coed Cymru scheme, whih advises farmers on sustainable woodland management and the marketing potential of timber from farm woodlands.

"Today marks the start of a new partnership between CCW, the voluntary sector and the emerging new unitary authorities united by a vision of a sustainable future. Due to our improved financial settlement for 1996-7 of £2 2million, I am pleased that we will be able to encourage that partnership to grow, added Mr Loveluck.


0094 (22.02.96) CCW NEWS RELEASE

CCW MONITORING STARTS AFTER MILFORD HAVEN OlL SPILL

- for immedite release

The Countryside Council for Wales is very pleased that the Sea Empress supertanker is now secure, before work starts to remove the remaining cargo of oil. This task has proved both dangerous and complex and we are relieved that it has been achieved by the salvors and the Marine Pollution Control Unit (MPCJ) without loss of human life.

CCW is now starting a comprehensive and systematic programme of work to assess the full impact of the environmental damage created by the spill, and to advise the MPCU on the clean-up operation. The next month will be critical as the seabird breeding season approaches rapidly.

The immediate steps we are taking to start monitoring the situation are:

* to fly over the coastal waters of Pembrokeshire to identify the exact extent and location of the oil and seabirds. Counts have already shown that there are 30,000 Gannets back on Grassholm and 10,000 Common Scoter in Carmarthen Bay both nationally and internationally important concenrations. There are also tens of thousands of seabirds further out to sea ready to head for the Pembrokeshire islands for the breeding season.

* by boat to assess the numer of oiled seabirds. We already have evidence of oiled dolphins and seals in the waters around Skomer Island.

* to arrange CCW maritime experts to re-survey the worst affected coastal shores to catalogue the effects of the oil on the various intertidal habitats and all their plant and animal life.

* to undertake underwater surveys, which will involve divers recording at first hand the environmental damage in the sea around the coast.

* to systematically re-visit fixed point to collect photogprahic evidence of the oil damage along the coast and underwater.

Dr Malcolm Smith (CW Director of Policy and Science said: "The monitoring work will be systematic and comprehensive looking at all types of habitats and wildlife. This thorough assessment will show us the full environmental damage of the oil spill in an area of such international importance. We will then be better placed to advise Government.

The environmental monitoring studies which already exit in the Milford Haven Waterway and the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve will be an important baseline from which to measure the damage. Our investment in monitoring work at Skomer MR is now paying substantial dividends."

CCW plans to hold a meeting of all relevant Government agencies early next week so that a longterm monitoring programme can be put in place as soon as possible. Dr Smih added that CCW will advise on all environmental matters until the immediate and most visual effects of the oil have been cleaned up and then through a long-term programme to assess the extent of recovery for the various habitats and species.


0095 (22.02.96) COUNTRYSIDE COUNCIL FOR WALES

UPDATE ON MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILLAGE

AT/TO:        Chairman

                   Vice Chairman

                   Council Members

cc:               Directors

                  Maritime Teams HQ and Milford Haven

                  Helen Robrts

MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILLAGE

UPDATE AS AT 1500

1. You will know from media coverage that the stricken Sea Empress was towed successfully to the Herbranston Jetty up the Haven and moored btween 1900 and 2100 hours on 21.02.96.

2. She has been secured in preparation for pumping out her remainin cargo of oil which may be between 50,000 and 60,000 tonnes. She is boomed at a distance in order to contain the large amounts of oil leaking from her. Pumping out will start hopefully, on 23 February.

3. Large quantities of oil are now spreading in the Haven and have gone several miles up river. The major slick at sea stretches from north of Skomer to east of Carmarthen Bay. Large concentrations of scoter in the Bay are extemely vulnersble as are auks at sea.

4. Oil hs come ashore around parts of Skomer Island, in St Bride's Bay, West and East Angle Bays, Stack Rocks, Carmarthen Bay and the coast between West Angle Bay and St Gowan,s Head.

5. An announcement is to be made by Sir George Young in the Commons today. This will refer to the £250k made available to us for monitoring and includes reference to the clean up operation and the need for long-term monitoring. It also refers to MAFF's role regarding fisheries. We have commented on a draft.

6. A boat has been commissioned to carry out fixed transect work from Saurday, for 6 days, to ascertain seabird at sea numbers.

7. A press release we issued earlier today spells out the immedaiate studies we have put in hand to assess the likely ecological damage we will encounter.

8. We are currently, with partners, constructing a list of longer term monitoring

needs and will be holding a meeting early next week to discuss it with

them.  We are putting small teams of CCW and JNCC staff in to do specific

tasks including survey of affected intertidal habitats and subtidal diving.

Paul Loveluck    22 February l996

PS - We have now set up a meeting to discuss the monitoring programme, timing to be confirmed but either Monday or Tuesday of next week in Haverfordwest. The meeing will be in 2 halves: an initial meeting between Government agencies including representatives of Department of Transpot, MAFF and Welsh Office. Subsequently the group will be joined by the voluntary organistions involved.


096Feb23

0096 (23.02.96) Caernarfon Herald

0097 (23.02.96) CCW News Release

0098 (23.02.96) CCW Update

0100 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0101 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0102 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0103 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0104 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0105 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0106 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0107 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0108 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0109 (23.02.96) The Independent

0110 (23.02.96) The Independent

0111 (23.02.96) The Independent

0112 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0113 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0114 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0115 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

0116 (23.02.96) The Independent

0117 (23.02.96) The Independent


0096 (23.02.96) Caernarfon Herald

David battles on to refloat goliath tanker

by A M Robinson

A tug boat engineer from Betws Garmon is amongst salvage experts attelmpting to refloat the trapped and leaking supertanker the Sea Empress.

David Caulfield is on the Vanguard Tug, which was on stand-by as eight other tugs battled in vain to pull the stricken vessel clear off St Anne's Head, Pembrokeshire, on Tuesday night.

An effort to free the tanker at the 5am morning tide on Wednesday was postponed to allow increased buoyancy, and the final attempt to refloat the vessel was due to be made at 8pm last night, (Wednesdav).

There are fears that the vessel could be shattered to bits on the rocks if this operation fails.

Mr Caulfield, of Pentre Bach, Betws Garmon, has been away from home on the Vanguard for five weeks and was due home last Friday.

"They had taken a tow to Rotterdam and David was due back home for our son Guy's 16th birthday on Saturday, but they stopped for lunch at Milford Haven on Friday afternoon and were called to help the teams working to save the Empress,"  said his wife Judith.

Mr Caulfield, who works for the Carmet Tug Company in Wirral, has been assisting, with the other crew of five on the Vanguard, to carry salvage equipment out to the Empress.

A squadron of seven aircraft  worked until nightfall on Tuesday night attacking an oil slick eight miles long by one mile wide spreading into the Bristol Channel, and counter-pollution vessels from Liverpool joined in the operation.

Since the Empress became stuck last Thursday more than 50,000 tonnes of oil has already spilled into the sea off Milford Haven, the equivalent to the contents of 1,833 fully loaded oil tanker lorries - the Sea Empress still has 80,000 tonnes in its cargo.

Conservationists have called on the Government to set up a full public inquiry into the incident and the Chief Executive of the Countryside Council for Wales, Paul Loveluck, said today (Thursday) that the CCW has outlined proposals for a long-term study to monitor the impact of the pollution caused by the vessel.

"I know they are doing their best," added Judith Caulfield.

"When David rang he said that they had had very rough weather conditions ard that oil vapours were thick in the area and within the tugs.

"I'm a bit worried but sure that he's safe. I'll be glad to  have him home, he's disappointed to have missed Guy's birthday and he managed to send me  a lovely bouquet by Interflora for Valentine's day. We hope to expect him home within the next few days. "


0097 (23.02.96) CCW News release

CCW Concern for Skomer's seabirds

-for immediate release

Vey large numbers of seabirds have returned to the sea cliffs of Skomer and overnight in preparation for their breeding season, a matter of deep concern for the Countryside Council for Wales as the island's surrounding water is covered by oil.

We estimate that around 2,300 pairs of kittiwakes have arrived at Skomer along with l0,000 Guillemots and 700 pairs of fulmars. Only a few of them are lightly oiled, but they are all vulnerable because they will regularly be returning to feed in the sea arond. The seabird populations of Skomer are of national and international importance.

Some eight oiled seals are also present around Skomer Island, and dolphins and porpoises have been seen swimming in the slicks around the island.

The number of oiled birds in the Pembrokeshire coast area reported to CCW this morning were 119 which were lightly oiled, 737 medium oiled and 74 heavily oiled.

CCW has hired boats to carry out systematic monitoring of oiled birds at sea. This, combined with data from flights over Carmarthen Bay on Scoter duck populations is being used to advise MPCU and other relevant Authorities on the ecological impact of the spill and its clean-up. It is predicted that the number of bird casualties will rise considerably as the breeding season is now upon us, and more birds are vulnerable to oiling at sea as they search for food.

Dr Malcolm Smith, CCW Director of Policy and Science said; "It is important to remember that the damage being experienced now, and which is likely to escalate, is not only a major problem in terms of wildlife. Bird and seal watching are just two of the many recreation pursuits which could be affected, along with the benefits they bring to the local economy, if peoples perceptions of the coastline is marred even after the clean-up operation."

It is estimated that nearly three million people visit the Pembrokeshire coast National Park every year. More than 600,000 people take walks along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail to enjoy the coastal scenery and wildlife every year, an 10,000 walk the Path from start to finish every year."


0098 (23.02.96)  CCW

Update for Members of Council

TO/AT:     Chairman

                Vice Chirman

                Council Members

cc             Chief Executive

                Director, Conservation

                Maritime Teams Q and Milford

                Helen Roberts

MILFORD HAVEN OIL SPILLAGE

UPDATE AS AT 16:00, 23 FEBRUARY 1996

1. The stricken Sea Empress, moored in the Haven, is still leaking significant quantities of oil. Although booms are in place, it is clear that much of the oil has been escaping outside the boom. The Port Authority has skimmers working to remove some of it but we are not clear whether it is being removed before it pollutes other parts of the Haven. Some fuel oil has also been lost to the Haven.

2. Pumping to remove the remaining oil from the tanker is not scheduled to begin until tomorrow (24.2.96) and we have asked questions about this delay. Technical and safety reasons account for it.

3. The main slick of heavy and brown oil has spread southeast past St. Govan's Head but oil sheen covers a much larger area from Skomer east to Carmarthen Bay and south to west of Lundy. Patches of oil surround Skomer and large numbers of auks and kittiwakes have now returned to the breeding cliffs. 45 grey seals are oiled. These are particularly vulnerable during feeding and today's CCW press release majors on this issue.

4. With a southwesterly wind now building, it is quite possible that some of this oil will be driven ashore along the southwest Pembrokeshire coast over the weekend.

5. Sir George Young's statement in the Commons yesterday (22.2.96) refers to the £250K for monitoring by CCW, the scale of the clean up operation, and the opening of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch inquiry both into the initial causes of the tanker going aground and the subsequent salvage operation.

6. Our surveillance of scoters and auk concentrations by boats on fixed transects, and by air, continues. The MNCR Wales team is being deployed to do subtidal surveys in oil-affected locations. We will begin tomorrow morning (24.2.96) a  Phase I survey of intertidal areas impacted by oil using eleven CCW survey team staff.

7. Meetings to iscuss with Department of Transport, MAFF, Welsh Office, other Statutory Agencies and key VCOs an integrated programme of monitoring over the next ten or so years has been delayed because other Departments are unable to send appropriate senior staff at present. The likely date is now March 4th, rather later than we think is sensible. We are inviting an SNH member of staff involved in the Braer clean-up.

8. Logs of events and key decisions are being retained and collated. We have scheduled a meeting for 19 March to discuss the incident wih relevant CCW staff who have been involved. This will act as a debrief and allow us to begin preparing evidence for the inquiry.

9. On the ground or local teams continue to be active although bad weather has prevented us reinforcing Mike Alexander on Skomer. Ian Tillotson is now in charge at Martinshaven and has extra equipment and staff ready to cross as soon as possible. So far, the actual number of dead or oiled birds coming ashore is low, but we still are preparing for the worst over the weekend.

Dr M E Smith         Director of Policy and Science


0100 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Hundreds of birds spotted in the oil

Wildlife

Milford Haven: Key players list the problems they faced in saving Sea Empress

The environmental toll of the Sea Empress disaster continued to grow yesterday with reports that more than 800 oiled birds had been spotted out at sea.

Around 30 birds have been caught and are being treated at wildlife hospitals at the Texaco refinery at Milford and at Kilgetty and New Quay.

The RSPCA says the situation will continue to deteriorate with slicks now spotted as far as away as the Site of Special Scientific Interest at Kenfig, Mid Glamorgan.

Porpoises and dolphins have been sighted swimming through the oil in Carmarthen Bay.

National Rivers Authority workmen put booms across the River Tawe at Swansea, Oxwich Bay, Gower, and the Kenfig estuary yesterday to try to contain the oil.

Oil recovery ships have picked up 250 tonnes of crude from inside the Milford Haven estuary itself.

Booms have been placed around the Sea Empress's new anchorage at a disused

Esso dock to contain any further leaks.

Last night the National Trust reported that the slick around the Gower Peninsula appeared to be breaking up.

Elsewhere, Dyfed Wildlife Trust said a "chocolate mousse" had begun to fill the key sea-bird bay of North Haven on the island of Skomer. North Haven is one of three main areas of water around Skomer where sea birds gather in large numbers.

The RSPB says there are around 50,000 auks or diving birds on Skomer and the neighbouring island of Skokholm. The figure is expected to swell by more than half a million in the commg weeks as birds return to the area to breed.

An oiled-bird reception centre has been set up by the RSPCA near Milford Haven.

It will serve as a first-aid site where birds will be assessed and given initial urgent treatment before being taken to other centres.

Spokesman Richard Timothy said preparations to receive oiled birds had been going on for several days, and that now the Sea Empress was secure they were ready to cope with whatever number started to come in.

The Countryside Council for Wales has started its own research to try to assess the full impact of the spill and to advise the Marine Pollution Control Unit on the clean-up operation.


0101 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

The benefit of hindsight

by Ceri Jones

The Government has faced a barrage of criticism over the time taken to refloat the Sea Empress after it hit rocks on Thursday night.

Yesterday The Western Mail interviewed some of the key players in the oil-tanker disaster about whether the spillage could have been lessened or avoided if a different course of action had been taken after the ship ran aground. This is what they said:

The Port Authority:

General manager Mike Hyslop confirmed that St Ann's radar was not operational at present and had not been for some time but said, "In no way did it have any bearing on the incident."

He confirmed that the number of tugs in the port had been reduced over the past few years but said the new tugs were more effective.

It might have been wiser in hindsight if the ship had been left on the rock initially rather than raised off.

Because of the strong currents at the entrance to Milford Haven ships had to enter at "reasonable speed" and this was a potentially serious hazard for the crews of tugs if they did escort duties.

Mr Hyslop agreed that the number of pilots at the port had been reduced over the past five to six years but said there had also been a reduction in shipping movements because of the closure of two refineries.

Tankers over 150,000 tonnes were always controlled by two pilots.

The Coastguard:

Peter Morris, senior coastguard officer at Milford Haven, said there had been no distress signal from the Sea Empress. A conversation between the vessel and the port authority had been intercepted by a coastguard officer.

George Crumplet, the coastguard officer on duty when the tanker hit the rocks, said, "The Sea Empress told the Milford Haven signal station that they were in difficulties as they entered the heads. Shortly afterwards the port authority contacted us to dispatch all the harbour tugs to the entrance.

Marine Pollution Control Unit:

Asked if he would do anything different Joe Small, who is leading the MPCU operation, said, "We learn in everying we do. We have to learn to move forward. I'm not certain what we could have done differently. It's been very frustrating."

Mr Small said the unit, which was on call 24 hours a day, was alerted almost as soon as the accident happened. An aircraft was flying overhead within one-and-a-half hours and the team was at Milford by midnight. "I don't see what more we could have done."

Asked why they did not move the vessel after she was first refloated, Mr Small said the Sea Empress was taken off rocks into a deep pool of water and was then trapped by shallow water on either side.

The Salvers:

Stephen Dennison, of Cory Towage, said they had to get the vessel off the rocks straight away after the initial grounding because of bad weather which was progressing on Saturday and Sunday.

A decision was then made to turn the ship around to face into the weather. If that had not been done they faced the prospect of flooding the engine room, which would have been critical.

On Saturday and Sunday their job was to hold the ship in position against the gales and strong tide. "The weather did not allow us to take complete control."

Mr Dennison said the Chinese tug performed a certain role, but her lack of manoeuvrability was a restriction. Language difficulties did not play a part.

Geert Koffman, of Dutch salvage firm Smit Tak, said, "I think we did a really good operation. Within six days the vessel was refloated."


0102 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Biologist forecasts recovery in a few years

Shoreline

Fears of long-term damage to the shorelinesand wildlife around Milford Haven were unfounded and alarmist, a marine biologist said yesterday.

Some conservation groups have claimed the incidentis worse tbn the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster and will have a devastating impact locally.

Dr Paul Kingston, assistant director of the Institute of Offshore Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, who is at Milford Haven as part of a research project into the effect of oil pollution on the marine environment admitted there would be an immediate effect and that birds and shore animals would die, but said the stormy weather appeared to be breaking up some of the spill before it reached the shore.

"Most of the people I have heard speaking about it are local wildlife people and I can understand they are concerned because the potential for immediate damage is quite high, but their fears of long-term damage to the food chain are unfounded," he said.

"More important than the amount of oil is whether it hits the beaches when a lot of birds arrive, but thankfully there are not a lot of them around at the moment.

"As long as the oil does not get into any salt marshes, which would cause a problem, I would expect the rocky and exposed sandy shores and the animal and marine life to recover within two or three years.

"After the Exxon Valdez disaster Prince William Sound recovered after about three years, contrary to much opinion."


0103 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Bellamy scorns spillage 'fiasco'

The oil spillage was described by one of Britain's leading environmentalists yesterday as a catastrophe that should never have happened.

Professor David Bellamy, in Llandudno to speak at the Welsh Wildlife Trust conference, said, "Why have we not got any real action? It's like a load of monkeys playing around.

"Why do we have a Chinese tug with a master who can't speak English so we have to get a waiter from a Chinese restaurant to translate?"

Britain was supposed to have the fastest oil-spillage reaction force in the world, he said. "Where are they? It's been a complete fiasco?"


0104 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Just feet from disaster

by Alasdair Milburn  and Lee Wenham

Milford Haven:  New fears over safety as passenger ferry and another oil tanker pass close in estuary

An oil tanker and a passenger ferry came within about 30 feet of a collision in the Milford Haven estuary yesterday just hours after the stricken Sea Empress was towed to safety, it was claimed last night.

A maritime expert said such a collision would have resulted in the same devastation as if two airliner had crashed.

The incident will raise new fear over the safety of shipping in the estuary and questions on why the port's radar system is still out of action.

The incident happened at 2.30am yesterday as the Irish Ferries' St Patrick with 70 passeners on board started its approach to Pembroke Dock from Rosslare in Ireland.

According to an eye-witness, just as it passed Angle buoy at the mouth of the estuary it came within 30 feet of the unladen Maltese-registered Seacaptain which was leaving the Elf oil refinery at Milford after delivering its cargo of oil.

The general manager of Milford Haven Port Authority, Michael Hyslop, said last night he had been informed that the 30,000-tonne tanker and the ferry passed at the mouth of the estuary but he could not comment on how far away they were from each other.

"The two were certainly closer than would be ideal but I am sure thal neither vessel was in any danger," he said.

Mr Hyslop said he did not know why the two had passed so close to each other.

Irish Ferries said an internal inquiry had been set up into the incident.

A spokesman said, "I understand there was an incident as the St Patrick was approaching the terminal and that a report has gone back to Irish Ferries' maritime department.

"However, I am assured that at no time was the safety of the ship, its

passengers or its crew compromised."

An eye-witness said, "They were close. They were 30 feet apart at most. I think it's fair to say there were some very worried people."

Frank Reynolds, of Elf, said, "The Seacaptain left our jetty at 2.15am. From then on it was in the control of the port authority and was being escorted out with tugs.

"We have been informed of the incident but because it was not in our control at the time we will not be carrying out our own inquiry."

The secretary of the South Wales Nautical Institute, Captain Terence Rooney, said, "I'm very surprised that these two vessels were allowed to pass so close together. This could have been a serious accident."

At the Sea Empress, salvage teams are preparing to offload the remaining oil to a smaller tanker later today.

It is believed up to 65,000 tonnes has now leaked from the holed tanker's 140,000-tonne cargo and the coastguard yesterday confirmed that it was still leaking oil.

Coastguard chief executive Chris Harris said his best estimate was that half the cargo remained.

"We are now preparing detailed plans for the transfer to take place," he said. "But there is no hurry as the ship is not in any danger."

Stephen Dennison, leading the salvage operation, said the tanker could possibly be repaired at Belfast after it had been offloaded.

Mr Dennison was asked if he was aware that a powerful rear winching tug had been available during last Friday's first attempt to refloat the Sea Empress.

He said he had not been aware, but the four Milford Haven harbour tugs had brought the tanker off the rocks before she was marooned again in the severe weather.

Operations to clean up the slick from the sea and coastline continued yesterday with hundreds of tonnes of oil and solids being recovered.

Kevin Colcombe, of the Marine Pollution Control Unit, said good progress was being made with the help of around 200 volunteers.

Only one large slick remained and most of the West Wales coastline was affected only by sheen, he said.


0105 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Demands for an independent inquiry rejected

The Government refused yesterday to launch an independent external inquiry into the Sea Empress disaster. It also brushed aside Labour's plea for the appointment to such an inquiry of Lord Donaldson, who made wide-ranging recommendadons about sea safety after the 1993 Braer incident off the Shetlands.

Transport Secretary Sir George Young insisted in the Commons that the investigation by his department's Marine Accident Investigation Branch would be independent and said its scope would be widened to look into the salvage operation as well as the causes of the disaster.

"We need a thorough professional examination of what went wrong so that we can learn whatever lessons there are to learn for the design, operation, management and  pilotage of tankers," he said.

Sir George stressed that the MAIB had the highest reputation for professionalism and integrity and that its investigation and report would be published.

Shadow Transport Secretary Clare Short condemned the announced inquiry as inadequate and claimed that if ministers refused an external inquiry people would suspect the Government had something to hide.

One of the questions that had to be asked was whether ministers had failed to implement the Donaldson recommendations to ensure adequate tugs were available.

"It now seems to be clear that large numbers of extra tugs were offered and refused by the salvage company employed by the ship owners on a no-win no-fee basis," said Ms Short.

Pembroke MP Nick Ainger told the minister, "I waited for the word sorry to come from your lips and we didn't hear it. You and your department are culpable in this disaster."

Mr Ainger said the ship had run aground at 8.10pm on Thursday last week.

"Until Monday night, that vessel bounced from rock to rock. In calm conditions at 7pm on Monday night - no adverse weather conditions - she was put on the rocks by the salvers.

"Seventy thousands tonnes of oil have spilt as a result. Until Monday night only 1,000 tonnes had spilt.

"This is a responsibility of your department because you didn't implement the Donaldson Report and you allowed, for four days, this farce to carry on."


0106 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Devastated fishermen in tears

Hundreds of West Wales families are facing financial ruin after the overnight collapse of the region's fishing industry. Once bustling fisning ports are at a virtual standstill  after French and Spanish buyers refused to take their catches.

The massive oil slick threatens an estimated 600 jobs around the coastline from Cardigan Bay to Gower and the West Wales fishing industry, worth around £10m a year, is preparing compensation claims expected to total more than £20m.

The chairman of the Sea Empress Fisheries Disaster Claimants' Association, Nick O'Sullivan, said fishermen had been crying on the telephone as they described their plight.

"Many of them have bank loans for their boats, which cost an average of £30,000 a vessel, and it is not unusual to see them take overdrafts of thousands to buy equipment," he said. "I have had them in tears on the phone asking me what they can do."

The association was formed on Tuesday, with 65 vessels and four main buyers represented.

Yesterday Mr O'Sullivan said he had been contacted by representatives of 130 vessels from Cardigan Bay to the Gower and another 20 buyers.

It could take months before any compensation is paid out but what can they do in the meantime? Nobody will buy our fish so there is no point in even going out.  Generations of fishermen have been left with no1ivelihoods. We are devastated."


0107 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Farmers watch and wait to see if crops are damaged

by  Sheila Coleman

Farmers in Pembrokeshire last night continued to follow the oil clean-up process amid fears that some farms and farm tourism businesses could be badly hit.

While there have not yet been any reports of livestock or crops being affected by the slick or the chemicals used to combat the mess, worried farmers have been contacting the farming unions and the Welsh Office for reassurance.

