Thanks for the Oil - Comments

Well that's all good then :)

And yes, I feel the exact same way...
BECAUSE YES I KNOW!!! World Cup winners! It's pretty surreal actually.
And it's going to be such a morale booster for everyone, which is really needed at the moment :)

Yeah, the time frame's are a bit iffy, if it had been written yesterday and posted today it would have made a lot of sense. :) No offence taken at all. :) But like I said, you did have valid points and they were interesting to read, so it's not like they were totally out of the blue and all. :)

[i]Also that 2002 point was in relation to the lack of the immediate response team which I talked about before with if we were deep sea drilling. Which is me attempting to say that the dissatisfaction of the seemingly slow reaction shouldn't be directed at National entirely. [/i] - ahk, that makes a lot of sense now. :) It could also have been me not making the instant connection between the leaders you were talking about too, but it makes sense now. :)

Haha, you'd hope so, but I think a lot of kiwi's like to see more articles about their country on Mibba. :) But yeah, I think you'd write a pretty decent one and * I'm sorry, I'm just so happy we've won the world cup and I don't really know what to say. Complete water under the bridge and all. :) !

I apologise for my huge political rant, which probably came off like I was slamming your article and I really didn't mean to do that. You did do a great job of conveying the event and consequences, and a lot of my little annoyances were because of the time frame.

I realise you weren't trying to make a political article but I think that because you did touch on how the Rena will affect the elections and National's chances, there could have been a little more on how it would affect Labour, at least, because they are the opposition government. This [i]is[/i] me being picky though and your article as a whole is very good and particularly informing to those who don't know about it. I really hope I didn't offend you or anything. As you pointed out, I'm quite interested in politics, and I can't help myself sometimes. Bad habit. If I see anyone who knows their current affairs I jump at the opportunity to "discuss". The more I go over my comment the more argumentative it seems, when your article was a presentation of facts. As it was your intention to give a decent overview, I was being VERY picky and I sounded like a bit of a dick.

Also that 2002 point was in relation to the lack of the immediate response team which I talked about before with if we were deep sea drilling. Which is me attempting to say that the dissatisfaction of the seemingly slow reaction shouldn't be directed at National entirely. That was my poor structuring of my comment.

So yeah, basically I'm trying to say that I'm sorry for bringing my political debate into this, when it was in relation to such small bits of your article. My comment does sound very heated. And I'm really glad you responded as you did because it cleared a lot of things up. Don't worry, you don't sound rude at all. Eventually I might get round to it, though somehow I think an article on an oil spill is far more appealing to the world than a discussion on politics in New Zealand XD

My point was to present what had happened, not go to in depth about absolutely everything going on because sometimes it takes up to a week for an article to go through on Mibba (and I think this might have taken 3 days maybe) and I wanted to keep it to the basics - what happened to the Rena, what are possible reasons, who people are blaming, what this is e/affecting. I wanted to keep it broad, also, because so much does happen in the days that pass. Beaches are open now, people are allowed to swim in the water but have been advised that if they smell oil to get out, oil has been taken off the ship and they're working hard to get it all gone. Containers have been pulled off beaches, things are going well. So, I didn't want to go into [i]this[/i] and [i]that[/i] because the situations change in a manner of moments.

My point also wasn't to delve into the political nature of what's going on because, for me, it's actually an environment issue which , yes, is related to the Green party, but again, I'm not a politics kind of person and this article wasn't intended as a political broadcast - just to present the consequences of what's happened with the Rena. I myself don't see it as a political issue, I myself don't think it should be a heavy issue within the elections because it's not like it's going to happen again (because every other cargo ship that goes through the Bay knows the reef is there)...And the reason I mentioned National and Labour is because it generally always comes down to National and Labour in the elections, Sure Green is more in that environmental area, but they're not in power, National is and thus it