The extent of the damage, if any, might not become apparent for some time but a Welsh Office spokesman said the situation would continue to be monitored and any necessary compensation would be forthcoming via insurers or the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund.

The West Wales area is home to many potato growers but experts say it is too early to tell if the crops will be affected. "There's obviously concern but at this stage we haven't had any calls," said Colin Bailey, of local potato marketing group Puffin Produce.

Potato grower and Potato Marketing Board member John Davies said, "We hope it won't affect the potatoes but people are desperately angry about the whole thing."

The Preece family has been watching the drama unfold from its farm on St Ann's Head.

At this time of year the cattle are indoors but the sheep still graze on the clifftops and cauliflowers and leeks are growing. The farm's position already makes it vulnerable to wind burn off the sea.

"We just have to watch and wait," said Gaynor Preece. "To my mind its a long-term thing. You cannot see now, but what's to say in 12 months' time"

The marketing organisation Preseli Pembrokeshire Walking Holidays has its official launch today. Thirty local tourism businesses have come together to form a network of accommodation stretching along the coastal path, Preseli Hills and Gwaun Valley which are all within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

The first of the group's holidays, a weekend St David's Day break, is scheduled for next  week.

The rural tourism development officer with Menter Preseli, Michelle Morris, said, "Although large parts of the coast have been affected there are still large parts that have not been affected and by the summer hopefully the worst of the impact will be cleared."


0108 (23.02.96) the Western Mail

Coastguards cuts criticised

The Government inquiry must look into worries that on the night of the distster the station was undermanned, an MP said last night.

Paul Tyler, Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, said, "By saving small amounts of money has the nation lost some of its environmental heritage and, of course, a lot of money?"

He said in the Commons earlier "I understand that at the time the tanker went aground the coastgurd marine rescue responsible for the Milford Haven approaches was undermanned. There was one senior watch officer on duty and one regular when there should have been at least three at watch."

Mr Tyler claimed the officer monitoring the airwaves and land- lines had been doing so for12 hours at a time when the maximum should have been two.

Transport Secretary Sir George Young told him. "Efficiency gains in the two marine agencies and in the MAlB have not and will not be made at the expense of safety."


0109 (23.02.96) The Independent

Let's pay more for oil and save our coasts

As the slicks ooze onwards around the Welsh coast, the recriminations have

begun. The usual government agencies will be wheeled out to establish how and

why the Sea Empress ran aground in calm weather, spilling 70,000 tonnes of oil

into the sea. It seems that once aground the salvage operation was itself beset by

difficulties, some of them avoidable. The larger national debate will focus on what should have been done to avoid jeopardising so much beautiful coastline and protected wildlife, and what needs to be done to stop this happening in future.

It seems incredible that we should be debating this issue once more, 30 years after the Torrey Canyon disaster and only two years after Lord Donaldson produced a detailed report on the future of oil haulage in the light of the Braer disaster in the Shetlands. Most, but not all, of Lord Donaldson's 103 recommendations were implemented. One unfortunate omission, as far as the Sea Empress is concerned, was the Government's failure to establish strong emergency tug boats in all areas with a serious risk of oil spillage and pollution. Salvage experts may quibble over whether a strong tug could have saved the day for the Sea Empress or not. But either way, the fact remains that these kinds of heavy-duty back-ups have the potential to make a big difference to pollution problems by pulling a leaking oil tanker well away from sensitive areas.

To be fair to the Government, strong tugs have been established at Stornoway and Dover - the two priority areas identified by Lord Donaldson - at a cost of £2m a year. But this isn't good enough. Other areas need access to emergency tugs, too. Milford Haven, where one of the largest oil terminals in the country sits alonfside important nature reserves, is an obvious candidate for strong tugs of its own. Additional protective measures should include insisting that tankers have double rather than single hulls to reduce the risk of leakage once the ship is on the rocks. The quality of the radar in the Milford Haven area may also bear some inspection.

But even if proper environmental protection should prove expensive, there is no need for the taxpayer to wince. The extra resources that ports and the coast guard may need in order to reduce the risk of future disasters should not be provided by the Treasury. The North Sea fields produce around 2.6 million barrels of oil a day generating huge profits for the industry. Maintaining a certain level of emergency environmental protection is an unavoidable part of supporting a lucrative industry. And the costs should be borne by those who make the profits.

The principle that the polluter should pay is not new to the oil industly. It is already responsible for paying to clean up after oil disasters. But we should take the principle further to cover prevention measures too. When recommendations emerge from future reports to reduce the risk of environmental damage from oil spills, they should be implemented at the expense of the oil companies. If the end result is that we all have to pay somewhat higher prices for our oil, so be it. Oil prices are already at a very low level and it is only fair that the price we pay for our oil reflects the risk to the environment of producing it.


0110 (23.02.96) Independent

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Sea Empress disaster:  why did it happen? what are the lessons to be learnt?

From Mr Kevin Shilleto

Sir: Whether the Sea Empress drama is brought to a relatively damage-free conclusion or not, this case highlights once again the dangers inherent in trying to run oil transportation by sea on the cheap.

Since the oil crisis of 1973-74, the international oil industry has been able to dictate freight conditions to tanker owners and has invariably opted to force the latter to cut operational corners. Meantime, international safety regulations  have been vastly extended, some of them containing a cost element for shipowners.

As a result, replacement of old, unreliable vessels has dwindled to the point where sheer fleet age is going to increase the frequency of pollution scenarios. Building and operating a double-hull VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) costs at least 20 per cent more than a similar single hull vessel  but oil companies will not pay the premium. . So shipowners will not build them.

Oil companies do not themselves own tankers, as they once did, because shipping is no longer as a "core" activity (ie it does not make any money). Whose fault is that?

Perhaps it is time the supermarkets, already commanding 25 percent of the UK petrol market (and 40 per cent in France), got into refining and transportation as well. At least they know when to take products dangerous to the public off their shelves.

Yours faithfully,    KEVIN SHILLETO  Director, Internaft London, SWl

From Professor Roderick A Smith

Sir: Built in Spain, owned by a Norwegian; registered in Cyprus; managed from Glasgow; chartered by the French, crewed by the Russians; flying a Liberian flag; carrying an American cargo; and pouring oil on to the Welsh coast.

But who takes the blame? Difficult question.

But who profits? Easy answer: the lawyers.

Yours sincerely RODRICK A SMITH   Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering,  University of Sheffield

From Dr Crosbie Smith

Sir: One of the most disturbing features of the Sea Empress salvage debacle is why, after each of the first two refloatings, the laden and largely intact vessel was not towed immediately into the shelter of the Haven and alongside the Esso Jetty.

Instead, the public were told that the vessel was having her ballast tanks filled with sea water and held in the approaches pending the arrival of the Star Bergen for lightening. It is not merely the benefit of hindsight that makes such an ill-fated strategy seem foolish.

Any inquiry must therefore probe any conflicts of interest among Coastguard, Marine Pollution Control Unit, Port Authority and salvors. Most experienced seafarers would choose to head far maximum shelter from wind and tide with minimum delay. Why did this not happen in this instance?

Yours faithfully, CROSBIE SMITH

Reader 4 History of Science History of Science Centre,

University of Kent at Canterbury

From Mr Robert Bowyer

Sir: Everyone in Pembrokeshire knows that we need salvage tugs in Milford Haven. However, the man from the ministry and the multinational oil companies both say No.

Yours in despair

ROBERT BOWYER Fishguard, Pembrokeshire

The writer is a councillor in the Fishguard and Goodwick Town Council.

From Mr B M Burley

Sir: The Royal Air Force maintains an Air/Sea Rescue facility which, with the implicit consent of the Ministry of Defence and the general public, finds itself engaged almost daily in support of civilian (yachtsmen, climbers and the seriously ill) and commercial (vessels in distress) interests.

Judging from the tacit support that this "misapplication" of service resources apparently quite willingly receives from the nation's taxpayers, might they not equally support the establishment of an effective salvage vessel capability, manned and maintained by the Royal Navy?

Yours faithfully,

B M BURLEY

Group Captain (Retd)

St Osyth, Essex

From Lord Young of Dartington

Sir: According to reports from Milford Haven, the coastguards in the early days of the Skomer disaster could not communicate with the powerful Chinese tug standing by to help the Russian crew on the Sea Empress. Improvising, a runner was sent to a local Chinese takeaway. Paul Chung, the cook, could not speak Mandarin, but a single Cantonese speaker was found on the tug to whom he could pass on instructions over the ship-to-shore radio.

This experience is unfortunately still common throughout Britain. Some hospital authorities and police still have to fall back on a cook, a porter or anyone they can find in an emergency.

But more and more public agencies are now using Language Line and its telephone interpreters in 140 languages, at the service of subscribers within a minute or so of being called. If the coastguards had used Language Line, they could have been in immediate communication via a trained interpreter and the Sea Empress incident could have been a little less disastrous.

Sincerely

YOUNG OF DARTINGTON

Language Line London, E2

From MrAubrey Morley

Sir: Not one comment on the Sea Empress's lamentable insensitivity to the persuasions oftugs and salvage experts has raised the single crucial fact about the vessel's lack of response: the damn thing is too big. The choice is ours. Is it to be the demands of the market or the pleas of Schumacher?

Yours faithfully,

AUBREY MORLEY

West Dorset Green Party,

Sherborne, Dorset


0111 (23.02.96) Independent

We're crying too much over spilt oil

by Hamish McRae

The slick from the tanker disaster is certainly serious. But it should not divert us

from the bigger challenge of energy conservation

The damage done by the oil spill from the Sea Empress will, eventually , be healed. There have been environmental consequences and anyone with human decency will be distressed about the destruction of birds and the threat to colonies of rare starfish. Meanwhile, the highly politicised debate will continue,

with people using this accident to blame the Government, the oil companies, the shipping managers, international maritime legislation, flags of convenience, or simply greedy "society", whatever that means. But the sea has wonderful powers of recovery. In a couple of years, with luck, you will not know

the oil spill ever happened.

There will be more oil spills, but - however politically incorrect it might be to say so - that should be one of the lesser concerns about our oil economy. It is infinitely more important to recognise that fossil fuels, in particular oil and natural gas, will continue to drive the world economy for perhaps another two generations; and to deal with the consequences of that fact.

To pretend otherwise - to believe that more research into renewable energy sources will solve the problem, to bang on about the awfulness of the motor car, to wish that our society was less materialistic - is to live in cloud-cuckoo-land. No, it is worse, for the more frequently the idea is peddled that we should search for ways of living without oil, the less likely we are to think through the environmental implications of our continued dependence on it.

Some numbers will make this clearer. The total amount of commercial energy produced in the world is about 330 exajoules. (Commercial energy is that which is bought and sold and excludes, for instance, firewood, the principal source of energy for cooking in much of the world. An exajoule is 10 18 joules.) Out of that total, 130 exajoules come from oil and 80 from gas. In other words, oil and gas account for roughly two-thirds of all the energy traded. Coal accounts for 90 exajoules, while nuclear and hydro, the two non-fossil technologies used to generate electricity, produce a little more than 20 and rather less than 10 exajoules respectively.

So fossil fuels provide 90 per cent of the world's energy, and the two "renewable" technologies 10 per cent. Everything else - wind power, solar, tidal barrages, fuel cells - is much less than 1 per cent of the total.

Energy use has grown from about 230 exajoules 20 years ago to today's 330, and it seems safe to assume that it will grow by another 100 over the next 20 years. Even were we to flood every potential power-producimg valley in the world and double the number of nuclear power stations, with all the ghastly environmental consequences of that, fossil fuels would still be providing 90 per cent of our energy a generation from now.

Actually, it is far more likely that the contribution of nuclear and hydro power will shrink. Nuclear is a failed technology, killed by the market. No commercial organisation will build nuclear power stations because of the liabilities it would have to assume. The whole industry would not have existed at all were it not for government finance. Hydro is limited by the small number of commercially viable sites, for big rivers with valleys in areas of low population tend to be a long way away from the concentrations of population where the power is needed.

So it has to be fossil fuel, which raises the obvious question is there enough? The answer, on a 30-to 50 -year horizon, is yes. Oil is the most scarce: proven reserves are equivalent to 45 years at present  consumption. But that has risen from33 years in the mid-Eighties. In other words, we are discovering oil more than twice as fast as we are using it up. There is more than 50 years' worth of proven gas supply; more than 200 of coal. So the biggest concern about fossil fuels is not that they are likely to run out, but that they contribute powerfully to global warming.

There is so much uncertainty about global warming that is difficult for the non-expert to reach a sensible judgement. But I have been rereading the measured and sensible 1990 Climate Change report from the intergovernmental panel that studied global warming on behalf oi the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme. Its central conclusion was that global mean temperature would rise by 1 degree Celsius by 2025 and 3C by the end of the next century: a greater change than anything seen in the past 10,000 years.

The levels of uncertainty are high, but it seems to me that we are mad to risk such an experiment with the earth's climate: stupidity and arrogance akin to that displayed by European leaders which led us into the First World War and wrecked the first half of this century. Accordingly, the fact that we are and will remain a fossil-fuel economy highlights the case for conservation. It is precisely because there is plenty of oil around now that we must work harder to use less of it.

The market cannot do this on its own. It can be a powerful tool encouraging good environmental practice (why could the anti-nuclear lobby never grasp that privatisation of our nuclear electricity industry was the answer to its dreams? It is market pressure that will ensure the industry quietly withers away). But the market cannot cope with very long-term changes such as global warming. It needs to be harnessed.

The mechanism to do that exists. It is taxation. One of the absurdities of the tax system of every developed country is that it discourages the thing it ought to encourage: work; and fails to discourage the thing it ought to discourage: pollution. So we penalise work by making people pay income tax and social security contributions - and wonder why there is unemployment; and we insuficiently tax, or even subsidise the use of power - and wonder why we use so much of it.

The worst culprit is, of course, the US, where the real price of petrol is the lowest it has been for 50 years. While legislation has cut the fuel consumption of the car fleet, Americans have beaten this by switching to four-wheel-drive pick-up trucks. Britain still has about the cheapest petrol in Europe and subsidises company cars, and when the government did try to impose VAT on fuel in the home, MPs forced it to scale down its intentions. Hopeless.

Of course we need to try to stop disasters like the Sea Empress happening, just as we need to improve road safety or discourage people from smoking. But the overriding environmental imperative is to conserve energy. And only by taxing fossil fuels enough, forcing the price up, harnessing the power of the market, will we start on the long path towards energy conservation.

Britain is not a particularly big player in the world energy league but if this country committed itself to a much more fundamental shift to higher energy taxation, just as Japan did after the 1974 oil shock, it would have a disproportionate impact. All governments are desperate to find new sources of revenue to help finance cuts in income tax and hence to reduce the disincentive to employment. For once, good environmental policy makes sound fiscal sense.


0112 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Compensation:   Pay-out for damages could top Braer £80m

by  Michael Settle

The total compensation pay-out over the Sea Empress oil disaster could exceed £100m.

Oil-disaster compensation expert Dr Gotthard Gauci, a law lecturer at  the University College of Swansea, said the eventual cost could be more than that of the Braer incident off Shetland in 1994.

In the first 12 months after the Braer spill nearly 1,500 claims were made to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund which represents the cargo owners.

Around £40m was paid out from the fund.

Other compensation claims were met by the shipowners' insurers. This pay-out figure is not known, but Dr Gauci suggests it could have been similar figure to the fund pay-out, making a total cost of around 80m.

Asked if the Pembrokeshire disaster could result in a bigger pay-out Dr Gauci said, "Possibly, yes. I would not be surprised.

"In the Braer incident the bad weather helped clean up the area very quickly. We don't know how long things will take in the Welsh case The effects may be much longer."

After the Braer incident insurers were quick to set up an office at Lerwick to settle claims speedily.

West Wales fishermen have appointed London-based MPC and Company to handle their claims.

Chief executive Gerard Walsh said, "The industry in South Wales is worth about £20m a year as a whole. The amount of compensation we will be claiming ultimately depends on how badly the industry is affected and for how long.

"We have been holding meetings with the fishermen and we will be opening an office in Milford Haven next week to begin the process of handling claims.

"Any claim has to meet the criteria laid down by international conventions.

"We have to provide scientific evidence about the effects of the oil on marine life - a specialised task.

"The process of making an effective claim can take months, but once accepted it can be paid within two weeks."

Dr Gauci said there could be a wide range of compensation claimants.

Local authorities could seek recompense for the cost of the clean-up operation, hotels and restaurants could claim for the loss of tourist business and fishermen could claim for loss of business, as could the West Wales sea-food industry.

The Wales Tourist Board could seek redress for the extra promotion it may have to implement to convince people of the value of going to West Wales for a holiday.

Individuals with respiratory problems such as asthma could make a compensation claim if their condition was made worse by the oil vapour in the air.

Dr Gauci said that in the United States tax authorities sought compensation for the loss of payments from businesses which were affected.

In the case of the oil tanker Zoe Colococroni, which caused a slick off the coast of Puerto Rico in 1973, the Puerto Rican authorities sought compensation for the loss of insect life as well as birds and fish.


0113 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Controversial  broker dares to take chances

by Alasdair Milburn

The  owner of the Sea Empress, John Fredriksen, is an East End boy made

good: the east end of Oslo, that is.

The 5l-year-old is reported to be worth nearly £300m. He owns around  dozen tankers and Norwegian Fredriksen, which has a number of subsidiary companies.

In recent weeks he has entered the acquisition market, first attempting a take-over of rival shipping company Nordic America and the Dutch drilling company Nedreill. So far neither attempt has been successful.

Trine Andersen, of the Norwegian newspaper Afterposten, said, "Fredriksen is controversial. He is a man who dares to take chances. He trades faster and in bigger quantities than most. Everyone praises his business talents but he has never been a member of the gentlemen's club of Norwegian shipping circles."

Mr Fredriksen started his career as a 16-year-old. He was a messenger and the youngest employee of the marine brokerage firm Blehr and Tenvig and took evening classes at high school, eventually becoming a broker and charterer.

In 1986 the police raided his offices in Oslo and he was remanded in custody for four months on suspicion of fraud involving different types of oil. The case ended in 1990 with Mr Fredriksen agreeing to pay around £200,000 to the authorities. He is reported to have used £500,000 in legal and expert help on the case.


0114 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Major's Shipping Minister is even younger than Hague

by Michael Settle

So who is this Lord Goschen, the bespectacled young hereditary peer who as Shipping Minister has had the tricky task of defending government policy over the Sea Empress disaster?

At the tender age of 30 he is the youngest minister in John Major's Government, even younger than Welsh Secretary William Hague who will be 35 in March.

Officially Aviation and Shipping Minister, little is known about the background of the fourth Viscount Goschen.

Glancing at Dod's, the parliamentary bible on biographical issues, one notices how he has probably one of the briefest of entries.

We are told that old Etonian Giles John Harry Goschen was born in1965 and succeeded his father, the third Viscount, in 1977.

He married Sarah Penelope Horsnail in 1991, but as yet they have not had any children.

They live at Hilton House, Crowthorne in Berkshire.

Lord Goschen owes his peer status to his great grandfather George Joachim Goschen (1831-1907), a financier and statesman who became Chancellor in Salisbury's Tory Govemment and was later elevated to the House of Lords as the first Lord Goschen.

The current Lord Goschen's government career began in 1992 when he was made a whip.


0115 (23.02.96) The Western Mail

Oil slick rescue team turns down assistance

Leak

Rescue workers battling to control the huge oil slick engulfing the Welsh coastline have turned down offers of help from abroad.

Experts from Norway have twice offered to help the massive clean-up operation after 70,000 tonnes of oil spilled from the Sea Empress.

But British rescuers have told them, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Wildlife experts, who expect thousands of birds to be washed ashore as the slick hits the sensitive Welsh coastline, hit out at the refusal.

Anthony Scourfield Lewis, chairman of the Friends of the Pembrokeshire National Park, said, "I would have thought they need all the help they can get. Norway has vital expertise in dealing with environmental disaster and this offer should have been snapped up.

"The environment here is under very real threat and help should be gratefully accepted. I am disturbed by this refusal - surely it is exactly the assistance needed in this situation."

Odd-arne Follum, of the stateowned Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, confirmed two offers to help clean up had been made.

"They have told us our help is not needed right now," he said. "We are able to offer recovery equipment including oil booms and screens and a team of clean-up workers.

"We were also offering to send two vessels to the area but they told us they could manage without us."

A spokesman for the rescue team at Milford Haven said, "We have all the help we need. There are only a limited number of places where we can use booms and only limited amounts of oil are coming ashore.

"We have 300 people working on the operation and up to 500 in reserve. It is a very kind offer but we have plenty of resources to deal with the situation."

Another company, International Bioremediation Services, is also offering help. The company has developed a gel-type substance containing bacteria that breaks down the film of oil left on beaches and in the sand.

Paul Adams of IBS said the shovelling and spraying operation being carried out around the coastline was outdated and the biodegradable solution had proved extremely successful in a recent clean-up operation off Northem Ireland.


0116 (23.02.96) Independent

Tanker lost steerage just before the crash

by Rebecca Fowler and James Cusick

The pilot on board the Sea Empress tanker when it ran aground off Milford Haven had radioed the port authority with an urgent message to say the vessel had lost steerage minutes before it ran aground.

Within 15 minutes of the pilot joining the vessel and sending the call for help the vessel grounded and began spilling oil. Details of the call have been given to the marine inspectors investigating the incident.

But yesterday Captain Peter Cooney, the managing director of the ship's managers, Acomarit, based in Glasgow, claimed there been no mechanical faiiure on board. He said the ultimate responsibility lay with the master and pilot. He said: "It is with these two gentlemen that we shall find the problem."

The pilot has been identified as Captain Jonathan Arnold, and the Russian master was Eduard Bolgov.

The Government yesterday ordered a widening of the inquiry into the Sea Empress disaster to include salvage operations, as Sir George Young, Secretary of State for Transport, was accused in the Commons of "appaling complacency".

Disclosing that he had asked the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents to extend the scope of his investigation, Sir George said it was "all too easy" to criticise the salvage efforts from the comfort of armchair or studio. "Nonetheless, for all their herculean efforts the vessel remained stranded for five days and some 65,000 tonnes of oil have been spilt," he said in a statement to MPs. ''We must find  out why."

Ms Short dismissed the MAIB investigation as "not an adequate response" and called for an independent inquiry.

In Milford Haven yesterday inspectors from the Marine Accident investigation Branch were gathering evidence. Already a number of key theories on how the ship became stranded on rocks at St Anne's Head have been forwarded to the inspectors. The adequacy of Milford Haven's marine accident plan according to sources, feature prominently in the inquiry.

Since it was privatised 10 years ago the number of tugs has been cut from eight to four, and the number of pilots employed to guide vessels through waters has been halved from 12 to six.

They now work alone instead of in couples, and they are also sent to meet ships much closer to the port. This leave the pilots far less margin to correct errors that may have been made on the ship's way into the port.

There is also concern that the £10m radar that covers the area, installed in 1985, has not been working properly since September.

A coastguard spokesman confirmed the radar was also not working properly when the tanker, Borga, went aground three and a half months ago, in the same waters as the Sea Empress. It is understood that St Anne's Head was a potential blind spot for the port authority's radar.

The authority maintain this would have little bearing on the ship's ability to take itself safely into the harbour. They said at the time of the grounding there was "good visibility".

However, Captain John Thistlewaite, a North Sea oil maritime consultant, said that any radar deficiencies, "would have made a tremendous difference. The

port would have known fully where the ship was and how soon it needed to

get a pilot on board.

The Russiah  crew  of the Sea Empress were evacuated last week to a hotel in Fishguard, where they were kept up the watchful eye of Texaco lawyers. The crew have all been tested for alcohol intake, but Captain Jonathan Arnold, the pilot, allegedly refused an alcohol test although there is no suggestion that he had consumed any whatsoever.

The Sea Empress was safely berthed at a disused jetty in Miford Haven yesterday. Smaller tankers will begin pumping her remaining cargo off this afternoon.


0117 (23.02.96) Independent

Hoping for nature's helping hand

by James Cusick and Rebecca Fowler

Environmentalists believe only stormy weather can disperse the slick effectively.

Authorities co-ordinating the massive clean-up operation to deal with the 70,000 tonnes of crude oil which spewed from the Sea Empress, yesterday said: "We are praying for a storm."

Relatively calm weather allowed the stricken tanker to be towed safely into Milford Haven, where operations began yesterday to pump off the remaining 60,000-tonne crude cargo.

An eight-mile long oil slick still lies off the Pembrokeshire coast and two smaller slicks lie north of St Anne's Head and continue to threaten the wildlife sanctuaries on Skokholm and Skomer islands. Dispersants continue to be sprayed on the slicks from the sea and air.

But rough weather forecast for the weekend, and favourable winds could see nature lending a hand in the clean-up, as it did in the aftermath of the Braer disaster.

Around Skomer Island yesterday, one of the finest sanctuaries for auks in Europe, 12 dolphins and porpoises were spotted swimming through water contaminated by oil.

So far, the coastline has been protected from the bulk of the oil spillage by winds which have kept it at sea, but a change in the weather this weekend may disturb the movement of the oil that covers a 25-mile area.

Environmentalists are concerned that heavy use of chemical dispersants sprayed over the oil may yet do serious damage.

Dr Sian Pullen, marine conservation officer for the World Wide Fund for Nature, said: "The best way to break up these slicks is to let the elements do it naturally. Ideally, we hope the tide will continue to keep it offshore."

She added: "This is still an ecological disaster. It's the toxicity of the oil that is devastating, and these are among the most important beaches in the country."

Although casualties have been relatively few, the real impact on wildlife is impossible to assess immediately."

Phil Rothwell, head of policy for the RSPB, said: "Only 20 per cent of the oiled

birds come into shore. We'll only really get a picture of what the toll is next year when we see how many come back to breed."

As the authorities battled against the oil damage, lawyers arrived in the area to evaluate the levels of environmental compensation. Libility for accidents is limited as a result of two international agreements the 1969 Civil Liability Convention and the 1971 Fund Convention. The 56 signatory states to these conventions (including Britain) agreed to a system under which the maximum

the owner of the tanker (or his insurers) has to pay in compensation is just over £10m.

This is topped up to a maximum of about £55 m by means of a levy imposed on oil buyers - mostly the big oil companies- as and when necessary.

An indication of the of the huge cost of the Sea Empress clean-up operation came from Shetland yesterday, where the local council revealed that it spent £25,000 clearing up less than one tonne of crude oil which ashore last month,

contaminating remote beaches.

The Shetland slick struck south-eastern shores of the main island, killing almost 200 seabirds. Environmentalists expect the leak came from a tanker whose skipper illegally "washed out" his vessel's tanks


096Feb24

0118 (24.02.96) The Independent

0119 (24.02.96) The Independent

0120 (24.02.96) The Western Mail

0121 (24.02.96) Dyfed Wildlife Trust


0118 (24.02.96) The Independent

Blunders that led to tanker catastrophe

by Rebecca Fowler and James Cusick

The journey from Scotland to the Pembrokeshire coast had been routine up to last Thursday night. With good weather and decent visibility, the Sea Empress and its cargo of 140,000 tonnes of crude oil were on schedule to deliver at Milford Haven oil refinery.

Around 6.30pm the first radio contact with Milford Haven port Authority was made from the tanker's bridge. Using its Global Positioning System, an advanced satellite location finder, the Sea Empress would have told the port authority where she was. Information was exchanged and plans for the pilot - who would guide the tanker into port - to board were made.

According to Captain Peter Cooney, managing director of the tanker's managers, Acomarit, the pilot boarded at 7.38pm. The pilot station is some four miles beyond St Arm's Head. From there, the official sea chart directs ships along the "transit line" towards West Blockhouse Point.

Although Sea Empress's logs are now in the hands of Department of Transport investigators, the company believes the logs will show that as 8pm approached, the ship was steaming west of the transit line.

Low tide, according to official charts, was at 9.39pm. The supertanker needed high tide water to make it into port. But the port authority claims there was no rush. She had 16 metres of water under.

To bring it back to the transit line, Sea Empress needed to change course and veer east. According to the Capt Cooney's crew reports, this was ordered. But it steamed past the desired line towards Middle Channel Rocks. It was off course.

At 8.08pm, according to Acomarit, as another course correction was tried, the first disaster happened. The ship's single hull hit the rocks. The Russian captain of the tanker, Eduard Bolgov, described the noise as "a terrible shuddering".

There would have a great deal of urgency on the bridge. Immediate action would have been required. Who gave the next order, and who carried it out, will be of crucial importance to the inquiry team.

Shortly after hitting the rocks, Sea Empress's engines were ordered to be either closed down or reduced to low power. At this point, as Acomarit believes the recorded tape of events now held by the Coastguard will show, the ship was about to lose steerage. By not going fast enough, changing rudder direction would have had little or no effect.

The tanker was now drifting towards St Ann's Head. A call from the bridge was radioed to the port authority. Minutes later the ship grounded at Mill Bay. It would be six days - in which time 70,000 tonnes of oil would be spilt - before it could be towed to safety.


0119 (24.02.960 The Independent

Pilot may have boarded stricken tanker too late

by Rebecca Fowler and James Cusick

A conflicting picture of events leading up to the grounding of the supertanker Sea Empress has been given to the government inspectors investigating the disaster, it emerged yesterday.

Accounts given by the company that manages the supertanker and by Milford Haven Port Authority are being examined by the team from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch. The last crucial moments before the 147,000-tonne tanker became stricken off St Ann's Head, near Milford Haven, Britain's busiest mainland oil port, and the subsequent salvage operations to free the grounded vessel, will be the inquiry's main focus.

The managers of the vessel, Acomarit, maintain the pilot whose job was to guide the ship into port boarded the vessel at 7.38p n, not 7.53pm, as port officials earlier suggested.

There is also speculation that the pilot may have boarded the vessel later than was routine for a tanker of the size of the Sea Empress. The time to deal with unexpected difficulties would have been less.

Captain Mark Andrews, harbour master, said pilots normally boarded in good time to discuss a plan of action with the master, in this case, the Russian captain, Eduard Bolgov.

"It wouldn't be normal practice to put the pilot on so late," he said. "The difficulty can be when it takes time getting the pilot on board."

There are discrepancies over suggestions that the Sea Empress was rushing to enter Milford Haven in order to avoid low water and thus be forced to wait for the next high tide, almost eight hours later.

Michael Hyslop, the general manager of the Port Authority, said: "I'm not aware of any evidence she was rushing. There was plenty of water, 16 metres, under her."

Captain Peter Cooney, managing director of Acomarit, said: "If the port authority say the pilot was on board 15 minutes before the vessel grounded, this is in conflict with our own information. We are sure the pilot was on board a halfhour before the grounding."

More than 70,000 tonnes of oil has gushed into the sea and is still being dealt with, in a large-scale clean-up operation.

The bill for the damages from the disaster could exceed £80m. Yesterday oil was beginning to affect wildlife on Lundy Island, 12 miles off north Devon, and a bird-rescue operation was under way.

The clean-up round the Pembrokeshire coast was continuing amid hopes that rough weather over the weekend will help disperse the oil slicks.


0120 (2.02.96) The Western Mail

Charles to visit scenes of oil spill disaster

by Alasdair Milburn and Michael Boon

Prince of Wales has made time in his programme to visit Milford Haven next Thursday to assess the impact of the oil tanker disaster.

His environmental concerns are widely known and deeply held.

He has been closoly following the Sea Empress spillage and now wants to see the damage for himself.

"He will be meeting those whose lives have been affected by the spillage, and those engaged in the cleaning up work," said a member of his staff.

"He was due to visit Cardiff anyway on St David's Day next Friday. Now he has changed his schedule around to extend the visit to two days."

The number of birds affected by the oil spill was getting higher by the minute, wildlife groups said last night.

The RSPCA's oiled bird reception centre near Milford Haven was brought into operation for the first time yesterday and seals have been spotted for the first time swimming through the oil.

By last night more than 1,400 oiled birds had been sighted but only 50 have been caught and taken to nearby wildlife centre for treatment.

It is feared the situation will deteriorate even further over the weekend with strong south-westerly winds expected to drive more oil onto the coastline.

Much of the 70,000 tonnes of light crude which has leaked from the tanker has gone out to sea but it is feared the change in wind direction will bring more oil inshore, affecting wading birds.

Richard Timothy of the RSPCA said, "The situation is getting worse by the minute. Oil is said to be coming up everywhere and we have been inundated with reports of oiled birds. Things are deteriorating very quickly.

"We have opened up our reception centre and around 50 birds are now being treated at this centre and others in Pembrokeshire.

"If the number gets higher our centre at West Hatch in Taunton is on standby.

"The problem is we can't catch most of the oiled birds because they still have enough strength to fly off. Our fear is they will grow weak out at sea and we can only hope we can get to them."

The Countryside Council for Wales has said large numbers of seabirds have also started returning to the cliffs of Skomer to prepare for breeding.

It said 2,300 pairs of kittiwakes, 10,000 guillemots and 700 pairs of fulmars werevulnerable because they would regularly return to sea to feed.

Meanwhile, the strong winds are not expected to affect the transfer of oil from the Sea Empress to the Star Bergen over the weekend.

Yesterday preparations continued at Herbrandston jetty, Milford, to discharge the remaining 70,000 tonnes of oil in tie Sea Empress's tanks.

A leak in the No I starboard tank has been sealed and special pumps are being installed to remove the oil.

Huge rubber fenders will be moved into position to allow the 35,000 tonne Star Bergen to come alongside and begin transferring oil within the next few days.

Over the weekend half the remaining cargo will be pumpd into the Star Bergen and taken to the Texaco refinery in an operation expected to last 28 hours.

The remaining half is likely to be transferred early next week.

Meanwhile, oil continues to spread around the Welsh coastline.

Slicks have been spotted on beaches as far north as Fishguard around Ramsey Island and as far east as Swansea and Kenfig.

Oil has also begun to affect wildlife on Lundy Island.


0121 (2.02.09) Dyfed Wildlife Trust Report

Oiled birds being treated -

Brace's environmental centre	Razorbill 	1

Mallard 	 1

Guillemot	21

R-T Diver	4

R-N Grebe	1

Shag .	1

Oystercatcher	1

West Williamston centre	Mute swan	2

Auks	4

Total	36

Estuary birds - changes over four days

Date	           Milford Haven	UpperEstuary            Total birds

total   oiled	total     oiled

20th	4689   442	3932       0	8895

21 st	4145   390	4691       0	9152

22nd	3642   663	7341    269	10983

23rd	2458   235	8250      67	10708

High number of oiled birds on 22nd due to an influx of black-headed gulls on that day

A volunteer on the south coast noted a film of oil on stones on the coast footpath.


096Feb25

0123 (25.02.96) The Mail on Sunday

0124 (25.02.96) The Mail on Sunday


0123 (25.02.96) The Mail on Sunday

Blunders that led to Britain's worst eco disaster

by Nick Fielding and Nick Buckley

The captain and crew of the huge Norwegian tug, Arild Viking, watched the TV pictures with mounting horror. In the bay of Milford Haven, the oil tanker Sea Empress had run aground.

Thousands of tons of oil threatened to wreak havoc along the coastline containing some of Britains most precious wildlife sanctuaries.

By sheer luck, the Norwegian tug, used for anchoring and towing North Sea oil rigs, was off the Norfolk coast. It could arrive at Milford Haven in time to provide crucial assistance in the battle to save the Sea Empress and its massive cargo of oil.

Four times the Norwegians offered help. And four times they were turned down. Their last offer received the reply from the salvage team working on the tanker 'Stop bothering us.'

The failure to respond to the Norwegians offer until it was almost too late is just one example of the misjudgment, indecision and bad communication that dogged one of Britains worst ecological disasters.

The Mail on Sunday has discovered confusion reigned among the salvage experts almost from the beginning.

The Sea Empress had run aground on Thursday, February 15. Almost immediately, four different teams vied for supremacy in the damagel imitation operation: a group of Dutch salvage experts employed by the ship's owners; officials from the Marine Pollution Control Unit; an HM Coastguard agency; and the Miliord Haven Port Authority.

The Dutch team was theoretically in charge, yet officials from the three other teams claimed a veto on decisions. As Milford Haven harbourmaster Mark Andrews said: There were disagreements every day on various issues.'

But the whole early operation was flawed. Using four locally-based tugs to try to control the Sea Empress was, in the words of Nathan Wheeler, a shipping analyst with MRC business information, 'like trying to hold a runaway bull with a few elastic bands.'

So WHY could nobody foresee the potential disaster that was so plain to the Norwegians? Why were they not listened to?

'We were told in no uncertain terms to stop bothering the brokers,' says Odd Brevik, managing director of Arild's owners, Viking Supply Ships.

At this point, three days had been lost as the Sea Empress lay stricken off West Wales. One move by officials, bringing in a Chinese tug from Cornwall, ended in farce when a Chinese restaurateur had to be rushed from a local takeaway to help translate complex instructions to the crew, and then in failure when, in heavy seas, the Sea Empress ended up back on rocks.

Only early on Monday — four days after the drama began and with oil gushing from the Sea Empress—did the salvagers ask the Arild Viking, three times bigger than any tug at their disposaL to speed for Milford Haven.

Had the Norwegians' first offer been accepted the tug could have bcen on site by early Saturday. As it was, it was 10 pm on Tuesday before it could play its central role in the successful operation to control and berth the ship the following night.

But two-thirds of the cargo had spilled out into the sea, affecting the bird islands of Skomer, Skokholm and Lundy and the North Cornish coast, with its schools of dolphins and porpoises.

The initial decision not to call in extra help was not unique to the Arild Viking. Two other large tugs, the Far Turbot at Dover and the Far Centurion at Liverpool were available but not brought in.

And The Mail on Sunday has discovered another Norwegian company offered the world's only oil spillage recovery and processing ship, the Crystal Sea which can process up to 30,000 barrels of oily liquid a day or pump 7,000 tons of oil from a tanker in one go.

Jan Fosse, managing director of the Crystal Sea's owners, said- 'We sent faxes left, right and centre, but without response. We tried to call, but we only got an answerphone message saying that no calls would be responded to until days later.

'Finally, we got a hot-line number and were eventually put through to Mike Walker of the Marine Pollution Control Unit. I was told he had received our fax. On Wednesday they told us they had lost it, so I sent it again.'

Eventually the Norwegians were told: 'We do not need your ship.'

The question of whether enough tugs, with enough power, were brought to the scene in time goes to the heart of the inquiry by the Marine Accident Investigations Branch.

In the Milford Haven case there is almost unanimous condemnation of the apparently complacent attitude of the salvage team and the port authority.

Last week in a series of interviews with The Mail on Sunday, those in charge of the operation acknowledged errors were made and gave an insight into the extraordinary divergence of opinions that hindered the operation on an hourly basis.

For much of the debacle, Joe Small, land commander with the Marine Pollution Control Unit, was the public frontman for the Joint Rescue Centre. Oozing confidence, he had repeatedly insisted, as events unfolded, that everything was under control.

But last week, he finally acknowledged that errors were made about the call-up of tugs. Mr Small said that for 40 hours after the Sea Empress was initially refloated and harnessed in deep water off St Ann's Head at Milford Haven, the four local 'tractor' tugs were sufficient to keep her secure.

'She was safe except that she was trapped and had a very limited area of manoeuvring,' he said.

Yet, last Saturday night, supported by the arrival of other tugs, the decision was taken to turn the tanker around with her bow facing into the predicted Force Eight gale. In the squall the Sea Empress rejected the harnesses. As she swung round 180 degrees, her two bow anchors crossed and the towlines from two of the tugs broke free.

Mr Small commented: 'Should we have foreseen it? Certainly it seemed to me the salvagers had enough tugs there.

I must admit that, because tugs lost control, there should have been more powerful tugs there. It is impossible to resist the conclusion that in future we would probably play safe and get an excess of tugs in the area.'

In the days since, with the announcement of the inquiry, local blame has been atached to either the port pilot in charge bringing the ship in or the ship's Russian captain Eduard Bolgov.

However, the Mail on Sunday investigation suggests the role of harbourmaster Mark Andrews and his superiors at Milford Haven Port Authority will also come under scrutiny when all detailed logs from the operation are handed in as evidence.

According to men on the local tugboats who spent a week at sea trying to save the 147,000 ton supertanker there is a far more simple answer.

They believe that the problem lay in trying to bring such a large vessel into port on a falling tide, and that the Sea Empress ran into trouble because her hull was virtually scraping along the sea bed.

The tug crews, who requested anonymity, believe the Sea Empress may have suffered the nautical phenomenon called 'squatting' where her rudder started to pull up water from underneath, restricting both her speed and manoeuvrability, causing her to sink further in the water until she hit sandbeds then rock.

This would explain the pilot's distress call claiming that the vessels steerage was out of control, and also matches with statements made by the Sea Empresss Scottish managers, Acomarit, that there was no mechanical failure.

But Michael Hyslop, the general manager of the Port Authority, said yesterday: There was plenty of water, 16 metres, under her.'

Meanwhile there is the question of cost. According to Odd Brevik, the rescue operation could have cost up to £3 million a day— a total of £15 million.

He also, in an almost amused fashion, points out that the Arild Viking costs 'less than £10,000 a day' to hire.

The real cost, of course, has yet to be seen . . . along the coastline of Britain, and the birds and sea life blighted, once again, by human misjudgment.


0124 (25.02.96) The Mail on Sunday

Shipping's £200m  outsider

by Kim Willsher

In Shipping circles John Fredriksen, the welder's son now worth a conservatively estimated £200 million, is something of a legend.

But until the Sea Empress, part of his fleet of five modern supertankers, two smaller ships and four oil rig transport vessels, went aground, few outside the business had heard of him.

Then, instead of being hidden by his friends in the business, as other owners have been before, he stepped into the limelight he professes to hate.

He described the eco-disaster as 'a tragedy and said he was considering getting out of the tanker business altogether.

Why didn't the 51-year-old Norwegian lie low? Perhaps because he is an outsider and had few places to hide.

The shipping aristocracy like to sneer at the man they see as a Norwegian Essex-boy-made-good.

His chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, his private jet and helicopter, his ostentatious homes in Oslo, London and Marbella, where his wife and twin 12 year-old

daughters live, are considered flashy while his  flamboyant champagne parties at restaurants, where his £100 tips offset his habit of ordering items not on the menu, are labelled gauche.

And in 1986 he spent four months remanded in jail before being cleared of fraud.

But if the shipping elite don't like him, they grudgingly respect his business acumen. Fredriksen formed Northern Shipping in1975 after working as a telex boy and then broker for a Norwegian shipping firm. He bought tankers when the market was rock bottom then made a £4 million profit on one ship alone in six months.

His smaller ships ran the gauntlet during the Iran-Iraq War— one was hit by an Exocet—to bring oil out of Iran. "The tanker industry fits his mentality, its very cut  thrust, a hard and vicious game and he is a master of it, said one friend.

Will Fredricksen now quit it because of the Sea Empress?

Cynics point to his recent purchase of two North Sea oil platforms and drilling rigs and believe he was already planning to branch out into other areas.


096Feb26

0126 (26.02.96) CCW Press Release

0127 (26.02.96) CCW Press Release


0126 (26.02.96)  CCW Press Release

TO/AT:           Chairman

                      Vice Chairman

                      Council Members

cc                   Chief Executive

                      Director Conservation

                      Milford Teams, Milford Haven  HQ

                      Helen Roberts

PEMBROKESHIRE OIL SPILLAGE UPDATE AS AT 15:OO     26 FEBRUARY 1996

1. What oil remains aboard the Sea Empress is being pumped into the Star Bergen for transfer to on-shore oil storage facilities. This operation will not be complete for another day or so. Consequently, the volume left - hence the volume spilled - is still not known accurately.

2. No fresh leakage from the Sea Empress is occurring and there has been no spills during the transfer. Divers have not yet gone down to survey the ship's hull.

3. CCW survey staff have completed, over the weekend, an assessment of the length of coast and the habitats affected by oil. This has shown that 190 km of coast have moderate to heavy oil, though the width of the oiled area naturally varies from place to place. Our press release today pays particular attention to this enormous length of coast contaminated with oil. It represents 12% of the Welsh coastline.

4. Bird casualties are mounting. Over1,100 oiled birds, mainly auk and Common Scoter, have been picked up for treatment. Not all will survive. Around 300 dead birds have been recovered, though the total kill will be far higher. We anticipate an increase in these casualties, especially of the important scoter population in Carmarthen Bay.

5. Diving surveys (by the MNCR team) of subtidal areas affected by oil are underway as are transect counts of seabirds from a chartered ship. We also have photographic records being compiled. CCW local staff in the Joint Response Centre are continuing to advise MPCU and other authorities on the complex clean up operation along the coast.

6. A meeting of relevant Government Departments, chaired by the Dept. of Transport to discuss intergrating DoT/MFF/CCW/ Environment Agency monitoring programmes is scheduled for 4 March. No meeting will take place prior to that. I will chair a follow-up meeting with out local and Wales partner bodies and VCos probably later on the 4th.

Dr M E Smith     Director of Policy and Science 26 February 1996


0127 (26.02.96) CCW Press Release

CCW REVEALS EARLY SURVEY FINDINGS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT OF SEA EMPRESS OIL SPILL

Early findings from the Countryside Council for Wales' monitoring programme of the environmental impact of the "Sea Empress" oil spill off Milford Haven are starting to emerge. They indicate that the environmental damage will be far worse than that of the Braer which ran aground off Shetland in 1992.

Based on surveys of coastal habitats over the weekend, CCW estimates that oil has already come ashore along more than 200km of the south west Wales coast from Pen y Cyfrwy near St Davids to the mouth of the river Tywi in Laugharne.

Over 19O km of this area is moderately or heavily oiled, which represents 12 per cent of the total length of the Welsh coastline. The extent of oil along the coast may still increase with the tides over the next few days. Areas of mudflats, beach, saltmarsh and rockpools are all seriously affected

The latest reports state that over l,lOO oiled birds have come ashore, along with nearly 300 dead birds. Immediate concern is for the Saundersfoot to Pendine foreshore where there are numerous reports of oiled live Scoter offshore and on the beach. CCW fears that the number of Common Scoter casualties will continue to rise as Carmarthen Bay holds internationally important concentrations and is a proposed Special Protection Area under the EC Wild Birds Directive.

It is estimated in circumstances such as these that for every dead bird washed ashore, another ten die at sea. The total number of birds found dead after the Braer oil spill was 1,542, with 235 alive but oiled.

Dr Malcolm Smith, CCW Director of Policy and Science for CCW said: "We are only starting to see the very serious ecological effects of the Sea Empress oil spill. The full scale of the damage will take many weeks to become clear as we assess the effect on the whole maritime environment of south west Wales. Oiled seabirds and coastal habitats are only the tip of the iceberg in these circumstances. Marine life will have suffered considerable damage, many underwater species will have suffered considerable losses.

"It is already very clear that the environmental damage here is far more serious than that caused by the Braer.

'It is a matter of the gravest concern that one of Europe's worst oil spills ever has happened in an internationally important wildlife area, which is a candidate for Special Area of Conservation under the European Habitats Directive," added Dr Smith.


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0128 (27.02.96)  The Western Mail

RSPCA accuses oil authorities

by Ceri Jones

Milford Haven:  'Briefings by officials were either naive or intended to mislead'

The RSPCA last night accused authorities handling the Sea Empress rescue

of either being naive or misleading the public over the scale of the environmental disaster.

The full cost of the clean-up operation is now estimated at £10m and the Milford Haven Coastguard yesterday admitted to spending £2m so far.

But Stephen Mulholland, head of the RSPCA in Wales, claimed since the Sea Empress ran aground on February 15 media briefings had been carefully stage-managed to play down the impact of the disaster.

He said, "It is already clear the spill is substantially larger than stated by the authorities.

"And its effects will be considerably greater than any of the official predictions.

"The briefings by officials were either naive or designed to mislead."

He added the scale of the bird rescue  operation showed the true extent of the disaster.

"We are just thinking on our feet in order to cope with the scale of the problem," he said.

By yesterday oil had spread over 160 miles of beachcs from Pen.y Cyfrwy near St Davids to the mouth of the river Tywi in Laugharne. The RSPCA have collected almost 1,500 polluted birds and expect the problem to worsen.

In an effort to cope with high casualty rates the animal welfare organisation is setting up a bird washing facility in Milford Haven.

Its three wildlife hospitals are already full.

"There are many logistical problems to overcome in relation to the cleaning and holding of such enormous numbers of birds and in arrangirg their release, "said Mr Mulholland.

Supt Kevin Manning of the RSPCA Welsh Inspectorate said the organisation had mobilised volunteers from all over England and Wales to help in the operation.

However, he expected only 35 per cent of the birds to survive the trauma of the oiling and cleaning process.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the Sea Empress rescue operation yesterday continued to defend themselves against criticism of their handling of the disaster.

As the first 25,000 tonnes was successfully transferred from the punctured cargo holds of the stricken tanker, Chris Harris, chief executive of the Coastguard

Agency, said he did not believe critics of the operation had been able to separate the groundings from the clean-up efforts.

"We're here with the interests of the community and environment at heart, surely we are on the same side," he said.

Mr Harris said the National Oil Pollution contingency plan which had been put into action within the first few hours of the Sea Empress hitting the rocks at the mouth of the Haven had worked well.

He said around 80 organisations had been involved and there had been no shortage of resources, money, equipment or manpower.

And he insisted offers of help had not been turned down out of hand as reported.

"All offers of help had been  looked at very carefully," he said.

Michael Hyslop, general manager of the Milford Haven Port Authority claimed inter-agency co-operation and collaboration on the rescue  attempt had been extremely impressive.

He said, "The salvage of the vessel has always had low priority in itself.

"Our whole objective has been to minimise the risk of further pollution." He added,"I certainly would be the first to accept that we need to look at this and learn lessons from what has happened.

"We will try to improve things for the future."

• Last night's BBC Panorama documentary on the Sea Empress disaster was cancelled due to technical  problems during editing. The BBC said it would be shown as soon as possible.


0129 (27.02.96)  The Western Mail

Resorts  Tide of oil hits tourist hopes

Oil yesterday poured on to the popular tourist beaches of Tenby.

All three beaches, North, South and Castle beaches were hit. An army of workers moved in to start clearing the mess.

Despite reassurances from some in the tourist industry that it would all be gone by the summer, others said the oil could prove a heavy blow to Wales's premier resort.

The town's mayor Maureen Ward said, "We all know the oil will be gone by the summer, but the problem is that tourists will not realise it. It's a massive knock to the tourist trade amd to the town's fishing industry."

But Pembrokeshire Hotels and Restaurants Association chairman Ian Bell was however more optimistic said, "We are trying to reassure people that by the time they come to stay in the summer it will all be gone."

Nearby Saundersfoot remains oil-free at present, with a boom placed around its harbour to keep the oil out.

Worst hit in the area is the previously unspoilt Manorbier beach.

• Tenby's Clean Seas Campaign action group has joined the call for a full independent inquiry into the disaster.


0130 (27.02.96)  The Western Mail

Decision day over Orimulsion jetty

by Steve Dube

PLANNING:  Public inquiry demanded

Dyfed's planning committee will be asked today to carve its name in history at its last-ever meeting by demanding a public inquiry into plans for a new jetty for tankers bringing Orimulsion into Milford Haven.

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales says the inquiry should look at every aspect of National Power's proposals to convert its power station at Pembroke from burning heavy fuel oil to the mixture of bitumen and water produced in Venezuela and described by environmentalists as the dirtiest fuel in the world.

"Public opinion yearns for this and the Sea Empress tragedy now gives you an undeniable moral authority to carve your council's name in history," said CPRW director Merfyn Williams in a three-page letter to Dyfed councillors.

Local authorities in West Wales have already backed the power station conversion, which will now be decided by Trade and Industry Secretary Ian Lang, but Dyfed has yet to decide whether to approve Milford Haven Port

Authority's plans for a new jetty to handle the six million tonnes of Orimulsion needed every year.

The jetty will add about 330 tankers to the yearly total of 7,500  shipping movements in the Mllford Haven waterway.

Mr Williams said the Sea Empress disaster had shown how one major spillage of light crude oil could blight an internationally important environment.

"Think of the additional and even longer-term danger posed by the port authority's proposed jetty," he said.

And he said the CPRW survey indicating high asthma levels in primary schools downwind of the existing power station and oil refineries -later denied by Dyfed Health Authority - had been confirmed by other studies.

He said the health authority's claims that the area had clean air and good public health had been refuted.


0131 (27.02.96) The Western Mail

Call to ban salmon and trout fishing

by Steve Dube

ANGLING           Fears that stocks may be tainted

Anglers in West Wales are calling for a moratorium on all forms of salmon and sea trout fishing in South and West Wales.

The move follows voluntary bans by the South Wales cocklemen and women and by the Pembrokeshire  inshore fishermen after the Milford Haven oil spill.

Estuary and river fisheries are about to reopen after the close season but Carmarthenshire Fishermen's  Federation Secretary Garth Roberts called on Welsh Secretary William Hague to order a moratoriun under his civil emergency powers.

"We are not over-reacting but we must exercise extreme caution because the consequences of the oil spill are not yet known," said Mr Roberts.

Mr Hague can direct the National Rivers Authority to postpone the start of this year's fishing season because of the possible effects of the Sea Empress pollution.

The oil and its dispersing agents are known to be toxic and salmon returning to Welsh rivers from the Atlantic are now gathering in the heavily contaminated coastal waters. There have been reports of dead fish washed up on the Pembrokeshire coast.

Sea trout spend all their sea lives around the coast and thousands of tiny smolts will soon be migrating from the Cleddau river systems through the Milford Haven and leaving the river Tywi for Carmarthen Bay.

More than 50,000 sea trout and 8,000 salmon enter the Tywi every year while 250,000 juvenile smolts head the other' vay.

The Tywi netting season for both fish is due to open on Friday and rod fishing three weeks later.

Mr Roberts said fish moving between fresh and salt water undergo physiological changes and exposure to polluted water quickly produces tainted flesh.

"It would be irresponsible of anyone to consider fishing in these circumstances," he said.


0132 (27.02.96) The Western Mail

Haven safety proposals 'were ignored'

by Alasdair Milburn

The owners of the tanker Borga which grounded off St Ann's Head last year have revealed that recommendations they made to improve safety in Milford Haven were ignored. :

Bergen-based shipping company Mowinckel said it was not surprised by the Sea Empress disaster because of what it claimed was inadequate support when the 112,000-tonne Borga grounded last October.

Jan Bernsten, spokesman for the company said, "Milford is very narrow. We believe that more powerful tugs should be used and that they should escort vessels from outside the estuary.

"We also believe that there are not sufficient offshore support vessels.

"Our port here in Bergen is very similar to Milford. We have implemented all of these things and we recommended to the Milford Haven Port Authority that they should do likewise. We have yet to hear from them."

Mr Berntsen said his company felt there were a number of  wide-ranging issues at Milford  which needed to be addressed, including the rapid installation of a new radar system and a review of the port's contingency plan.

"In Bergen the resources immediately available to the authorities are known. Support vessels are not port-owned but privately-owned, but everyone knows what is available and that what is available is sufficient to cope with any incident.

"The people at Milford must ask themselves, 'Are we in the same position?'

"I'm afraid the answer must be no."

Mr Bemtsen said Mowinckel was a 100-year-old traditional shipping company which prided itself on its safety record.

"We have not had an incident like the Borga for more than 25 years. It was a major incident for us and we are not very happy with the way the tanker grounded and the subsequent attempts to remove her from the rocks.

"We have made our grievances known to the port authority but they have yet to come back to us."

But port authority general manager Michael Hyslop said, "After the Borga we appointed independent consultants to conduct a study into escort towage in the Haven.

"We do not have the consultants' report so it would be premature to go back to the owners of the Borga at this stage."


096Feb28

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0141 (28.02.96)  Western Telegraph

0141 (28.02.96) The Western Telegraph


0133 (28.02.96) Western Telegraph

Prince to see oiled coast

The Prince of Wales will fly by helicopter over Pembrokeshire's oil-drenched coastline tomorrow (Thursday) to see for himself the impact on the county's worst environmental disaster.

The Prince, a dedicated environmentalist, will have a private conference with those in charge of the clean-up operation. He will also visit Milford Docks and the badly affected beach at Freshwater West.

All along the coast dedicated teams continue their heartbreaking task of mopping up the beaches and picking up dead and dying seabirds, victims of the 70,000 tonnes of light crude oil poured into the sea by the Liberian registered tanker Sea Empress.

An unknown toxic quantity of the ship's fuel oil escaped and yesterday (Tuesday) dead fish were being washed ashore.

The remaining oil on board the Sea Empress, now berthed at the former Esso jetty, was yesterday still being transferred to a smaller tanker, the Star Bergen, which had been standing by for ten days.

The six-day salvage operation was watched world wide on television as one attempt after another to refloat the tanker appeared to go drastically wrong.

And even before the Sea Empress was finally dragged to safety on Wednesday evening, havingspilled more than half her cargo   ???  could be off-loaded?

1. Why was she allowed to wallow around in the harbour entrance, with a perilous headland, strong currents and dangerous rocks, with a gale forecast?

2. Why wasn't the Star Bergen used to offload her at once?

3. Why were offers of assistance with more powerful tugs from British, Norwegian and Dutch salvage companies all refused?

4. Why was the advice of experienced pilots on board the stricken tanker either overruled or ignored?

Milford Haven Port Authority's general manager Mike Hyslop said many of the questions could only be answered at an inquiry.

"Our main concern is first to prevent pollution getting worse; second, to complete the clean-up as quickly as possible; and third, to carefully review what steps should be taken to avoid any repetition," he said.


0134 (28.02.96) Western Telegraph

Who's in charge?

The six-day salvage operation involved many organisations, but who was in charge? According to Joint Response Centre chairman Mike Hyslop, Milford Port Authority and the Marine Pollution Control Unit had a negative veto, but the final decision over salvage matters rested with salvers.

In command of the Sea Empress salvage was Dutchman Kees Van Essen. Local representative was Stephen Dennison of Cory Towage.

Chris Harries, Coastguard Agency chief executive was responsible for marine pollution control, working with Joe Small, MPCU senior operations officer, and Kevin Colcomb, MCPU scientific officer.

The Joint Response Centre has five separate arms: Marine to minimise pollution from the tanker; Technical to clean up beaches; Environmental led by the Countryside Council for Wales, to advise on clean-up procedures and monitor environmental impact; Support comprising all the emergency services and Press Office.


0135 (28.02.96) Carmarthen Journal

Tide of death

by Peter Jones

Businesses, birds and beaches in Carmarthenshire will be suffering for years to come following last week's oil disaster in Milford Haven.

Early signs are that most of the 95,000 ton cargo that spewed from the tanker 'Sea Empress' is threatening the coast from Amroth to Burry Port. Chief scientist with the Marine Pollution Control Unit (MCPU) David Bedborough told reporters, the marine environment will take ten years to recover from the spill.

As the clean-up operation on Pendine beach moved into top gear on Monday, residents were already writing off the summer. One local business man, Raymond Davies, who owns the village garage with his brother John, was concerned the oil will frighten off the tourists.

"Everything we stock here is geared up for the tourist trade," he said.

"Last year was so good, such a wonderful summer, many of us have bought in extra stock to cope with the increased demand. We'll know by Easter if the effect is going to be as bad as we think."

Holiday bookings were already being hit as would-be visitors cancelled bookings at Pendine's caravan site. The site employs 40 people in the holiday season, but holiday camp manageress Jane Arnold said people were already cancelling.

Reverend Keith Littler of Pendine said the community was devastated.

"There is no doubt the village will suffer," he said."Everyone feels very hurt and angry, it'svery difficult to talk to anyone without producing a tear in their eyes.

"The beach is what people visit Pendine for, without it they just won't come."

The job of clearing the oil from the coastline is being co-ordinated by the MCPU, who have used Pendine as a practice beach before.

Their man on the spot Mathew Somerfield said the operation should take three days, but new oil was arriving on each tide.

"We are throwing everything we have at this, and will continue to do so until it's all gone," he said.

Thousands of birds have been affected in what is now the worst ever oil pollution incident in UK waters.  Dyfed Wildlife Trust say the country's biggest flock of Common Scoter, estimated to be 10,000 was in Carmarthen Bay last week.

Spokeswoman Margaret Brooks said; "If I even begin to think about the vast numbers of birds coming in I would be too moved to do my work."

Hundred of birds have been picked up from Carmarthen beaches over the weekend, with more expected on each tide.

Cockle gatherers in the Carmarthen Bay area have been advised by Carmarthen district council not to collect any shellfish, but the Sea Fisheries Committee said there is no contamination yet.

 "The cocklemen are still gathering, but as soon as there is the slightest sign they will stop," said a spokesman.

"It's not in their interest to pick oiled fish, no-one will buy them."

Friends of The Earth Cymru and local MP's are calling for an independent inquiry into the accident.

Spokesman for FOE Gordon James said: "The in-house inquiry promised by the DTI would be far too narrow and secretive."

Pembroke's Labour MP Nick Ainger, who sais the salvage operation was 'deeply flawed' said: "Nothing less than an independent inquiry, ideally chaired by Lord Donaldson, will satisfy the intense anger felt by my constituents."

Mr Ainger questioned the sense in holding the tanker off St Anne's Head after she was holed.

"The ship was held exposed to a forecast gale and subject to extremely strong tides and currents."

"It would be difficult to find a more dangerous place to control a supertanker."


0136 (28.02.96) Western Telegraph

Seabirds pay the price as terrible toll mounts

Badly oiled seabirds are being put down by the RSPCA as the terrible toll of the Sea Empress spill mounts hour by hour.

With their Thornton bird reception centre at Milford Haven inundated with arrivals of oil-blackened seabirds, wildfowl and waders, and local bird hospitals also struggling to cope with the carnage, some birds are being given lethal injections to put them out of their misery.

''Only a few of the worst cases, which are too far gone even to travel to the local bird hospitals, are being humanely destroyed,'' said RSPCA press officer Richard Timothy.

"The bulk of the birds which have a chance of survival are being sent to our Little Hatch centre at Taunton, but even that was finding it difficult to cope on Monday and we are extending our centre at Thornton. We hope to have added facilities there by Thursday.''

Mr Timothy said that by Monday some 1,300 birds had bcen collected from various parts of the coast, most of them scoter duck from the Carmarthen Bay area where Pendine, Amroth, Ferryside and Wiseman's Bridge were badly hit by oil coming ashore. Carmarthen Bay is an internationlly important scoter wintering area with upwards of 10,000 birds there.

"The majority are scoter, but we also have guillemots, gulls, razorbills, commorants, divers, swans and even curlew and herons," said Mr Timothy.

Dyfed Wildlife Trust reported on Monday that Skomer and Skokholm continued to be hit by oil - the warden of Skomer, Mr Graham Thompson, describing the state of the North Haven as 'terrible'.

Trust director, Mr David Saunders, said: "It will be some weeks before the extent of the damge to Skomer marine nature reserve underwater colonies can be measured, but there is much concern for the corals, anemones and sponges which are the key in establishing the seas surrounding the island as Britain's second marine nature reserve.

"Overall totals for oiled birds now climb quickly towards 2,000 and the Trust estimates the number of fatalities to live recoveries at ten to one.

Oiled birds are coming ashore all round the South Pembrokeshire coast. There were cleanup operations in the harbour master's office at Saundersfoot at the weekend and one volunteer at the West Williamston Bird Hospital, Mr Wilf John, was moved almost to tears by the sight of between 500 and 1,000 oiled birds on the shore near his home at Lawrenny.

West Williamston has even had to clean two peregrine falcons which became contaminated when they fed on an oiled seabird on the beach.

There are 33,000 pairs of gannets currently on Grassholm and they are very vulnerable, while there are between 500 and 1,000 scoter duck in St Bride's Bay and about 6,000 in Carmarthen Bay, which are favourite wintering areas," said Mr Phil Rothwell, of the RSPB.

"The sheen of oil on the surface can be worse than the heavy slicks because birds go through heavy concentrations of oil usually end up needing immediate attention, while lightly oiled birds just carry on preening off the oil until it poisons them and we never see them. In such cases we have no idea of how many birds die out at sea from the effects of oil until the following breeding season, when we see how many return to the islands to breed."

And Dyfed Wildlife Trust spokesperson, Margaret Brooks, appealed to boatloads

of TV and press reporters and cameramen to stay away from Skomer and the other islands because they were frightening the birds and driving them into the oil slicks..

The Welsh Marine Life rescue service at Liddaston, Milford Haven, is also playing an important part in the clean-up.


0137 (28.02.96) Western Telegraph

Beach oil removed

Some 22,000 gallons of oil were removed from Manobier beach over the weekend, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park has disclosed.

Meanwhile conservation agencies have urged the public not to rescue oiled birds or mammals but to ring the RSPCA on 0990 555999.

"Birds can easily be frightened back into the oil water from which they have escaped" said a Park spokesman. "If you sight a dead bird do not remove it but telephone 01646 661667."


0138 (28.02.96) Western Telegraph

Sad return to Skomer for former warden

It was a sad case of deja vu for former Skomer warden Mike Alexander when he returned to the area last week.

Now an officer of the Countryside Council for Wales, Mike and his wife Ros were wardens of the Pembrokeshire nature reserve for 10 years, in.cluding 1978 when the tanker Chritos Bitas caused the worst oil pollution in Skomer's history , after running aground on the nearby Hats and Barrels reef.

Skomer bore the brunt of that accident when large amounts of crude oil from the Greek vessel were washed ashore, filling the North Haven with a deadly brown mousse and polluting many other parts of the island fore shore.

By Friday the North Haven was beginning to look as it had looked in October 1978, but with the added threat posed by extensive slicks and sheens covering thousands of square miles of sea all round the island.

"The North Haven on Friday was about half as badly polluted as it was after the Christos Bltas, incident," said Dyfed Wildlife Trust director David Saunders, who was also a warden of Skomer in the early '60s.

''The fact that the Christos Britas incident happened in the autumn was a rather better situation than this latest pollution as far as the birds were concerned.

Now there are large numbers of guillemots on and around the island, the shearwaters are due back in the next week and the puffins in about three weeks time, so it is a critical time of year.

The situation is grim but we can only hope it will improve somewhat before the main populations of birds return.''


0139 (28.02.96) Western Telegraph

Food chain could be hit for many years

The warden and director of studies at Dale Fort Field Centre, Mr Julian-Cremona, has warned that the effects of the Sea Empress oil spill coud have lasting effects throughout the food chain Pembrokeshire for many years to come."

He told the Western Telegraph: 'We do not just have to worry about the immediate effects of the oil on local marine and wildlife, but also the longterm knock-on effects.' The birds here feed on the fish and the-fish-on barnacles and limpets. Many shellfish on Dale Beach are dead or dying. The razorshells are on the surface and if you place your hand on the seaweed, it is covered in sheen.

Dale has been of significint importance as an evironmental study centre for years. A team of biologists from the centre is now carrying out regular density counts of animals and wildlife in different areas to see if there is any marked decrease and is planning monitoring exercises to ascertain the amounts of oil in the sediment.


0140 (28.02.96) Western Telegraph

Conservationist's in call for action

Friends-of the Earth Cymru has demanded a comprehensive public inquiry that takes evidence from critics and considers openly 'the charges of negligence. Gordon James,  head of campaigns said: ' 'We call upon Welsh Secretary William Hague to take the initiative in ensuring that an Inquiry takes place to look at the whole issue of shipping oil in such an environmentally sensitive area and to ensure that the coastline of Wales gets better protection in the future."

The Countryside Council for Wales has outlined proposals for long-term study to monitor the impact of the pollution. Chief executive Paul Loveluck said it was vital to monitor the environmental damage which has been caused. The knowledge assembled would benefit others.

The Council for National Parks said the incident could signal further environmental disasers if plans for a dramatic increase in oil imports went ahead. Policy officer Ruth Chambers said: ''The Council for National parks calls urgently on both the Department of Trade and Industry and Dyfed County Council to put National Park protection at the heart of its decision-making and to     turn down the application for burning Orimulsion, with the further risks that this brings.

The West Wales Energy Group has written to Mr Mike Hyslop, general manager of the Port Authority, arguing that the Sea Empress incident leaves him with no alternative but to withdraw the Orimulsion jetty planning application currently in the hands of Dyfed Count Council.

The letter poses questions about the navigation, pilotage and ship surveillance systems operated by the Port Authority; the emergency response and towage provision.

The Cetic League has called for an environmental emergency area declaration linked to funds and  resources. It also wants an urgent reassessment of all  western sea passages of  enhanced risk from oil supertankers. These include Milford Haven and parts of the Irish Sea.

World wildlife Fund-UK marine conservation officer Dr Sian Pullen said the oil industry should insist that all vessel carrying oil and chemicals into their terminals have double hulls. She also voiced concern about the aerial spraying of chemical dispersants.


0141 928.02.96) Western Telegraph

0141

Tanker oil spill: Now the probes

by  Chris Hughes

Plans to assess the effect of pollution caused by the supertanker Sea Empress have been drawn up by the Countryside Council for Wales.(CCW)

The Bangor-based CCW have outlined proposals for long-term study into the impact the huge oil slick will have on the Dyfed coastline.

Such research is vital to monitor the environmental damage, said chief executive Paul Loveluck, stressing the importance of learning from the disaster.

He said such a programme would require international co-operation.

He was speaking at a Welsh conference on wildlife in the 21st century, organised by the Welsh Wildlife Trusts.

Mr Loveluck highlighted the need for a strong relationship between CCW, Wildlife Trusts and the new unitary authorities.

He announced that the CCW has earmarked nearly £2.4m for conservation work by local authorities and voluntary groups, over the coming year.

This will contribute towards carrying out at a local level the commitments made at the 1992 Earth summit by the Government.

The cash will help the new authorities introduce countryside strategies-and make sure environmental concerns are integrated into all forms of business.

Notable species  and habitats will receive protection plans through the grant, while local knowledge of conservation issues wlll be considered hand in hand with local planning issues.

The Coed  Cymru scheme, which advises farmers on sustainable woodland management and the marketing potential of timber from farm woodlands, will also benefit.


096Feb29

0142 (29.02.96) Tivy-Side  Advertiser

0143 (29.02.96) Tivy-Side  Advertiser

0144 (29.02.96) Tivy-Side  Advertiser

0145 (29.02.96) Community Broadsheet


0142 (29.02.96) Tivy-Side Advertiser

'All the stops have been pulled out'

A full independent public inquiry has been demanded by the Pembrokeshire  Coast National Park committee following the Sea Empress

The committee expressed concern at its meeting last week that the government had not fully implemented the recommendations of the Lord Donaldson inquiry (into the 'Braer' disnster) with particular reference to the lack of  pre-positioned ocean-going tug in the western approaches.

It now plans to write to the shipping minister Lord Goschen, and the Secretary of State for Transport, Sir George Young, to call for an inquiy similar to that which was set up following the 'Braer' disaster off the Shetland Isles.

Committee chairman, Cllr Gordon Cawood said the government planned to' tackle the huge ecological. disaster that was now unfolding.

"Ten thousand tonnes of oil are now lying in the water untreated. The long term damage, that has aleady been caused is immeasurable", he said.

A team of National-Park officers has been working around the clock in the clean-up operation since the tanker first ran aground  off St. Anne's' Head. They have joined around 200 volunteers and representatives or other bodies on the shoreline and in the water and are working under the co-ordinaton of the joint response centre.

National Park officer, Mr Nic Wheeler,' said National Park rangers, estate wardens, and others, had been called in from other duties to help with the clean-up and the Park's ecologists were closely monitoring the sea and shoreline. "All the stops have been pulled out, he said. "Our staff have been working continuously since February 23 in a monitoring and surveying role in support

of other agencies, through the joint response centre. "Praise must also be given to the salvage teams and those involved in  cleaning 'the beaches and collecting the birds affected by the pollution.

Mr Wheeler said  that the Marine Disaster Procedure 'was' a ship-orientated procedure .which.would not be able to take on board the landbased aspects.

The Marine Disaster Proeedure is 'not environmentally-orientated and would not satisfy the demand in Pembrokeshire for a full local inquiry," he added.

"The shipping  aspects of the incident have now been dealt with but only now

are the environmental consequcnces, beginning to unfold. The ship and cargo are insured and can be replaced. The marine and  coastal environment  is now being severely damaged and, wiill take many years to recover.


0143 (29.02.96) Tivy-Side Advertiser

Pollution study 'vital'

The Countryside Council for Wales has outlined proposals for a long-term study to monitor the impact of pollution caused by the Sea Empress.

Chief Executive Paul Loveluck said that such a programme was vital to see what environmental damage had been caused.


0144 (29.02.96) Tivy-Side Advertiser

Letters   How did an accident turn into such a disaster?

Sir, Tourism is now the biggest industry in the world; - lt is bigger than

petroleum, therefore why, when that tanker went aground, was the environment and tourism not number one in the minds of the people involved than the owners of the tanker and the facilities....responsibile for that tanker, the

wildlife trusts should get together and sue them, take them right through the courts, make someone pay, and send some people to prison.

David Bellamy, FoCB president, speaking at the Welsh Trust's conference, Llandudno, February 22, 1996.

Built in Spain, owned by a Norwegian, registered in Cyprus managed from Glasgow, by the French, crewed Russians,  flying a Liberian flag, carrying an  American cargo to an oil refinery on  the Welsh coast...

...and the ocean-going tug when it finally arrived, had an exclusively Cantonese speaking crew. A waiter from a Chinese restaurant in Milford Haven was brought in to act as an interpreter.

It this wasn't so serious, it would have been hilarious. There have been so many rumours around Pembrokeshire this week that if only a few of them are true, heads must roll.

How did an accident turn into such a disaster? The suspicion has to be that the authorities were more concerned about getting the tanker relatively undamaged  than  preventing the leaking of oil. Why were pilots on board the Sea Empress  over-ruled three times on different occasins, when they said they believed they could get the tanker safely out to sea, and by whom?

We were all surprised at the way the oil from the Braer was broken up by natural forces and apparently disappeared, just three years ago.

Environmentalists were accused of crying wolf on that occasion are perhaps a little cautious to use words like disaster now. Peak numbers of seabirds may not be present in the area for weeks to come. But many seabirds, and probably seals and cetaceans, will die as a direct result of the Sea Empress running aground. It is inevitable, and most of them will never figure in the 'wildlife lost' figures. Sad though this might be, the real danger is that substances contained in the oil, which are not broken down by the elements, will find their way into marine food chains, eventually causing reproductive failure in marine birds and mammals many years later.

To look on the bright side, as the Countryside Council for Wales has done, the grant of £250,000 from the Welsh Office will allow us to study the effects of the oil spill, and provide work for scientists for years to come. Milford Haven and the Pembrokeshire islands are already studied and baseline information

is readily available. But the damage is already done. And who in CCW was responsible for the limp and feeble tone of the series of press releases produced by the organisation in the week following the accident?

We depend on the government to safeguard the environment, which is so precious to so many of us, on our behalf. This is the job of Government. But this government has told industry it will de-regulate, and it has done so, leaving 'market forces' to take control. And market forces can never protect the environment.

What then, are we promised to bring out the truth behind this debacle? Why, a 'Marine Accident, Inquiry', conductcd in secret, no doubt, and with strictly defined terms of reference. Will it consider the consequences of the accident on the economy of Pembrokeshire which is so dependent on tourism? Will it consider the closing down of the Haven for oil related traffic until effective contingency plans and the equipment to deliver them are in place? Will it consider the current rapid escalation of oil exploration into coastal waters off Pembrokeshire, and the effect this may have on tourism and the environment? Almost certainly not.

One can imagine the authorities stocking up on white paint even now.

It is now time for the people of west Wales, those in local government, and particularly those concerned with tourism, to speak with one voice and tell the government that we will not tolerate the expansion of the oil industry into our coastal waters. The Sea Empress is one tragedy too many.

JEREMY MOORE Chair, Friends of Cardigan Bay


0145 (29.02.96) Community Broadsheet

                                              SEA VIGIL

                                              FOR THE

                       THE OILED PEMBROKESHlRE COAST

                                On Sunday March 3rd. From 5 pm

          Gather along your coastline at high points overlooking the sea

                                       (NOT ON THE BEACH)

            eg.                TENBY                   SAUNDERSFOOT

                   Castle Hill Memorial          Harbour Car Park

                          Please bring:      Candles  Torches

                               Songs  Poems  Children  Etc.

          SEA VIGIL FOR THE OILED PEMBROKESHIRE COASTLINE

The seriousness of the disaster that has struck the coastline of Pembrokeshire is now apparent The local community faces an uncertain future, trying to come to terms with the conequences of the new menace of oil pollution.  Many people are deeply shocked by the extent of the devastation, as familiar locations and wildlife have been damaged beyond belief overnight.

In addition to the damage limitation operations in progress, it is felt that it may be emotionally helpful for people to feel solidarity in sadness about what has happened, hopefully finding new strength and resolve in sharing their sense of grief and loss.

A vigil has been suggested to show respect for the sea and humility for mankind's mistakes, at 5 PM on Sunday 3rd March 1996. Peope may wish to gather at local high points along the affected coastline, near to BUT NOT ON the oiled beaches (because of health risks from the oil). For instance at Tenby on Castle Hill, and the Harbour at Saundersfoot.

An immediate, unplanned and spontaneous response to the trauma, this is seen as a sombre moment of reckoning rather than a celebration People may make of it what they wish. Perhaps by way of Welsh tradition they will bring with their thoughts things like candles, songs, poems, children and storytellers in remebering this sad time. It is to show that the peope of Wales do care strongly about what has just been done to their environment, and their future.


096March01

0146 (01.03.96) The County Times and Express and Gazette

0147 (01.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

0148 (01.03.96) Cambrian News

0149 (01.03.96) Cambrian News

0150 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0151 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0099 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0152 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0153 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0154 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0155 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0156 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0157 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0158 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

0159 (01.03.96) CCW News Release

0160 (01.03.96) CCW Report to Staff


0146 (01.03.96) The County Times and Express and Gazette

Jetty plan danger to the environment

by Barry Brown

Welsh wildlife and conservation groups have been united in horror at the pollution caused by the Sea Empress oil spill.

The super tanker ran aground on February 15 near Milford Haven spewing thousands of tonnes of oil into the sea off the Pembrokeshire coast.

And as the oil continued to pour out of the stricken tanker over the next week it threatened an area of outstanding wildlife value, affecting a range of plant and animal species.

The most seriously threatened according to the RSPB, is Britain's most important flock of the common scoter.

The scoter is a small black duck which spends the winter in shallow inshore waters and Carmarthen Bay holds about 5,000 birds around 15 per cent of the UK population.

This latest threat comes less than four months after oil from an unknown source seriously affected almost 600 birds.

"Now the oil has spread east along the Pembrokeshire coast, it is threatening new, vital areas for sea-birds," said RSPB deputy Wales officer Tony Prater.

                                                      Inquiry

' The delays and apparent failures of the management of the tanker have resulted in more oil escaping and making the serious incident into a disaster.

"Every day that passes causes more, avoidable problems for wildlife."

The Welshpool-based Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW) claims the Sea Empress oil spill highlights the danger of "dirty fuels", and has renewed its call for a public inquiry into the proposed burning of Orimulsion at Pembroke.

The CPRW is also opposing the construction of a new jetty by the Milford Haven Port Authority to import up to six million tonnes per year of the dirtiest fuel in the world.

The jetty application is due to be considered by Dyfed County Council but, in the aftermath of this latest ecological disaster, CPRW director Merfyn Willlams has

renewed his call for Welsh Secretary William Hague to ' call-in' the plan .

        Pollution

"The proposal involves major national issues of land.and sea pollution and poses immense dangers to human health from air pollution," claimed Mr Williams.

"Dyfed County Council's members and officers are now in an impossible situation and they are faced with a planning application to build a jetty which has far reaching consequences which 'are fogged  by a lack of information and misinformation."

Meanwhile Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) chief executive Paul Loveluck has outlined proposals for a long-term study to monitor the impact of the sea pollution caused by the Sea Empress spillage.

Mr Loveluck said that such a programme is "vital to monitor the environmental damage which has been caused, and so that others might benefit from the knowledge which would be assembled about the impact of the Sea Empress  disaster."

Speaking at a Wildlife in the 21st Century conference he added that such a monitoring programme would involve input from a variety of public and private organisations.


0147(01.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

Disaster probe demand

by Terry Crockford

A new marine forum has been set up to safe-guard the Gower coast and Swansea Bay in the wake of the Sea Empress oil disaster.

One of the first demands of the group will be for a independent inquiry into events at Milford Haven.

Gower and Swansea Bay Marine Forum chairman William Morris said: "Our main push now will be to call for a public inquiry into this disaster- the biggest oil spill in British maritime history.

"We want a full public: inquiry, ideally by the International Mritime Board.

"We have heard the inquiry will not address a number of vital issues such as the use of double-skin ships in environmentally sensitive marine areas. That is not good enough.

"Our view is tankers of such great size should not have access to the Haven and all tankers should have tugs to bring them in.

"We want to see the broadest possible terms of reference given to those conducting this inquiry and we shall be stating our views very clearly."

Represented on the new forum are a wide range of organisations including Friends of the Earth, Surfers Against Sewage, the University of Wales Swansea and Glamorgan Wildlife Trust. 'Swansea Friends of the Earth chairman Roy Jones said water quality was of primary concern to forum members.

The forum welcomed Welsh Water's initiative in Swansea but was worried the Baglan outfall would negate its effects.

Other issues  the forum will be taking up include concerns over discharges from the Gowerton sewage treatment  works into the Loughor Estuary and sand dredging on the Hellwick Bank.

Anyone wishing to have an input to the forum should contact its office at Swansea Environment Centre on Swansea 475882 or ring secretary Joanne Gray on Swansea 416489.


0148(01.03.96) The Cambrian News

Reputation blackened by oil spill

by Sara Taylor

Tourist operators in Meirionnydd and Dwyfor may be caught up in the backlash from the Sea Empless tanker disaster off Milford Haven.

The Wales Tourist Board is desperately trying to combat a growing belief amongst customers that all Welsh beaches will be affected by massive oil spillage, and admit that summer bookings could be threatened.

'We see it as one of our major problems, said a WTB spokesman. 'When people are watching television they may be only half concentrating and the images that stick in the mind are those of sea birds covered in oil.

The actual geographical location or the spillage is confused, he said. 'However

there is no actual evidence that beaches north of Milford Haven will be affected because of the prevailing winds.

'We are confident that no kind of tourist attraction further up the coast will be affected by the spillage. Our advice to operators is that there is no actual risk or threat.'

However, operators in north and mid-Wales are already losing out after a major marketing initiative was scrapped because of Wales' worst environmental disaster.

The launch of a new partnership celebrating the quality of beaches through out Wales was due to take place tomorrow (Friday), but has been postponed

following a crisis meeting on Monday.

'Green Sea', a partnership bringing together 20 community, private and public bodies, with the aim of installing a 'national pride' for the coastline had planned

to publicise its plans with a high profile launch featuring swimmer Sharron Davies.

The partnership had set its sights on getting 50 prestigous European Blue Flag awards for Wales by focusing on beach cleanliness, dog controls, disabled access, beach safety, car parking and beach safety.

'The launch has been postponed probably until May, said a spkeswoman for the

Partnership, based at Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's headquarters in Brecon.

Attention is being focused on the clean-up and it was felt that this is not an appropriate time to celebrate.'


0149 (01.03.96) The Cambrian News

Lessons for Cardigan Bay from 'Empress' disaster

This is a Government who refuse to accept any responsibility. Mistakes are made;' who made them?

Neither the Ministers involved nor the Prime Minister, who carries ultimate

responsibility, will acknowledge any fault. Blaming the system is a well-worn and unconvincing excuse for indefensible behaviour.

Those knowing sentiments were uttered in the Commons on Monday by the

Liberal Democrats foreign affairs and defence spokesman Menzies Campbell

during the Scott Report  debate.

Bets should now be placed on whether similar sentiments will be made when the Government has completed their own little inquiry into the Sea Empress disaster. And judging from the Government's behaviour following the publication of the Scott Report, there can be no doubt the same lame excuses will once again flow forth from Ministers'mouths.

Pembrokeshire's Labour MP Nick Ainger has already learned the Government

is shying away from a full public inquiry into the handling of the prolonged efforts to salvage the oil tanker which led to a horrendous oil spillage even larger than the Exxon Valdiz incident in isolated Alaska.

He has been told there will only be an internal Department of Transport inquiry.. That's tantamount to asking a defendant to be his own judge and jury.

Such a decision clearly indicates that the Government has learned nothing about public accountability from the Scott Report. When will they ever learn?

The president of anti-oil exploration campaigners ' Friends of Cardigan Bay, botanist David  Bellamy, this week called for rather drastic, but perfectly,, understandable measures to bring the SeaEmpress fiasco culprits to book.

He urged Wales's wildlife trusts to sue "whoever is responsible" for the disaster.

"They should take them right through the courts, make someone pay and send some people to prison," he added. But you can bet your' bottom dollar.' there won't  be  a Government Minister facing charges.

Plaid Cymru has also hit out at the' "complacency" of the Government in dealing with the stricken tanker.

During the Government's second Commons statement on the crisis last Thursday the party's Ceredigeon and Pembroke North MP Cynog Dafis told Transport Secretary Sir George Young there would be great anger in Wales if the inquiry was less searching than the one into the Braer iincident in the Shetlands because the damage this time is considerably greater.

Events surrounding the Sea Empress disaster proved the lessons highlighted in the Donaldson Report into the loss of the Braer have not been heeded. On that basis, there can be no confidence in Government assurances concerning oil exploration in Cardigan Bay.


0150 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

A call from Di and lessons in dealing with tragic disaster

by Ceri Jones

It was a scene impossible to script. With Prince Charles just inches away

from a radio console, in came the call from Lady Di, who was asking for

more information.

OK, so it was not that Lady Di, but a fishing vessel bearing the Princess of Wales's former name which has been helping to clean up Tenby's coast.

If the Prince noticed the irony of the moment at the coastguard control room in Milford Haven, he refused to show it.

Instead, fingering the usual ring on his finger, he continued to walk around the Coastguard centre, talking to more of the leading players in the Sea Empress drama.

"The Lady Di hasn't called us at all before now," auxiliary coastguard John Cole said afterwards.

Through the huge westerly facing windows of the operations room, another formidable lady, the Sea Empress herself, could be clearly seen safely docked at the former Esso jetty down the Cleddau river.

Bathed in crisp sunlight with Thorne Island in the distance and even the waterway showing a shade of blue, she looked harmless enough. Two weeks ago, listing badly and horribly impaled on the rocks off St Ann's Head, she looked like a dying beast.

Now she appeared calm, at peace.

It was a staggering view but the Prince himself preferred to peer at a cutting from The Western Mail, dated two weeks ago, which had been pasted to a wall.

As everyone's thoughts turned to the accident the Prince asked coastguard Eric Ninnis, who was in charge of the watch on the night of the incident happened.

But even the Prince, who throughout the morning operated his own wall of silence on the matter of his imminent divorce, could get nowhere with this question.

In these matters it is the Marine Accident Investigation Bureau which has the jurisdiction.

Earlier the Prince had visited the Port Authority building overlooking the Haven.

It is still the hub of theJoint Response Centre set up to co-ordinate the multi-agency response to the disaster.

Inside, with the phones ringing incessantly, he was introduced to teams of workers involved on all fronts in the battle to clean up after the disaster. Most were taking a much-needed break from the work of co-ordinating the operation and assessing the environmental impact of a disaster.

"I gave him an overview of the centre and the different teams of people working here," said Kevin Colcomb a scientist with the Marine Pollution Control Unit.

"I told him the present situation where the oil is and how we were treating it."

As the Prince1eft-rescue workers went back to their desks and back to answering phone calls. The Southampton-based MCPU will not be leaving until the Sea Empress is finally empty.

Many of the others will not be resting until all the beaches have been cleaned up.

Success is still a long way off.


0151 (01.03.96) Western Mail

Government promises hardship cash will be paid

People suffering financial losses because of the Sea Empress oil tanker disaster will receive hardship payments, the Government announced last night.

Welsh Secretary William Hague and shipping minister Lord Goschen said the ship's insurers had started to establish a claims handling office in Milford Haven.

Lord Goschen said,"The government is very concerned about the financial hardship which could be caused, especially to those who earn their living from the sea. I want to give assurance that there will be proper compensation for pollution damage.

"The ship was required by law to carry insurance to enable it to meet

compensation payments. Where payments from the ship are insufficient, the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund is required to pay and will do so."

Lord Goschen said it was disappointing the fund had decided not to make payments immediately and the Government hoped this decision would be reversed very soon.

Interim payments will be made to individuals and small businesses suffering financial hardship," he added.

"I would like to pay tribute to the vessel's insurers, the Skuld Protection

and Indemnity Club of Norway, who have agreed to provide the claims handling office and finance hardship payments even though they are not legally obliged to do so."


0099 (01.03.96) Western Mail

Charles may take up fishermen's cause

by Steve Dube

ROYAL VISIT: Prince could tackle Hague after seeing effects of environmental

                                             disaster

THE PRINCE of Wales could be tackling Welsh Secretary William Hague today over the future of the Welsh fishing industry after the Sea Empress disaster.

The Prince is visiting the Welsh Office today and an aide yesterday signalled that he would take up the issue if he believed it was necessary.

Yesterday the Prince was left in no doubt about the strength of local feeling or of the threat to the West Wales fishing industry of the environmental disaster after the spillage.

In a face-to-face encounter with local whelk fishermen, the full damage done to their burgeoning business was spelled out to him.

But an aide said anything the  Prince of Wales did do on their behalf would be beyond the public gaze.

"He has been taking time to hear some pretty forthright straight-fromthe-shoulder comments and I'm sure he will be able to pass those on if he believes it's relevant," the aide said.

"He is coincidentally visiting the Welsh Office, but anything he does suggest will be done privately."

As Prince Charles emerged from the royal limousine on the dockside at Milford Haven yesterday he was faced with schoolchildren and campaigners holding up a forest of banners and placards.

They were calling for a public inquiry into the episode and made it clear they opposed plans for a new jetty in the Haven to import Orimulsion for burning at National Power's electricity generating plant at Pembroke Dock.

"He asked me if I was against Orimulsion and I said we have been campaigning against it for ages," said Sandra Pellowe of Burton Ferry.

"He said it sounded pretty awful stuff so I'm hoping he will be able to influence matters, although I know people who have written to him got a standard letter back saying he can't get involved."

But it was when he moved to to a group of fishermen's representatives, the Prince of Wales got it straight from the shoulder.

Myles Blood Smith of Jeffreyston, Kilgetty, told the Prince that a vibrant new industry exporting Carmarthen Bay whelks to Korea was  started just 13 months ago an expected to be worth £3m this  year.

The Sea Empress disaster has wrecked it.

"I told him commercial interests had poisoned my marine environment for God knows how long," Mr Smith said.

"This was a thriving industry which turned over £1.5m last year and provided a living for 25 boats and crew as well as my own boat and crew and a factory at New Quay.

"My market is gone and my whole living is gone.

"A fisherman gets a once in a lifetime chance to clear his second mortgage - the one on his boat - and they can never compensate me for what I have lost."

Mr Smyth said the Prince sympathised with him and said he was sure that everyone had done their best.

"I told hjm we paid for the Donaldson report and they did not act on it and did not put the necessary resources in here and they're still not planning to do it.

"I told him it was a complete and absolute ecological disaster and people here are wandering around not knowing what to do or where to go or how to express their real feelings about this whole thing."

Another fisherman, Steven Lewis of Little Haven, said anyone involved with the sea knew that the grounding had been mishandled from the start

He said he told the Prince that an emergency fund was needed to help fishermen on very low incomes for whom social security would not be enough in the current circumstances.


0152 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

Environmental toll is rising

by Alasdair Milburn

The environmental toll of the disaster continued togrow yesterday. A further 215 oiled birds were picked up by the RSPCA, taking the total collected to 2,622. A further 1,700 have already died.

Around 1,300 of those collected have been treated at the specialist RSPCA wildlife hospital at West Hatch, Taunton, since the Sea Empress first grounded.

"The staff here are working flat out, and that will go on for a while," said deputy manager Colin Seddon.

"It is a massive incident with a large number of birds. Whether there is going to be a major long-term problem I do not know."

The RSPCA centre at Perranporth Cornwall, was taking overspill birds from West Hatch, and other centres near Nantwich, Cheshire, and East Winch, Norfolk, were full, he said.

Mr Seddon said that Jersey European Airways were still flying oiled birds across the channel for treatment at RSPCA centres in Guernsey and Jersey.

This winter has been the worst on record for the RSPCA in respect of oiled birds, with three oil spills before the Sea Empress.

The RSPCA will try to recoup some of the cost of treating victims of the latest disaster from the insurers of the Sea Empress.

As the clean-up continued during the visit of Prince Charles to the Milford Haven area yesterday, volunteers planning to join the rescue mission in search of oiled birds were advised to ensure that their children were at a safe distance.

Help is still urgently needed but Dyfed Wildlife Trust said it is important that children, in particular, do not touch the birds because of a health risk from the oil.

"It is not good for children to handle light crude," said the trust's promotions officer Margaret Brooks.

"I have seen TV pictures of youngsters even standing in the middle of an oil slick as it comes ashore and this is something we want to avoid."

Her advice to parents is that if they do intend to join the mercy mission this weekend then make absolutely sure their children do not pick up any of the oiled birds.


0153 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

Fishmongers feeling the pinch

by Ceri Jones

Fish merchants in Milford Haven claim customers are not buying their fish even though it has not been affected by the Sea Empress oil spill.

David Clark of Clark Brothers, a 50-year-old family firm, said the incident could put them out of business even though their fish supplies come from unaffected deep water areas.

"Our fish is prfect but because of this disaster and the attention focused on Milford Haven, everyone thinks that any fish from here is tainted.'

He said the firm, which runs a shop in Haverfordwest and two vans selling fsh throughout Pembrokeshire was loosing around £600 a week since the incident.

"We are having to talk to all our customers and try and reassure them that the fish is perfectly all right.

"It would be suicide to sell anything which was tainted."

Mr Clark's produce comes from the Angary, the last deepwater vessel owned by Milford Docks and from French and Spanish trawlers which fish in the Irish Box off the south western tip of Ireland.

"I realise that this accident is a terrible blow for the inshore men but its also having an affect on us too.

"It could put us out of business."

• Meanwhile, the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee has commissioned a study into plans for a lobster hatchery in West Wales which could bring a £1m boost to the local shellfish industry.

The hatchery could also be one way of conserving and building up stocks after the damage caused by the Sea Empress oil spill is finally assessed.

The committee had been interested in a site at Porthgain near Cardigan as a possible site for the lobster hatchery long before the Sea Empress disaster.

A spokesman for the committee said, "The study would look at a preferred location as well as methods of funding.

"It is ironic that while the proposal seeks to ease the effects fishing efforts, the disaster at Milford Haven brings another, perhaps more urgent perspective to the committee's aims of enhancement and protection."

The planned hatchery would produce around 80,000 young annually.


0154 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

Hague sees need to treasure Wales

TOURISM: Plea for funds boost after oil spill

by Alasdair Milburn

Secretary William Hague has agreed to consider a plea from the Wales Tourist Board for additional funding to help with its world-wide campaign to improve

the image of West Wales after the Sea Empress oil spill.

The board's chief executive, John French, met Mr Hague on Wednesday to seek extra money for The Treasure Is Still Here campaign and said afterwards, "The Secretary of State was very sympathetic to our case.

"He understands the tourism industry' s concerns and has agreed to consider the matter further."

The tourist board has £50,000 to spend on its campaign until the end of its financial year at the end of this month. Further funding will be allocated in its 1996-97 budget.

A spokesman said, "We do not know how much money we will be putting towards the campaign until we know the full impact of the situation."

The initiative has attracted widespread support from authorities in the area.

David Thomas, of Pembrokeshire County Council, said, "It is going to be absolutely vital to the economic future of Pembrokeshire that something is done.

"This campaign has been organised in consultation with local authorities such as ourselves and everyone must now throw their weight behind it. There is an enormous amount of goodwill and determination in Pembrokeshire to redress the situation and help the people of the county."

The acting chief executive of South Pembrokeshire District  Council, John Gottwaltz, said, "We're obviously concerned about the effect on the tourism but our responsibility now is to ensure that the beaches are cleaned up, and that's where the bulk of our response is going.

"After that we will get the message out to potential tourists that the beaches are clean and people should not be afraid to come to  Pembrokeshire for their

holidays."


0155 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

School helps spill victims

More than 70 pupils, their relatives, and staff of a Tenby school are taking part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for groups helping birds oiled by the Sea Empress spill.

The walk is the idea of Rachel Woodward, a former pupil of Greenhill school, Tenby.

Rachel, 23, and her sister Miriam,16, a pupil at Greenhill, have already raised £150.

The six-mile sponsored walk is from Monkston Point to Giltar Point and back to Tenby.

"We are trying to do our bit to help relieve the affect of the spill on the birds," said Rachel.

Money raised from the walk, which will start at Monkston Point at 10am on Sunday, will be used to help the RSPB and the wildlife hospital at West Williamston.

Donations can be sent  to Greenhill School (Wildlife Fund), Heywood Lane, Tenby, Dyfed SA708BN.

Also on Sunday, there is a rally on Tenby  beach organised by Eve Farron, 22, from Clunderwen, near Haverfordwest.

Anyone who would like to take part in the peaceful protest can join Eve at Tenby between 11.30 am and midday.


0156 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

Sad Charles surveys the damage

by Michael Settle and Ceri Jones

MILFORD HAVEN:  Hague off to Brussels to ask for help to pay for clean-up

Welsh Secretary William Hague is going to Europe this weekend to plead for cash to help cope with the environmental damage caused by theSea Empress disaster.

His trip was announced yesterday as the Prince of Wales came to see for himself the damage done by the grounding of the supertanker a fortnight ago and hear the clamour for compensation from local people.

Shrugging off questions about his impending divorce from the Princess of Wales, the Prince clearly wanted only to hear from the local people about their troubles.

In a separate development Labour leader Tony Blair last night added his voice to calls for a fully indpendent inquiry into the disaster and said Transport Secretary Sir George Young should do the honourable thing and resign if inaction and negligence by his department were found to be culpable.

Mr Hague's visit to Brussels,will be his first as Welsh Secretary.

He will be meeting European Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock to explore what funds might be available to alleviate the envirommental and economic consequences of the disaster and also hopes to meet Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan.

The Sea Empress spilled 70,000 tonnes of her cargo into the sea around West Wales, causing extensive environmental damage and forcing the area's entire fishing industry to be put on hold.

Today Mr Hague will host a visit by the Prince of Wales to the Welsh Office in Cardiff and it seems inconceivable that the Sea Empress will not feature in their discussions.

But yesterday belonged to Prince Charles and the people of West Wales he had come to see.

Throughout the day he brushed aside questions about his impending divorce, preferring to listen to what those most closely involved with the oil disaster had to say.

He told Pembrokeshire Coast National Park officer Nic Wheeler he believed the root problem of the disaster was the narrow, difficult entrance into Milford Haven.

He told Mr Wheeler he hoped lessons would be learned from the disaster, and in particular that there would be enough tugs standing by in future.

He was also aware of language problems which could arise with foreign crews.

Talking to Mr Wheeler on West Angle Beach as they watched another supertanker enter the Haven, he said he had faced problems navigating the channel as the captain of a Royal Navy minesweeper.

Mr Wheeler said, "He obviously had a good background awareness of the disaster and had been thoroughly briefed, but he also had his own knowledge through being a mariner in his own right.

"He came across as very genuine and also very sad, like the rest of us, that this damage to the coastline should have occurred."

Mr Blair's primary purpose fol visiting Wales today is to sell his party's plans for devolution, but he has changed his itinerary to fly over the stricken area with RSPB officials.

He said yesterday, "It is an environmental disaster. It's a disaster for the local fishing industry and for local people.

"There are issues in relation to the salvage tugs, to the single-hulled vessels and to how quickly there was action taken to deal with the environmental impact.

"It is absolutely essential that we now take urgent steps to make sure this situation cannot recur.

"lf there was an inquiry and it concluded that Lord Donaldson's recommendations should have been implemented and, had they been implemented then the disaster would not have occurred and damage would have been considerably reduced, then, yes, there would be certain grounds for culpability against ministers."

He added swiftly, with a reference to the Scott Report, "I have to say, with this Government it doesn't seem to much matter whether their inquiries find them guilty or not. They don't take responsibility."

A renewed effort by Newport West MP Paul Flynn to force an independent inquiry was firmly rebuffed by Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine in the Commons yesterday.

Mr Flynn said, "An internal inquiry by civil servants of the conduct of other civil servants and their minister is not a satisfactory inquiry."

Mr Heseltine, standing in for John Major who is in the Far East, said, "The Marine Accident Investigation Branch will carry out a thorough and independent inquiry into the cause of the salvage operations."


0157 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

Welsh Secretary's action plan

William Hague's quest to see if any Euro-funds could be made available is part of a five-point Sea Empress package he announced which includes:

A £2m bridging fund to be used in cases of delay in the payment of hardship claims by the insurers;

A consideration of requests by local authorities for additional temporary credit approval for the cost of the clean-up operation before the reimbursement by the insurers;

An agreement that the Government will not make any claims until all other claims have been paid in full;

The setting up of an Oil Incident Response Unit at the Welsh Office to act as a liaison point to give advice to local authorities, the Countryside Council for Wales, the Wales Tourist Board and the insurers.


0158 (01.03.96) The Western Mail

Letters to the editor

Heed warning on oil spillage

SIR - I trust Dyfed County Council wiLL heed the warning from the spillage of oil at Milford Haven recently and will note the result of bringing Orimulsion into the area.

With the amount of pollution contained in one delivery it is inevitable there will be an "accident" with the amount they intend shipping in.

M MORGAN, Cwmgors, Ammanford, Dyfed.

Strategic plan is our disaster

SIR - How many ecological disasters can a small country like Wales sustain in one decade and survive?

The Sea Empress, spewing oil on to the beautiful wild coastline of West Wales, is an obvious, visually repugnant, nationally recognised disaster and, we are reliably told, it stinks.

Mario Basini expanded eloquently on the "proud, pagan materialism which dominates so much of modern man's soul" in The Western Mail (February 22) and forces us to think.

However, an equally insidious ecological disaster was reported on page 8 under the heading "Wales lacking a strategic future plan," in which Clive Betts informs us that three years after the Department of the Environment drew up planning police guidance which was adopted in England (giving them maximum protection), Wales is still working with patchy, out-of-date guidance.

Some guidance has been withheld entirely by two successive Secretaries of State for Wales.

We are being offered a "skeletal" document by the Welsh Office, known as Planning Policy Guidance (Wales), on which it is proposed to hang technical advice notes. This is supposed to be in place by April I when the new unitary authorities take over.

Our dictionary defines "ecology" as the relationship of living things in relationship to each other and their environment; remember the American Indians?

Wales is being seriously shortchanged by the proposed impending changes in planning policy guidance - we really should have immediate protection from the Department of the Environment, or we shall be forced into financially delineated "reservations" by those who are supposed to be protecting our interests.

JUDITH TOMS,   Secretary, Aberdare and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce, Bron Iestyn House, Trecynon, Aberdare.

On Ceredigion's shore

SIR- In view of recent events, the following verses may have a certain significance:

On Ceredigion's rocky shore,

Where Mother Nature's bounteous store,

Make's grateful stranger long for more,

And return another day.

Where once Ceredig did survey,

His ancient kingdom of the bay,

Before the Norman came this way,

Yet failed to rid his name.

Where I ran freely as a boy,

And sea- washed driftwood was my toy,

For I recall my childhood joy,

On Ceredigion's shore.

Where curious seals with wide-eyed gaze,

Or hauled out on the rocks to laze,

The stranger always to amaze,

Near Gwbert's sheltering isle.

Where dolphins rise with languid leap,

Before descending to the deep,

And kittiwakes and kestrels sweep,

While buzzards stalk their prey.

Where red-legged chough from craggy height,

Swoops down in undulating flight,

And gives to man both sound and sight,

That once were Cornwall's joy.

Where azure squill in fragrant may

form carpets on the cliff-top way,

And glorious pinks fringe fields of hay,

With golden gorse ablaze.

Where sunset rays on sun-blessed days,

Cast shadows deep on hidden bays,

And scarlet hues on painted skies

Before they melt away.

Where autumn squalls and seagull calls,

Chase lobster boats and boats that trawl,

To hurry to their harbour walls,

Or Teifi's safe embrace.

Where silvery salmon reach their goal,

And Teifi's netsmen share the shoal,

A way of life-both heart and soul,

They must not let it die!

Now the search for oil is gathering pace,

Make sure that nature keeps its place,

Or else the bay will change its face,

And be forever spoiled!

LYN JENKINS  Clyn-yr-ynys, Gwbert, Cardigan.


0159 (01.03.96) CCW News Release

Bird Deaths and casualities escalate after Milford Haven oil spill

Numbers of sea bird deaths and casualties, as a result of the Sea Empress oil spill off Milford Haven, are escalating to  disastrous level.

The bird counts are being co-ordinated by the Countryside Council for Wales at Stackpole National Nature Reseve with reports coming in from a strong network of organisations and volunteers, including the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park RSPB, RSPCA and the National Trust.

To date, more than 1,300 dead bird have been collected, along with more than 2,400 oiled bird casualties. Of the dead, at least 700 are Common Scoter, and unconfirmed reports indicate that there are  further 1,000 oiled Scoter out in Carmarthen Bay - a matter of grave concern as the population of Scoter wintering in the area is of international importance.

'The whole population of Common Scoter at sea between Pendine and Saundersoot, which aerial surveys estimate at 4,500 birds, are under serious threat as that part of Carmarthen Bay is severely affected by oil," said Dr Malcolm Smith, CCW Director of Policy and Science.

'Some of Carmarthen Bays wintering population of Common Scoter may well breed in Sottish Highland lochs and in some of northern Ireland's lakes. As the breeding population of Scoter in Scotland and northern Ireland is estimated at only 200 breeding pairs, this disaster may also threaten their vulnerable Scoter populations. Surveys will be essential to assess their population numbers."

As part of its overall monitoring programme of the effects of the Sea Empress oil spill, CCW is freezing Common Scoter corpses so that detailed analysis can be undertaken in future when more time is available to us. "At least, we will then learn more about the birds' diet, their age, sex and weight to improve our knowledge of this little studied wintering species and strengthen our advice to Government in such circumstances, " added Dr Smith.


0160 (01.03.96) CCW Report to Staff

The Sea Empress disaster

AT/TO:       All Members of Staff

FROM:        The Chief Executive

Colleagues will be aware that for the last fortnight many of us have been preoccupied with the aftermath of the Sea Empress disaster. This is intended to give a broad outline of how our response has been organised and what we are now planning as CCW's contribution to the ongoing work.

Our activity has focused on the following areas:

1. We have been part of the team in the Joint Response Centre (JRC) at Milford Haven dealing with the incident, with particular responsibility for chairing the Environmental Advisory Group. This function has been carried out by colleagues from the Pembrokeshire District Team reinforced by the West and South Area Offices, from Bangor and also from other parts of the organisation. A co-ordinator has been based in the the JRC to ensure that the work of the 40-50 CCW personnel has been planned and adequately supported;

2. A team in Bangor has povided the lead on overall policy and back-up scientific input and advice and organised aerial surveillance of bird populations in the most affected areas and subsequently  monitoring programme by boat co-ordinated from our St Martin's Haven Office;

3. Based in our Stackpole Office a team has been responsible for collecting information about the impact on bird populations, feeding it to the JRC and to Bangor;

4. A team has been working on Skomer trying to limit the impact of oil deposition by using booms;

5. A team drawn from Phase I and other Surveyors has surveyed the coastline to identify the degree of oil deposition and the habitats affected by it;

6. Various colleagues have been involved in bird collection and arrangements for    transport and storage. In particular our Llandeilo Team has been heavily involved at Pendine and neighbouring beaches which have seen the worst of the

Scoter casualties:

7. Our press office in Bangor has put regular press releases giving information to hand and opinion on the disaster as it has unfolded. We have attended the daily press conferences at Milford Haven and responded to press queries with several colleagues having given radio and TV interviews;

8. Council members have been given a daily briefing.

All told about a fifth of our number have been directly involved in the aftermath of the disaster and many of us will have felt the repercussions in holding the fort in the meanwhile. The Chairman has written on behalf of the Council to express his thanks to all and I add mine.

Our staff have estimated that 200 km of coast (12%) of the Welsh coast) have been affected, 190 km of it moderately or heavily oiled. In excess of 4,600 oiled and dead birds, including a large proportion of the internationally important Common Scoter population in Carmarthen Bay, have been found. Oiled birds are being treated but only a proportion will survive. Many more will have died and been lost at sea. We expect further casualties. Impact on sea bed plants and animals will become obvious as time passes.

The next steps are:

1. to continue with the ongoing advice, clean-up and survey work in the immediate future;

2. to put in hand a medium/long term monitoring pogramme. Draft proposals have been formulated and will be discussed at a meeting with potential partners including other Government agencies and NGOs scheduled to be held in

Havefordwest on 4 March. The Welsh Office have provided an additional £0.25m to initiate this work;

3. to prepare logs of the action which has been taken and advice given and to hold a debriefing session. This is scheduled for Aberystwyth on 1 March;

4. to submit evidence to the inquiry being held into the cause of the disaster and the conduct of the salvage operation.

Paul Loveluck   1 March 1996


096March02

0161 (02.03.96) The Independent

0161 Fresh slicks raise fears of deliberate oil dumping


0161 (02.03.96) The Independent

Fresh slicks raise fears of deliberate oil dumping

 by Christian Wolmar

At least two other slicks have appeared in the sea near the site of the Sea Empress spill, raising fears that other ships may be using the disaster to dump oil deliberately.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds yesterday said that oiled birds were being picked up in Rhyl, north Wales, too far away to have been affected by the Sea Empress. There has also been a spill on the North Devon coast which appears not to have come from the Empress.

Members of the RSPB monitoring scheme had also seen a slick on the Merioneth coast in north-west Wales, and another in Carmarthen Bay, site of tht initial problem, neither of which were from the Empress.

Chris Harbard, spokesman for the RSPB, said yesterday "We have picked up several common scoters near Rhyl and on the North Devon coast birds have been in oil which appear different from that of the Empress" He said that ships coming to Britain were supposed to clear their oily bilges in port but that it was cheaper and quicker for them to do so while at sea.

"This happens more often in the winter when the nights are longer because the ships do it under cover of darkness."

The Marine Control Pollution Unit confirmed the existence of at least two other slicks, but was unable to confirm their origin. A spokesman said: "We have no evidence that masters are discharging oil illegally on purpose."

Meanwhile, Tony Blair, the Labour leader, on a St David's Day visit to Wales to talk about plans for a Welsh Assembly, joined the Pembroke MP Nick Ainger to meet teams involved in the clean-up operation.

At the RSPCA emergency hospital in Milford Haven he was shown oiled seabirds being fed and washed. So far more than 2,600 have been recovered but 1,500 have died.

Mr Blair said: "It is absolutely essential that we take steps to ensure that this never happens again".

He said that recommendations made by Lord Donaldson in the wake of the Braer spill had not been implemented by the government.

Animal welfare groups involved in rescue operations will be able to claim compensation from the ship's insurers, the Government said last night.


096Mar03

0162 (03.03.96) Wales on Sunday

0163 (03.03.96) Wales on Sunday

0164 (03.03.96) The Mail on Sunday

0165 (03.03.96) The Mail on Sunday

0162 Vital questions for Empress inquest

0163 No dirty habits for clean-up monks

0164 Oil port mutiny

0165 Seal's haven became our hell


0162 (03.03.96) The Western Mail

Vital questions for Empres inquest

by Andrew Hill

Salvage experts involved in the Sea Empress disaster have defended the way they carried out their operation.

Welsh MP Joe Wilson has questioned whether profits were put before the environment and will head a debate in the European Parliament later this year.

Leading environmentalists in Wales have also demanded a full public inquiry into the six-day rescue mission.

Rotterdam- based firm Smit International has reacted angrily to the suggestions, insisting the team on board the vessel worked hard to prevent a major spill.

The tanker ran aground off the Pembrokeshire coast a fortnight ago while carrying 140,000 tonnes of crude oil to the Texaco refinery at Milford Haven.

More than 70,000 tonnes gushed into the sea off West Wales, devastating wildlife from Carmarthen Bay to Gower.

The Government has ordered an investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and a report is expected in early 1997.

Mr Wilson, MEP for North Wales, said the European debate would examine whether decisions taken by the salvers were made in the best interests of the local people.

"I am always suspicious when salvage is involved. Which comes first profit or the environment?" he added.

Friends of the Earth Cymru spokesman, Alan Watson, said: "There are some serious questions to be asked about the whole operation."

Andrew Marshall, principal nautical officer for the Salvage Association in London, has investigated many similar incidents across the world. "The main aim of any salvage operation is to save the ship and you may have to be ruthless to do it," he said.  "But I would never criticise guys faced with this kind of job because there are many problems in this situation."

Smit International spokesman Philip Ouden said: "Without doubt, difficult decisions were made but our instructions were to save the cargo, save the ship and prevent as much pollution as possible."


0163 (03.03.96) Wales on Sunday

No dirty habits for clean-up monks

by Mark Hindle

The monastic idyll of life on Caldey Island is the latest victim of the shattering effects of the Sea Empress disaster.

The 15 Cistercian monks who inhabit the tiny haven have been joining in the clean-up operation, picking scores of birds from the beaches and trying to clear the buildup of oil.

But a lack of proper equipment has hampered their efforts and the brothers have been forced to use margarine containers to scoop up the oil and pour it into plastic bags.

One of the monks, Brother Gildas, said an atmosphere of teamwork had developed on the island between the brothers and the island's 25 secular residents.

"We have got nothing to work with and nobody has been over to help us because they are dealing with problems elsewhere, but there is a wonderful team spirit here," he said.

"The whole island community is working as a team and we will pull through," he said.

The monks have some plastic protection gear and anoraks but most have been donning casual clothes to clean up.

Brother Gildas laughed off suggestions that monks might be seen on the beaches in their habits. "Perhaps twenty years ago," he said, "but not now."


0164 (03.03.96) The Mail on Sunday

Oil Mutiny threat

by Nick Buckley

The oil port of Milford Haven could be shut down in a row over who is to

blame for the Sea Empress disaster.

The 12 pilots, who direct vessels in and out, are prepared to walk out over threats to suspend a colleague — on board when the tanker ran aground spilling 75,000 tonnes of oil.

They believe John Pearn is being made a scapegoat for the disaster, and say he should continue working until the official inquiry has reported.

While it may be shown that Pearn was at fault to some degree, the pilots argue that Port Authority boss Mike Hyslop and harbourmaster Captain Mark Andrews must also take responsibility.

They allowed the ,147,000 tonne vessel to enter the port on an exceptionally low

tide, with just 3 ft of water under its hull.

The inquiry is studying this and also whether the tanker took a short cut in a rush to get into harbour.

The pilots also point out that their role is purely advisory and that the ship's captain has full authority on the bridge.

Yesterday Pearn, who has worked at the West Wales port for three years, said he had been told by the authority not to say anything.

Local Labour MP Nick Ainger branded the suspension threat outrageous, adding:

They are prejudging the whole inquiry," Mr Hyslop denied he had  tried to suspend the pilot but refused to be drawn further.

The disaster is estimated to have killed more than 10,000 birds so far. In a BBC Panorama documentary tomorrow Captain Peter Cooney, head of the firm which managed the tanker, lambasts the salvage operation.

I don't think the whole thing was particularly well managed, he says.

The marine community's in disgrace and we have to do more.

Tory MP Barry Field, vice-chairman of the  Commons Maritime Committee, is now asking Shipping Minister Lord Goschen to make black box recorders, similar to those used on aircraft, mandatory for large ships.


0165 (03.03.96) The Mail on Sunday

 Seal's haven became our hell

The first day after the tanker Sea Empress grounded, I took my six-yearold

daughter Pia to see the sight.

It was a clear and sunny day and the sea was quite calm.

As we looked down on Milford Haven from the headland, we could see seals in the water around the ship. I wondered then, with sadness, whether their curiosity would be the death of them.

Last summer, my family and I swam in the then clear waters of the 'Haven' and marvelled at the beauty of wildlife in the lovely little coves known only to the locals. Now we know the terrible slaughter the oil has caused to birds and the rest of the innocent creatures around our coast.

The effects of the disaster go beyond the horrors of pollution at sea All around this beautiful part or the West Wales coast there has been a stench of oil in the air.

Although people were warned to close their windows against the fumes, some of us are suffering sinus problems and headaches, not to mention the foul taste of oil in our mouths.

The air was so polluted that huge oil leaks like this must harm the atmosphere, a

  danger that seems to have been overlooked. As for our wonderful coastline, it's a

   sad and sorry sight.

Why was nothing done that first day— before the stinking pollution reached such horrendous levels? And how long will it be before we, or the seals, can swim safely, in the Haven again?

JANE BARBER, Milord Haven, Dyfed.

. . . WE made the headlines for a few days but now we are yesterday's history and just left to clear up the mess. The whole fragile economy of West Wales is at risk because of greed and incompetence. Third World countries are condemned for cutting down their trees. At least, they have the excuse of poverty.

CATHIE MABBIT,  Little Haven.

Men can be sent to the moon, yet outdated single-skin tankers are still allowed to sail the seas and pollute them with their filthy cargoes when the ships are holed. Whoever is responsible should be made to pay dear or the Milford Haven

tragedy and that includes the cost of helping despairing wildlife experts who are still valiantly trying to save some of the dying creatures.

G FITZGERALD,  Billericay, Essex.


096Mar04

0166 (04.03.96) The Western Mail

0167 (04.03.96) The Western Mail

0168 (04.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

0169 (04.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

0166 Trust to raise £250,000 for seal study

0167 Oil disaster is worst to hit Britain

0168 BBC team says oil will stay on sea bed

0169  Painful deaths on our beaches


0166 (04.03.96) The Western Mail

Trust to raise £250,000 for seal study

Dyfed Wildlife Trust is to try to raise £250,000 to pay for a six-year survey of the effects of the Sea Empress oil spill on seals.

The trust says it has studied reports written on grey seals in Shetland following the Braer oil spill which suggest a number of long-term effects.

Immediate problems could include eye damage and respiratory diseases. More worrying for environmentalists was the effect on breeding.

A trust spokesman said,"The long-term term effects on the seals can only be detected through monitoring."

Meanwhile, a woman distraught by the damage caused by the Sea Empress disaster is pledging to give profits from a selection of the jewellery she sells to Dyfed Wildlife Trust.

Marianne Haycock, who distributes the Cabouchon range of designer jewellery  from her home at Meidrim near Carmarthen, says she has been so moved she wants to do whatever she can to help.

Mrs Haycock says any-profit she makes from the sale of her seal, whale and dolphin brooches, dolphin cuff links and tie pins and dolphin ties will be donated to the trust.

The gold brooches cost betwee £6.99 and £18.50; the cuff links are £4.99 or £9.99; the tie pin £7.50 and the ties available in green, blue and red are £2.50  each.


0167 (04.03.96) The Western Mail

Oil disaster is worst to hit Britain

by Alastair Milburn

Twenty-six sites of special scientific interest just where spill has struck

The Sea Empress oil spill is the worst environmental disaster from a

pollution incident in British history, a Government wildlife conservation body said last night.

The Countryside Council For Wales  said 26 designated sites of special scientific interest along the West Wales coast, including mudflats and rocky and sandy beaches, are particularly rich in plant and animal species and have rare flora and fauna.

And they are mainly between the low and high tide marks, exactly where the oil has been deposited.

They stretch from the only under-sea nature reserve, around the island of Skomer, to the beaches of Pendine and Laugharne.

"Until this happened, we could not imagine a single event which could cause so much damage," sais the council's science and policy director Malcolm Smith "

"We thought there would eventually be a serious tanker accident but we didn't imagine it would affect such a length of coastline."

High spring tides have driven oil on to the cliffs, wiping out what marine biologist Robin Crump described as "some of the richest inter-tidal communities in Europe". The number of oiled birds collected by the RSPCA rose by another 250 over the weekend, taking the total treated to 3,075. Most of those collected in the past two days were scoters.

The RSPCA said, "We are working round the clock. There are still a lot of birds needing treatment."

More than 2,200 dead birds have been collected; 50 per cent are scoters. The first birds to be treated after the spill on February 15 have been released in the Wash, off Norfolk

The Joint Rescue Centre at Milford Haven said the clean-up operation was continuing well, and that the beaches at Saundersfoot were largely clear of bulk oil. Yesterday 545 people were in clean-up work.

Transfer of the remaining oil on the Sea Empress was completed yesterday, slightly later than schedule because there were 2,500 more cubic metres of oil on board  than the estimated 65,000 tonnes.

The operation involved three transfers of oil to the smaller Star Bergen which then took the oil to the Texaco refinery.

Divers are to to inspect damage to the hull of the Sea Empress on Wednesday. The tanker is expected to be moored in the Haven for at least another week.


0168 (04.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

BBC team says oil will stay on sea bed

Most of the oil from the Sea Empress will never be recovered, the BBC's Panorama will claim tonight.

The programme will say that most of the oil leaked from the stricken tanker has already sunk into the sea.

The tanker ran aground of Milford Haven, West Wales, more than two weeks ago spilling thousands of tonnes of crude light oil.

The last of 65,000 tonnes of oil left on, the Sea Empress was pumped off yesterday.

But an on-going operation to clear oil from waters and beaches around the accident was expected to continue for at least another two weeks.

Hundreds of sea bird victims of the Sea Empress oil disaster were recovered from Gower beaches at the weekend.

The Countryside Council for Wales said the spill was now  officially the worst environmental disaster from a pollution incident in British history.

Policy director Malcolm Smith added: "Until this happened we could not imagine a single event which could cause so much damage."

More than 2,500 dead birds have been collected from around the West Wales coast since the disaster, half of them scoters. The RSPCA has rescued more than 3,000 and the first success fully treated from the effects of oil have  been released in the Wash off Norfolk.


0169 (04.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

 Painful deaths on our beaches

Hundreds of sea bird victims of the Sea Empress oil disaster were recovered from Gower beaches at the weekend.

The Countryside Council for Wales said the spill' was now officially the worst environmental disaster from a pollution incident in British history .

Policy director Malcolm Smith added: 'Until this happened we could not imagine a single event which could cause so much damage."

More than 2,500 dead birds have been collected from around the West Wales coast since the disaster, half of them scoters. The RSPCA has rescued more than 3,000 and the first successfully treated from the effects of oil have been released in the Wash off Norfolk.

The oil burns their skin and toxic chemicals poison their insides. The birds die slowly and in pain if they are not rescued in time.

Almost 500 oiled birds have been collected by the Gower Bird Hospital since the spill on February 15.

The National Trust and the Countryside Council for Wales, which are co-ordinating the oiled bird rescue on Gower beaches, are now finding upwards of 100 birds a day.

Staff at the bird hospital clean the birds feet and beaks and give them a solution which serves to counteraect the effects of shock and any toxins they have ingested.

They are then wrapped in towels to stop them preening and kept in a warm,

dark place until they ean be taken to one of the bird-cleaning centres.

The scoter duck population has been devastated by the disaster with a high proportion of the afflicted birds belonging to the species.

People are being urged to stay off the beaches until the rescue operation is complete as they are frightening the birds back into the sea and making rescue more difficult.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: :"lt is a serious crisis. We are working around-the-clock to try to deal with the thousands of birds hit by this disaster.

"It is an appalling situation and an absolute tragedy.'


096Mar07

0172 (07.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

0173 (07.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

0172 'Disaster inquiry should be public'

0173 Coastguard alert at oil spill scare


0172 (07.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

'Disaster inquiry should be public'

The National Trust today called for the Government to set up a public inquiry into the Sea Empress oil disaster.

The trust, which cares for Gower, says it is greatly concerned about the impact the spill is having on the South West Wales coast.

Trust director general Martin Drury has written to Prime Minister John Major and Welsh Secretary William Hague ranking the Sea Empress tanker spill alongside the Torrey Canyon and Braer disasters.

'The factual inquiry already set up is not enough, an open 'Donaldson style' public enquiry is necessary to minimise the risks of such an accident reoccuring," said Mr Drury.

The Trust says it is concerned about the environmental impact the spillage will have on the property it runs in South Pembrokeshire and Gower—97 miles of coastline—as well as Lundy Island, one of only two marine nature reserves in the UK.

Mr Drury said: "Other wildlife may be affected too.

"For example, more than 100 Great Horseshoe bats are wintering on the Castle Martin coast and may be affected by toxic fumes."

The maritime turf along the coast of South West Wales is now contaminated by oil carried on the sea spray, says the trust. It warns this may affect invertebrate prey of the choughs who nest on ledges in the polluted sea caves.


0173 (07.03.96) South Wales Evening Post

Coastguard alert at oil spill scare

Coastguards had an oil scare in Swansea Bay yesterday.

The crew of a dredger reported a suspect slick trailing behind their vessel.

Fearing it could be the first fingers of larger slick from the Sea Empress Oil spill, coastgurds called in the Pollution Control Unit's monitoring aeroplane.

But the plane's sensitive detection equipment ruled out an oil spill.

"It was just muck from the back of the dredger itself," said a Coastguard spokesman.


096Mar09

0174 (09.03.96) The Western Mail

0174 One hundred questions on which the oil inquiry must spill light


0174 (09.03.96) The Western Mail

One hundred questions on which the oil inquiry must spill light

Despite the publication of the interim findings into the Sea Empress accident, the subsequent grounding and spillage of more than half its 120,000 tonnes cargo of light crude oil continues to raise questions about the safety at Milford Haven, the salvage operation and the devastation caused to both the local environment and business. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport has launched an inquiry into the disaster but accusations, claims and counter-claims have confused the issues. Alastar Mllburn asks 100 key questions which the inquiry must answer.

1: Maritime experts say tankers the size of the Sea Empress take 12 miles to come to a complete halt and need 10 miles to set their direction. So should the Sea Empress be even allowed to enter the Haven?

2: If it is acceptcd that for the commercial viability of the refineries at Milford Haven, supertankers should be allowed into the estuary, should the Sea Empress have been allowed to enter just 90 minutes before an extremely low spring tide on February 15?

3: Would it have been safer to make the tanker moor outside the Haven for a few hours until the tide had significantly changed?

4: Does Milford Haven Port Authority have sufficient resources to enable pilots to meet tankers early enough?

5: What training are the harbour pilots given and how are they licensed?

6: Did weather conditions make handling of the tanker difficult?

7: Because of the time supertankers take to come to a halt their speed needs to drop considerably when entering ports such as Milford Haven. Did the speed of the Sea Empress cause steerage problems?

8: If not, were there mechanical problems, as the pilot on board is alleged to have told the port authority's operation room?

9: Was the position-fixing equipment provided on the Sea Empress working properly?

10: The Sea Empress is less than three years old. If it was a car it would not be eligible for an MoT. What checks are such tankers expected to have?

11: Had the Sea Empress received regular maintenance since it came into service?

12: Is the introduction of an MoT every year for tankers more than a year old feasible?

13: Do safety checks, as recommended by Lord Donaldson after the Braer disaster, vary from country to country?

14: Do checks in one country mean that it is immune from checks in another?

15: Ports such as Bergen in Norway send out tugs to escort tankers in. Whatever the reason for the drift of the tanker would the use of escort tugs have helpd to control the vessel?

16: The radar installation set-up in 1984 has been due for replacement for some months. Was any radar system operational on the night of the grounding?

17: Would an operational radar system have helpd the port authority to detect a problem prior to the grounding?

18: Were there any language difficulties between the crew, the pilot and the authorities on land which may have played a part in the incident?

19: Did Milford Haven have an emergency contingency plan?

20; Once the incident became clear, how quickly was any emergency

contingency plan set up?

21: Is it true that the coastguards at Milford Haven only became aware of the incident when they intercepted exchanges between the pilot on board the Sea Empress and the Milford Haven Port Authority ops room?

22: Who was in charge of the Joint Rescue Centre (JRC) set-up immediately afterwards - salvers Smit Tak, the Marine Pollution Control Unit, Milford Haven Port Authority or the harbour master?

23: What was the imtial primary objective of the operation - save the ship, its cargo or both?

24: Were the salvers' working on a so-called no cure-no-pay contract?

25: If so, did this effect the JRC's concern for the cargo?

26: At 10.15pm on February 15, some two hours after the initial grounding, the Sea Empress refloated. Was there any thought given to moving the vessel?

27: At that time, could the Sea Empress have been towed into the Haven where its cargo could have been pumped off?

28: The Countryside Council for Wales, among others; was unhappy about that course of action. Would it have therefore been more prudent to tow the vessel

out to sea where any leak could have been treated with dispersant immediately and the cargo pumped off to another tanker?

29: As it was the Empress was kept where it was. The following day, in calm waters and surrounded by rocks on either side, the vessel Sarita offered to go in and take off the cargo. Was this option taken?

30: So what was the plan of the JRC on February 16?

31: There were suspicions 24 hours into the crisis that the tugs available were not sufficiently strong to control the Sea Empress. Were the tugs powerful enough?

32: Did Lord Donaldson, in his report on the Braer disaster in 1993, recommend adequate tug support at busy tanker ports such as Milford Haven?

33: As a result of the Braer report tug support was enhanced in the eastern approaches around Dover and around the Scottish coast. But was there sufficient cover in the western approaches which includes Milford Haven?

33: Smit Tak's vessel was working in Portugal at the time of the grounding. Would a contract involving a permanent UK base for a larger vessel have been the right solution?

36: If more powerful tug support was not immediately available, why was an offer from Falmouth Marine to provide their 20,000 horse power Chinese tug De Yue turned down?

37: On February 16 the initial 1,000 tonnes spilled from the Sea Empress started to spread. What equipment did the JRC have available for the clear-up operation?

38: Refineries in the Haven are reported to also have clean-up equipment, such as booms. Were these made available to the JRC?

39: At an early stage oil headed towards the coast and the island nature reserve of Skomer. Did the JRC have an initial plan to cut off these early spills?

40: Was the JRC relying on volunteers from local authorities to carry out the clean-up operation?

41: Would it be feasible to set up a national network to be on standby for such a clean-up operation?

42: Was the JRC aware that this part of West Wales is of major environmental importance?

43: Why was Lord Donaldson's recommendation to make the Milford Haven area an environmental high-risk category, which would have placed stringent restrictions on the movement of tankers in the estuary, not adhered to?

44: Lord Goschen suggests that only certain vessels registered in certain countries should be allowed in our waters. Is that feasible?

45: Considering the sensitive environmental nature of the area should the Government go even further and ban all tankers from the Haven?

46: If this is not feasible because of the economic impact on oil refinery business, should there be more stringent rules on what kind of tankers can enter the Haven?

47: All tankers built since 1993 have to have double hulls. The Sea Empress was built just after these rules were established and has a single hull. Could the disaster have been avoided or mitigated if she had a double hull?

48: Was the JRC banking too much on the weather breaking up any oil spilled, as had been the case with the Braer disaster?

49: Is it the case that the Sea Crystal, a state-of-the-art vessel able to recycle 5,000 tonnes of oil a day, was offered at an early stage?

50: From reports it would seem it was offered and it was turned away. Would it have therefore been feasible to place booms off the Pembrokeshire coastline to try and limit the amount of oil coming onshore?

51: The weather continued to be relatively calm into Saturday, February 17. There was little apparent sign of action by the JRC. Under the 1971 Prevention of Oil Pollution Act, ministers have the power to intervene and direct a salvage operation. With so little apparently happening in the operation should Department of Transport minsters have intervened?

52: Shipping Minister Lord Goschen was on the scene at a very early stage and stayed on once the incident deteriorated. Considering he did not intervene in the salvage operation what was he doing there. As an observer? As an adviser?

53: On February 17, 48 hours into the crisis, there were forecasts of storms in the evening. It was agreed by the JRC to turn the Sea Empress round to face the gales head-on. Would this position have put more or less pressure on the tugs to control the vessel?

54: At one point the tanker, pointing straight out to sea, refloated. Did the pilot on board radio the JRC saying that he could take the vessel out to sea?

55: If so, is it true that the harbour master Mark Andrews said, "Yes, but I'm in a room full of men saying no.'??

56:  Who were those men?

57: Why did they reject that course of action?

58: Shortly after, the tug lines snapped. The Sea Empress was not under control and nearby residents were evacuated because of fears of an on-board explosion. The day before, the JRC had rejected the offer of the De Yue because they said the existing tug support was sufficient. Why then, on the Saturday night, did they request the help of the of the Chinese tug?

59: There then appeared to be a halt to the salvage operation while the De Yue sailed from Falmouth to Milford Haven. What was the plan of action for the Chinese tug?

60: Over the weekend of February 17 and 18 the JRC is reported to have received several offers of help from anti-pollution companies. Is this true?

61: If so, what did the JRC tell these companies?

62: Letters exchanged between the JRC and anti-pollution companies suggest that the equipment on offer from the antipollution companies would be considered once the Sea Empress incident had been resolved. Would it have been too late by then?

63: Would the equipment on offer have been more effective than the shovel-and-scoop method employed on the beaches and the use of DC3 aircraft to spray dispersants?

64 : By Sunday, February 18, the Sea Empress was still languishing on

the rocks - four days after the grounding. The JRC looked at the possibility of pumping the oil off but cancelled the plan after finding that the pump room was

flooded. How did this affect a pumping opration?

65: Considering that the pump room was flooded would it have been feasable to send for the Sarita which could pump off the cargo in situ?

66: Repeatedly over the weekend, the JRC assured ministers, MPs and the media that the situation was under control. Was this true?

67: Before the arrival of the Chinese tug reports say the tanker was allowed to drift four more times, damaging the hull of the Sea Empress further. Is this what is called in control of the situation?

68: The Chinese tug arrived from Falmouth but within a short time the coastguard reported that the tug - the sixth most powerful in the world - was having difficulties holding its lines to the tanker. Is this pssible considering it had more than enough power to control a tanker the size of the Sea Empress?

69: Reports claim the De Yue had control of the boat but when crew tried to establish what the next step in the operation was, no one could tell them and so they released the line. Is this true?

70: Are other reports true that the JRC could not get the crew of De Yue to do what they wanted hcause of language difficulties?

71: Paul Chung, a chef at the Happy Garden takeaway in Milford Haven, was called in by coastguard to help interpret. But according to Smit Tak there was no need for him to be called in because they had put English speaking staff on the tug. Who is telling the truth?

72: On Monday, February 19, the weather was again calm. The salvage operation prepared the tanker for the transfer of oil. But, in the early evening drifted more than 400 feet, causing the most significant damage yet. Was the tanker still not under control even at this late stage in the operation?

73: As a result of this drift the tanker lost more than 20,000 tonnes of oil overnight. Was it not feasible to treat the oil as it spilled or to put booms around the tanker, a procedure employed once the tanker was moored further up in the Haven?

74: The JRC seemed to realise on Tuesday, February 20 that the tanker needed to be moved before it broke up, spilling the rest of its cargo into the sea. That night, the highest spring tide of the year, a refloating operation failed. Why?

75: The following might, Wednesday, February 21, a refloating operation worked on a lower high tide than the night before. Did the JRC increase its resources for the operation and would it not have been better to have used more resources than necessary to get a result?

76: The Sea Empress was towed to the redundant Hebrandston jetty. At what stage was that option considered?

77: Hebrandston is unused. It would have been available on the first night. If the tanker had been towed to the jetty on the first night surely the environmental disaster would have been avoided?

78: Oil continilod to leak out of the Sea Empress while it moored alongside the jetty. The transfer of oil to the smaller Star Bergen took over a week to complete. Could this have been done more quickly to avoid further spills?

79: Will the MAIB publish preliminary findings on the disaster?

80: The Department of Transport suggests that is unlikely. Considering how much damage has been caused by this oil spill, would it not be prudent to publish more full premlinary findings than produced in Thursday's interim report so that urgent safety measures can be implemented now.

81: Why can measures not be introduced before the full MAIB report is published?

82: Judging by the grounding of the Borga in the Haven last October it would seem new practices can not be introduced in a hurry.. The Milford Haven Port Authority commissioned a report by independent consultants into the Borga incident and is still waiting for their report before deciding on what steps to take next. In the light of the Sea Empress, why wait any longer?

83: Did the port authority know the Borga report was going to take so long?

84: Did the owners of the Borga, Bergen-based Mowinckel, make a series of recommendations about tug support, more powerful tugs and the need for support vessels immediately after last year's grounding?

85: Until the exact cause of the Sea Empress disaster is established should the oil and gas exploration programme in Cardigan Bay be suspended?

86: What will be the effect of the spill on the area's tourism industry?

87: What will be the effect of the spill on the area's fishing industry?

88: How much and how quicly will the ship's insurers and the International Oil Pollution Fund compensate the Wales Tourist Board and local authorities for expenditure spent on revitalising the worldwide image of  Pembrokeshire, and for local business hit by the spill?

89; Will there be sufficient money available from the insurers to cover all claims?

90: Wildlife and environment groups have spent thousands of pounds

trying to help oiled sea birds. All these groups are charitable organisations. Would the ship's owners like to make immediate donations as a gesture of goodwill?

91: Groups such as Dyfed Wildlife Trust are asking for donations to fund monitoring of the long-term effects of the spill. Should they be allowed to make a claim against the ship's owners for funding?

92: What will be the worst case scenario effects on the local environment?

93: How long will it take for the oil to be totally dispersed from the land and sea?

94: Gert Koffeman of the salvage team Smit Tak says, "Within six days the vessel was refloated. I think we did a really good operation." Explain?

95: So will there be a public inquiry into the Sea Empress disaster?

96: As government ministers have repeatedly refused a public inquiry, has it got something to hide?

97: Was not the point of the Donaldson inquiry into the Braer to make sure such a disaster should never happen again?

98: So what went wrong?

99: Will the MAIB inquiry be published as quickly as possible?

100: Will the recommendations of the MAIB inquiry into the Sea Empress disaster be implemented?


096Mar06

0170 (06.03.96) The Western Mail

0171 (06.03.96) The Western Mail


0170 (06.03.96) The Western Mail

Powerless to help badly-oiled seals

by Steve Dube

Around 160 grey seals overwintering on Skomer Island have been covered with oil in varying degrees ranging from light to heavy and no-one knows what the long-term effects will be.

There were reports after the Braer oil disaster in the Shetlands that seals were suffering from respiratory problems but they did not have the database on the seal population before the spill to carry out effective research," said Dyfed Wildlife Trust spokeswoman Margaret Brooks.

"But we have been recording seals through the seal census and other studies for some time, so we.have a better idea of what numbers should be and this is a good opportunity to see if there's any short or long-term effects."

In the meantime environmentalists are powerless to help marine mammals like the seals.

They can only help an oiled seal if it is washed up exhausted and alone on a mainland beach.

Otherwise they must leave them to fend for themselves as human intervention in a seal pack would be counter-productive.

"They are resting on the beaches for the winter but you can't catch them because if you try to approach one the whole herd will take to the sea and possibly suffer further oiling" said Ms Brooks.

The oil clinging to their fur is not thought to be much of a problem in  the long run.

The worst effects are likely to come from eating contaminated fish and this in turn could affect the  breeding season next autumn.

Meanwhile there has been no sign of the family of bottlenosed dolphins which live in Cardigan Bay, because they tend to spend part of the winter in deep offshore waters.

But a school of porpoises has been sighted swimming through the oil and the long-term effects on them may never be known.

Ms Brooks said the disaster will add to the pressure on oil companies currently prospecting in the Celtic Sea as well as the companies with refineries in the Haven.

"The trust is looking at a long term management system to sustain what we have here - one million sea birds on the islands whose feeding grounds are the sea and we want funding to get a better understanding of where and how they live," she said.

"We are now seeing the effects in the 1990s of decisions taken back in the Sixties, with bigger tankers coming into a port that's narrow and affected by high tides and storms.

"Oil and gas are short-term but huge migratory populations of birds have used this area for centuries because of the rich marine life and we must do our best to protcct it."


0171 (06.03.96) The Western Mail

Marines bring in landing craft

by   Alasdair Milburn

Landing craft specialists from the Royal Marines are to help in the massive clear-up operation after the Sea Empress oil spill. '

The men and equipment from the 'Royal Marines Landing Craft Wing in Poole, Dorset, have been drafted in to transport plant to beaches and coves inaccessible by road.

A large vessel capable of carrying 100 men, a smaller craft and two inflatable raiding craft will deliver men and equipment, such as oil-sucking tanks and JCBs.

The complex operation is expected to take up to two weeks.

More than 25,000 seabirds may have so far been killed by the oil spill, the RSPCA said last night.

Latest casualty figures show some 2,500 carcasses, have been collected along the South Wales coastline.

But wildlife experts ' say reliable scientific data indicates that only one dead bird in 10 is ever recovered.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that many more birds are dying out at sea," said RSPCA spokesman Richard Timothy.

"When the current calm weather breaks, we expect an increase in the numbers of oiled birds being driven ashore."

Conservation organisations and volunteers are now caring for more than 3,000 oiled survivors at RSPCA bird hospitals.

A special unit with a dozen small pools is opening at Milford Haven

where RSPCA inspectors will be able to test the buoyancy and fitness of  birds before releasing them into the wild.

Diving teams were yesterday  assessing the damage to the  tanks of the 147,000 tonne  Sea Empress, now empty and berthed at the port after spilling tonnes of the sea after going aground.

Marine engineers with the Anglo-Dutch salvage crew are making preparations to sail or tow the giant disabled vessel to a repair yard, possibly in Belfast or Northern France.

Representatives working for the insurers of the Sea Empress, The Skuld Club, and the International Oil Pollution Fund, are to move into bigger premises in Milford Haven to set up a claims handling office.

The office, which will be opened tomorrow is at 23 Hamilton Terrace, Milford, and will be a focal point for the submission of claims and will deal with all inquiries and correspondence relating to the payment of compensation where appropriate.

Anyone already dealing with the local representative Captain Stuart MacDonald should now send correspondence to the new adress.The telephone and fax numbers  remain the same: Tel 01646 694700;  Fax 01224 697772.


096Mar13

0175 (13.03.96) Western telegraph

0176 (13.03.96) Western Telegraph

0177 (13.03.96) Western Telegraph


0175 (13.03.96) Western telegraph

 Cormorant colony decimated

The Sea Empress disaster appears to have virtually wiped out the largest Cormorant colony in Wales, on St Margaret's Island between Caldey Island and the mainland.

Dyfed Wildlife Trust, which has been monitoring the island, is concerned that only a handful of birds are currently-nesting on the island which is normally the home of between 250 and 300 pairs.

"It is the biggest cormorant colony in Wales and at this time of year usually has at least 250 birds on it," said Trust director, Mr David Saunders.

"Cormorants are not the best of swimmers on the surface because they spend most of their time diving for fish, and when they are oiled they sink. We can only suppose that the St Margaret's Island colony has been decimated."

The other major effect of the disaster has been the decimation of the scoter colony which winters in Carmarthen Bay and of which nearly 2,000 ' birds have been found to be oiled. The likelihood is that more than double that number have died out at sea.

Said bird expert Mr Jack Donovan: "We don't know whether these birds breed in the sub-Arctic or in Scotland, but if they are the' Scottish scoter then a large proportion of the British scoter population could have been wiped out.''

Carmarthen Bay is used as a wintering area, for between 8,000 and 10,000 scoter and the British population is estimated at around 40,000.


0176 (13.03.96) Western Telegraph

 Bank's £5,000 donation launches disaster fund

As the oil slick from the Sea Empress spread around the coastline, the Dyfed Wildlife Trust Sea Empress Disaster Fund was launched through the Wildlife Trusts' national office in Lincoln.

It has received the support of NatWest Banks throughout the United Kingdom and to help the fund on its way NatWest Cymru Wales has donated £5,000.

'The marvellous work of the Dyfed Wildlife Trust goes on all year round. We are pleased to be able to make a considerable donation to them in recognition of their unstinting efforts, following the oil pollution which has hit the coasts of South and West Wales," said Denis Lanner, regional managing director, NatWest Cymru Wales.

The fund will help to combat the effects of the oil spill and provide support for the long-term monitoring of wildlife, so the effects of the disaster are documented and lessons learned.

In addition, further campaigning will be necessary to  protect the country's coast and seas and the marvellous wild life which they support."

"Contributors to the appeal are wide ranging and include both small and large donations of materials and funds that help towards the additional and long-term work of the Trust in the wake of the Sea Empress disaster. We are most grateful to everyone's support and concern," said David Saunders director of the-Dyfed Wildlife Trust.

Customers at  Safeway in Haverfordwest have already raised over £500 towards the appeal and contributed supplies needed for the Trust's West Williamsion Oil Bird Centre, in addition to many other fund-raising events around the area.

At the start of the disaster the Trust immediately mobilised staff for its island nature reserves of Skomer and Skokholm to monitor and reduce the impact there. Staff have also been diverted from other vital monitoring work and to assist other organisations in the collection of data on shell-fish, fish, grey seals and sea and coastal birds.'

In addition, there is the all important work of campaigning with Wildlife Trusts nationally and with other voluntary environmental organisations to ask for a public inquiry into the disaster.

'Anyone wishing to help with the Sea Empress disaster Fund should send donations to the the Trust at 7 Market Street, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. SA61 lNF or call at any NatWest Bank.


0177 (13.03.96) Western Telegraph

 Calls for concern

Wales Wildlife and Countryside Link which represents more than 30 voluntary organisations, from small local groups to national bodies - has written to Transport Secretary Sir George Young asking for a full independent public inquiry into the Sea Empress disaster.

Individual representations, including one from  Dyfed Wildlife Trust have also been made.

The Trust has received telephone calls from all over the country, from many European countries and as far away as the United States.

It has been amazing and sometimes overwhelming,' the response we have received,'' said Margaret Brooks of Dyfed Wildlife Trust.

The Trust is trying to reassure callers that visually the coastline will gradually be restored in the coming months, while some areas have not been affected at all. There is however a long-term need over several decades for much survey and monitoring to measure the effect in wildlife terms.


096Mar15

0178 (15.03.96) Cambrian News


0178 (15.03.96) Cambrian News

Action call to protect coast

 by Sara Taylor

Report says working together is the way to tackle pollution

A new report to be discussed today (Thursday) calls for tougher action to protect the coastline of Gwynedd in the wake of the Sea Empress oil disaster.

The wrecking of the tanker in Pembrokeshire is a reminder that the Celtic countries and regions surrounding the Irish Sea need to work together to prevent pollution, says a summary of the report called The Coastal Zone and Marine Environment of Gwynedd in North-West Wales which is due to come before the planning sub-committee of Gwynedd County Council.

Closer to home, the size and complexity of the area of coastline around Gwynedd means that the three new unitary authorities have to co-operate with both statutory and non-statutory bodies to manage and monitor it.

The report was commissioned by the county council's planning and economic development committee to give a better understanding of the increasing pressures being fishing and pleasure boating out at sea.

Carried out by Cynefin Environmental Consultants Ltd assisted by scientists from Bangor University, the National Rivers Authority, the Countryside Council of Wales and officials of the Sea Fisheries Committee, the study is presented in six chapters.

These look at the impact of industry, tourism and local communities on the natural environment, taking into account that 59 per cent of people in Gwynedd live in coastal towns and villages, and the need for further investment.

The main findings reveal that:

• Further research is required.

• There is a need to establish a data base on the coast giving special attention to creating and sustaining jobs.

• The experience already gained by various authorities should be shared by strengthening and expanding the partnership approach..

• The quality of tourism development should be raised.

• The attractiveness of the area should be more widely promoted to attract further inward investment.

•"Green" lessons in schools should cover the topic more thoroughly.

The report also concluded that there is much scope for preparing proposals that are considered suitable for submission for millennium and heritage funding to contribute to the Agenda 21 programme of sustainable development of coastal and marine resources."

It is recommendcd that the study is now forwarded to the new unitary authorities for information.


096July21

0179 (21.07.96) The Mail on Sunday


 0179 (21.07.96) The Mail on Sunday

Night and Day

by Clive Gammon

Remember the Sea Empress disaster?  Oil everywhere, seabirds dying in their thousands.  Incredibly, there was no public inquiry, and Milford Haven is now considering importing a more toxic fuel. What on earth is going on?

Like the Milford Haven tide on the ebb, memories are receding of the night of

last February 18. It was then that the Russian-crewed, Liberian-registered

tanker Sea Empress - with more than 100,000 tonnes of crude oil aboard — ran aground on rocks at Mill Bay, at the mouth of Milford Haven, - and, over the following week, spilled most of it into the sea to wash up on the beaches and bird islands on the coast of West Wales.

If you're an optimist, you probably believe that the whole gooey, filthy, mismanaged mess has now been scrubbed away. After all, they've done a neat, cosmetic clean-up job on the bette-known beaches of the Pembrokeshire National Park. You can go fly-fishing for salmon again on the rivers that flow into Carmarthen Bay and buy traditional cockles -to-go in Swansea Market once more.

But there are crabbers and whelk fishermen in harbours such as Saundersfoot whose boats are still idle, whose markets have gone, who are still subsisting on handouts from the Pollution Fund that often arrive late. And the secret little coves—Paul Jones, Sandtop, Bullslaughter Bay— are still oil-encrusted, while nobody knows how much crude has been tamped down and out of sight beneath the golden sands of Tenby. Or, indeed, what scarring the biology of the ocean itself might have suffered or what the total, appalling bill will be in the end.

Surely some bitter lessons have been learned. And, surely, another Sea Empress

disaster will never be permitted to smear its filthy fingers across our only Coastal National Park in the future. Frighteningly, though, this is not the case. A scenario, indeed, is already set up, one with two separate story lines. And if it becomes more than a scenario, if the two lines come together, then the Sea Empress will look as minor a disaster as spilling coffee on a clean shirt.

The first features a new product called Orimulsion, memorably described by Frank Dobson, Labour's shadow environment spokesman as 'the world's filthiest fuel'. It's banned in the US and is a mix of roughly 70 per cent bituminous tar to 30 per cent water produced in the Orinoco region of Venezuela. And it is almost certainly the cheapest means so far discovered to fire power stations. When it's shipped out of Caracas, it carries only 34 per cent Venezuelan government tax, compared with 67 per cent on crude oil.

The National Power Company (NPC) wants to use Orimulsion in its power station close to Pembroke town, which is a few miles from Milford on the opposite side of the Haven. Its immediate plan is to build a new jetty so that supertankers will be able to discharge millions of tonnes of fuel conveniently near to the power station.

Spilled crude is hideous and obviously damaging, especially when it comes ashore —which it does in quantity because it floats and is easily moved by wind and tide. Orimulsion, though, is subtler. It mixes with the seawater, pollutes the whole water table from the ocean bed right to the surface. It may not - visually—foul the beaches. It may not produce affecting footage for the TV cameras of seabirds dying as they come ashore. What it does is much simpler and more deadly. It turns the sea toxic. (The air too, but more of that later.)

Nevertheless, it might be argued that if the Sea Empress lessons have been learned, if double-hulled tankers (boats built with an inner and an outer skin, adding an extra layer of protection in case of grounding) are made mandatory, if there is total, disciplined, professional vigilance by the Port Authority of Milford Haven, then there are cogent arguments to be made for Orimulsion—costs, for instance, and local employment (the NPC has already threatened to close down Pembroke Power Station if it doesn't get its way) . Only—and this is the other half of the scenario—it looks, from current evidence, that the morale of the port's personnel now seems to be at a dismally low level in Milford.

The memory of Sea Empress may be fading in the rest of Britain, but here it is not. The pubs, the docks, echo with rumours and allegations that are making this a dismally unhappy port, all of which, unless they are scotched or justified and professional morale restored, could combine with the Orimulsion venture to end in a social and environmental catastrophe. And the latest development has only made feelings more poisonous. Meantime, the word from a ship's agent in London is that Milford Haven may be blacklisted by the marine insurance companies.

The Milford Haven Conservancy Board Act of 1958 charged the Port Authority with a duty to 'maintain, improve and protect the Haven'. When Margaret Thatcher came along, the working of the port, like others in the UK, was changed by an Act of 1988 concerned with pilotage. And the root cause of the current dissension lies in the profit-led nature of that Act, the main accusation being  that the present General Manager was brought in to slash the operating costs of the port and has done so, it's said, with a cold and driven purposefulness.

In the story of the Sea Empress disaster, there are no heroes, but there is a gallery of the seriously blameworthy, who sererely aggravated the effects of the original grounding. But, clearly, the grounding came first. And last month, ahead of an official inquiry by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (which makes observations anl recommendations to the Secretary of State), Milford Haven's Port Authority conducted its own internal inquiry and seemed to have found itself a single scapegoat: junior pilot John Pearn, 34, whose assignment on the night of last February 18 was to bring the Sea Empress into Milford, alone and unaided. In a closed hearing, three nominees of the Port Authority used pilot error to lay the whole thing on the shoulders of Pearn, finding him guilty of 'incompetence'.

Extraordinarily, though, he was not dismissed. Instead, he was demoted to Pilot Grade Three, which meant that henceforth he would only be permitted.to handle vessels of 90,000 tonnes and under. Which, somewhat ridiculously, seemed to imply that as long as Pearn kept away from the seriously big ships, he was still qualified to run inconseguential little water babies of a mere 89,000 tonnes or so right up past the rocks.

This is all of a piece with the vein of black comedy which has run through the whole story. As when the Prince of Wales, painting at an oily rock and inquiring who was first to report the running-aground, was told by redfaced coastguard George Crumpler that it was a fishing boat called, er, the Lady Di.

There was no comedy in the verdict for Pearn, of course - and it was more subtle than it sounded. For the Port Authority, it was a neat solution. If they had fired

Pearn, a different Tribunal—an Industrial Tribunal—might have been called on to

consider a case of unfair dismissal.

Whereupon would have come to light the fact that when, in 1995, the Authority offered John Pearn a promotion to Pilot Grade Two, he expressed strong misgivings about accepting it. Fifteen years earlier, when he'd quit school, he'd been an apprentice pilot on the Mersey. But the dwindling importance of Liverpool as a seaport had led him to become a Merchant Marine officer. When, after a long spell away from it, he returned to piloting, he found he needed more experience of the swirling Haven tides which rank with the most powerful in the world. He added that he believed he had not been given adequate training for the promotion.

All the same, when he clambered from the pilot boat up the rope ladder lowered from the deck of the Sea Empress 20 feet above him in the swells off St Ann's Head on that black February night, he was alone—even though Milford regulations required that a vessel of more than 150,000 tonnes (and the Empress was close on 200,000 tonnes) should be handled by two pilots, one of whom should be a ranking Senior Pilot, which of course Pearn was not. Nevertheless, because of a deft interpretation of the rules by the ship's owners whereby they shifted the goalposts just a tad, she weighed in at, officially—wait for it—147,000 tonnes, so just evading the two-pilot rule. How did they manage that?

A senior pilot explained: 'Ship-owners are always on the lookout for cheaper ways of paying their bills, which are generally charged on tonnage,' he said. 'Normally, a tanker will fill all its tanks with oil, and then, when she's empty, put saltwater into some of them to use as ballast on the way home—and this is what we based our VLCC [Very Large Crude Carrier] rules on. But the ship-owners got ahead of us again. They've just begun to configure ships with what they called Segregated Ballast Tanks, which are used only for ballast. And those SBTs don't count because they are classified as non-earning spaces. Now the formula for calculating tonnage is gross tonnage minus the non-earning capacity, so the Sea Empress slipped through under the wire and became a one-pilot ship. She was 147,000 tonnes deadweight, but she had at least 35,000 tonnes of ballast capacity as well, which didnt count under the new rules.'

The reaction of the pilots of Milford Haven to the way in which they believe Pearn to have been railroaded has been a mixture of incredulity and anger, so much so that, in spite of the threat of dismissal if they talked to me, some of them have spoken out for the first time.

'This Authorisation Review Committee set up by the Port Authority' said one pilot angrily after the hearing, ' we were not even aware of the existence of such a body. They set it up under their own rules.' (The trio was made up of the Chairman of the Port AuthorityJ a Marine Advisor to the Board, who lives in London, and a Trade Union man appointed by the Secretary of State to look after labour relations in the Haven.) 'They had a vast experience of pilotage matters among the three of them, right? the pilot added ironically. 'For six years we've been trying to get a proper incident procedure up and running in this port. We've been thwarted for all that time."

And then the Port Authority came up with what many people in Milford are calling a kangaroo court. 'Yes, John Pearn did underestimate the run of the tide, because of lack of experience,' said the pilot, 'but to say he was incompetent is totally wrong. There might have been an error of judgment . Every pilot in this port has made an error of judgment coming into that West Channel. It's like when you have a near miss in a car. Amost always you get out in the clear. Only this time, John didn't.

'We're not getting as much shipping as we did,' he went on, 'so it's harder to learn the job. And it's up to the Port Authority to compensate for this with some other form of training. Like simulated training, which they have steadfastly refused to provide. There's a great simulated training programme they have in Rotterdam, it costs £10,000 for a pilot to go through it. They sent one of our young pilots there, but that was it. When four other junior pilots wanted to go, the Authority prevaricated. Nobody else has gone to Rotterdam. It's peanuts, of course, compared with the cost of the Sea Empress disaster itself. It's like being a doctor,' he said, make one mistake and you're on the six o'clock news. John is very upset, very angry, but he's a resilient lad. He won't quit. Why should he quit?

'We may appeal. It's up to our lawyers. But an appeal will be heard in front of the Port Authority again, and we know very well what will happen. But after that again there could be a judicial inquiry.'

Milford Haven is a battleground then. But it has been a battleground ever since 1988, when the job of administering the port was given to Michael Hyslop, who had held a similar post on Teesside. From the beginning there was bad feeling. Hyslop was seen by many in the port's administration not as a man of the sea, but as one sent in to wield a cost-cutlting axe.

Almost at once, he set out to reduce the number of the Haven's pilots from 18 to 10, a surprisingly low figure for one of the world's busiest deep-water ports. In the end, after negotiation he settled for 13. Next came a salary dispute—which he lost. 'We went to arbitration and won aain,' says a pilot. 'We got 10 per cent, to the fury of Hyslop, who had already told the Authority that costs were going to come down.'

Another defeat for Hyslop was over the principle of using two pilots to bring in 'LCCs—he wanted one only. Finally, the Board conceded that there should be two men aboard VLCCs. Since then, however, the pilots have not been allowed access to the Port Authority Board, nor have they had a representative on the board. The clashes between Hyslop and his pilots are well documented. Less precise, though, are the feelings of serious, often unfocused dislike of him that are commonly expressed in Milford. He's a beleaguered figure there, accused of being a very bad man to cross.

In person, though, he seems a good deal more urbane than his reputation. His voice is subdued, his accent Received Standard English, pitched in the upbeat—but not entirely reassuring—tone of the GP telling you that if the antibiotics don't work, why, we'll get a few X-rays done. All the same, he is clearly gun-shy.

When asked about one of the most serious allegations against the Port Authority, that the radar installation on St Ann's Head, close to Milford, was not working, and had not worked for months —years, probably—and this contributed to the disaster, he replied: -We don't believe [effective radar] would have made any difference at all. The ship had two excellent radar sets on board. I didn't think there was any question that they were in any way reliant on shore radar for knowing where they were. I don't think that's an issue.'

He had an explanation, also, for the length of time for which the port radar had been down. 'The money for the replacement of the radar has been budgeted for two years,' he said. Meantime, the cause of the delay was simple. Two years had passed because the harbourmaster was trying to select the best equipment for the job'.

What's more, the General Manager is reported to have questioned at a meeting with the port personnel whether, indeed, there was any point in having radar in the port installation—a view that the latter find extraordinary. 'On th night of February 18,' one of them claimed, 'if the radar had been working and a proper radar watch had been kept, it would have alerted the shore that the Sea Empress was not precisely in the right spot—somebody would have picked it up and asked this inexperienced young man, "Are you all right? Are you happy with your situation?" And he would have checked.

'Two years ago, the Port Authority was told that for £600,000  it could be brought up to a reasonable standard. But that was considered too expensive. We have new radar now, sort of mini-radar, just about right for a middle-sized yacht. This year a tanker showed up outside the Haven, a gas ship, and the master was told to go and anchor in St Bride's Bay, in the open sea, because there was no berth for her in the Haven. Then, about an hour and a half later, the ship calls over and says, "I'm anchored." "Where?" she's asked. "I'm three cables

west of the Stack Rocks," she radioed back. So this 6,000 tonne ship carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas—nasty, horrible stuff— had sailed into the Haven without anybody knowing. The radar hadn't picked her up.'

Just before the Sea Empress disaster Mr 'Tottie' Thomas, a Pembrokeshire businessman, bought the old coastguard station on St Ann's Head with the idea of converting it into holiday homes. With the land had come a bonus—a used, defunct radar station, property of Milford Haven Port Authority. 'Since then,' he said, 'they've been bringing people in from America, from Sperry Inc., to fix it. They've got the scanner up, but they still can't transfer the digital information by radar back-to Milford. When Panorama came down after the disaster, they had the screens on back at base. The radar wasn't really working properly. It just looked as if it was. But they didn't tell Panorama . . .'

According to people like Tottie, though, the clapped-out radar is just one aspect of the way the safety of the port has been run down. 'The Port Authority has cut the pilot boats by half,' he claimed. 'Cut down on the pilots themselves. Cut the tugs by 50 per cent. There's almost l00 tugmen got put out of work in the past three or four years. It seems that Hyslop has been ruling that harbour with an iron fist. He's terrified people.

'The Port Authorit is just money, money, money. It has nothing to do with the local authority, nobody's elected. It's a quango. Hyslop was there as an axeman, a

cost-cutter. But when costs are cut to danger point, and you haven't got enough men on shift, so men are working 12,14 hours— the tug men, the pilot boys, the radar men. If they'd had any radar . . . '

When this was put to Hyslop, he replied: 'There's been a smal reduction in the number of pilots. But not significantly, bearing in mind that the number of ships has been reduced over the years. It's certainly true tha we've tried to develop a more cost-conscious and commercial culture in the organisation, but not at the expense of safety.

As far as tugs are concerned, there were seven in operation when I first arrived here nine years ago, but they were mostly nearly 20 years old. And we've been working closely with the oil companies and the tug company ever since to try and get more modern tugs in. Those tugs were conventional tugs. What we have now are four tractor tugs which are "omni-directional" tugs. more effective because they can bring more power to bear whe manoeuvring large ships into position It's a bit like saying your grandfather had six horses and a trap, and now all you have is one motor-car, so things are a lot worse. The world has moved on.'

Clearly, though, in the disaster weren't the Milford tugs entirely ineffective? Without sufficient power? 'That's for debate,' he replied. 'The salvors ended up having to try to hold this vessel in a very limited area at the entrance to the Haven, and it's possible that if they'd had one or two larger tugs they'd have been able to do that without her grounding again.'

When that's put to a pilot, he concedes, 'Two, maybe three, of the original tugs were old. The omni-directional tugs are better, no question. But actually there are only three-and-a-half of them. One is secondhand, brought down from the Tees, and frankly not much use. We need six. But it's the old shoestring theme again . . . '

Inevitably, the subject of Milford Marina comes up. To be sure, the old dock was run down—the VLCCs use their own jetties. It was a prime candidate for development. But the feeling is strong in Milford that it should not be at the expense of the port, that tugs and pilotage should have had precedence over the Dockside Diner and the Ice Cream Parlour. 'I've no regrets about the Marina project at all,' said Hyslop. 'Though people talk, the majority of local citizens are strongly supportive of what has been done in the docks. Its changed the whole environment of the town centre, which was very run down and tacky.'

This is an impression not easily gained in the bar of the Lord Nelson Hotel, where the gossip can be 100 per cent proof. 'About £15 million has gone down the black hole now,' said a Port Authority employee, who asked not to be named because he feared for his job, 'down the Marina, which used to be called the docks. The Port Authority's bought the mud even, flattened everything. I think when they bought it the book value was £7 million. Now it's gone down to £4 million, with privatisation on the horizon.

'Now the oil companies will never let this port, the big jetties, go. They have no interest in the old docks, but others do. The Port Authority has put in a nice little Exhibition Centre. They've done up a few of the old Fish Docks, but that's about all on the surface. What they've really done is to put in the infrastructure: the drainage, the sewerage, the roadways, huge car parks. What for? '

Well what indeed, even though there has been an internal audit in the Port Authority recently? 'We have invested surplus funds in projects which we believe are beneficial to the local community,' Hyslop responded when asked about the investment. 'But it's never been at the expense of safety.'

Meantime, at the end of this month, the two strands of that bad-news scenario could come together when Pembrokeshire County Council will announce its decision regarding a brand new jetty for supertankers to carry Orimulsion. And, if it goes the way the National Power Company wants it to, in the context of the disarray now afflicting the port of Milford Haven, a new Sea Empress could bring a disaster that would go far beyond oiled sea birds and filthy beaches.

In the early Nineties, studies were made in Canada and in this country that compared Orimulsion with conventional fuel, HFO (Heavy Fuel Oil) . They led to major concern that there would be a huge increase in acidic gases like sulphur dioxide that lead to the acid rain effect. There would also be a massive increase in dust. That dust, meantime, would be far finer than the dust emitted by HFO so that, in scientific terms, it would be eminently 'respirable' — ie, when you breathe it in, it penetrates even the smallest lung cavities.

Unsurprisingly then, back in August 1991, when the NPC applied to the Secretary of State for Energy for consent to modify their Pembroke Power Station to burn Orimulsion, they were refused, told to go away and to try again when they had achieved new emission standards. Last year, they came back to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution with plans to reduce the toxic effect, and this time they were given the go ahead to adapt Pembroke Power Station to use the new fuel.

Pembroke Power Station would become the biggest burner of toxic waste in Europe. Even if the NPC is turned down this month, it is very unlikely that this will be the end of the matter. The huge corporation will almost certainly get its way in the long run. And then, unless and until the toxic state of affairs in Milford is put to rights Orimulsion and a tanker port crippled by dissension may come together to create the biggest environmental disaster in British history.


096Aug03

180 (03.08.96) The Western Mail


0180 (03.08.96) The Western Mail

A Sense of Proportion

 Comment

The risk of getting CJD from beef is infinitesimally small. As our graph shows there are far greater risks to our health in other things we do, such as driving to work or walking downstairs.

To put the matter in perspective we are 10 times more likely to die falling down the stairs in our own homes than to die from CID.

It is unlikely anyone would consider moving into a bungalow or give up driving because of these dangers, yet many have turned their backs on beef, which is in fact less likely to harm them.

Alcohol, smoking, unhealthy eating and lack of exercise are all killers, yet how many people will forgo a night on the town because between 400,000 and 500,000 deaths a year are alcohol-related?

Even among cattle the number of BSE cases is falling sharply. Out of a population in Wales of 1,340,000 cattle and calves fewer than 1,000 were diagnosed with BSE last year. So it is important to keep a sense of proportion when considering any risk to human health.

This is not just our view. It is backed by the chairman of the new advisory group on priorities in CJD research Professor Lesek Borysciewicz, Professor of Medicine at University of Wales College of Medicine. He admits we cannot look into a crystal ball but says on current evidence we need to be more balanced.

"People are frightened about these things," he says. "They don't put it into perspective. Maybe we need to explore ways of keeping people informed about relative risks."

The fact is there is still no proven link between eating BSE-infected beef and CJD. There is a gestation period between the time CJD is contracted and when its symptoms begin to show but no one knows exactly how long that period is.

And CD cannot be confirmed in humans until after death.

Although the Government has admitted it cannot prove there is no link between BSE and CJD, we should not assume a CJD epidemic is imminent.

Since 1995 there have been 11 cases of the human New Variant CJD, the strain thought to have possible links with BSE in cattle. Nine of these patients have died. Other forms of CJD where infection is linked to unknown factors, family history and medical procedures, such as human growth hormones, killed 387 people between May last year and May this year. There were no recorded

NV-ClD cases before 1995.

The death toll pales alongside the toll by the big killers: heart disease, traffic accidents, cigarettes and alcohol. Every day 300 people die in the UK from smoking-related diseases alone. Last year three Britons died hang-gliding, the same number that died from NV-CJD.

Almost everything we do carries some risk Life would be dull indeed, no to mention complex, if we tried to avoid any possible physical ill.

Sport is one notable example of where injuries and deaths occur but no one would dream of banning it because the benefits outweigh the risks. Mountain climbers, sailors, even rugby players risk death and serious injury routinely, but their level of fitness is high and their activity may equally prolong their lives and quality of life.

This week scientists discovered there was a risk that BSE-infected cows could pass the disease on to their calves. It was enough to send alarm bells ringing again and prompt EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler to urge the British Government to consider extending the already devastating cattle cull.

The research, which suggested a one per cent possibility of BSE transmission from mother to calf, could also affect the timetable for lifting the ban on beef exports. Is this not another example of knee-jerk panic in the face of a risk which is as yet unproven?

Ill-informed panic is panic of the most dangerous kind. Those who predict epidemics in the manner of medieval soothsayers fearing the sky is going to fall on our heads may unwittingly bring the sky down by destroying an important part of our diet and our economy.

While many seem intent on pandering to hype, few seem aware of the benefits from eating beef. It is an important source of iron and helps us absorb other vitamins in our diet.

Just as eating a balanced diet is important, so is keeping a balanced view of the ever-growing mountain of scientific data on the risks in life.


96Sept19

0181 Severe decline in sea birds


0181 (19.09.96) CCW Research Report

CCW RESEARCH SHOWS SEVERE DECLINE IN SEA BIRDS FOLLOWING SEA EMPRESS OIL SPILL

The Countryside Council For Wales today released new research finding which show a marked decline in sea bird breeding populations in Pembrokeshire.  Initial results show that the guillemot and razorbill populations in South Pembrokeshire have been badly affected.

Until 1995, the numbers of breeding guillemots and razorbills on their sea-cliff nest sites had been increasing in south west Wales.  Early results of monitoring carried out by the Dyfed Wildlife Trust, commissioned by CCW suggest that this trend has been continuing in Ceredigion and north Pembrokeshire which was seemingly unaffected by oil spill.  However, numbers in most of the south Pembrokeshire colonies, close to or within the spill zone, have decreased, St Margaret's Island showed an 58% reduction in its guillemot population, with Skomer and Elegug Stacks showing the highest decline in the numbers of guillemots (over 2,600 birds).  These were the areas worst affected by the oil.

Dr Malcolm Smith, CCW Director of Policy and Science said "Monitoring studies we commissioned recorded 3,403 fewer guillemots breeding in south Pembrokeshire this year than in 1995, a 17% decline overall.  In the area affected by the oil spill the numbers of other seabird species have also decreased.  Shag and cormorant populations are reduced and the razorbill population has decline by 7% (over 400 birds).  In north Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, away from the oil spill, numbers continued to increase with a thousand more guillemots breeding".

" This is part of CCW's contribution to the Sea Empress Environmental Evaluation Committee's set of monitoring work and research into the environmental impact of the Sea Empress disaster.  The Programme has been agreed by the Government.  The results of this part of our monitoring indicate that a large number of bird deaths at sea were unrecorded.  We had always know that only a proportion of birds oiled at sea make it on to the shore, either dead or alive.  The majority die at sea.  This latest information bears that out.  We will continue to monitor the situation to assess the full long-term impact of the Sea Empress oil spill" continued Dr Smith.

The Council of CCW will be visiting the area, including some of the worst affected stretches of coast around Milford Haven, on the morning of Thursday, 19th September.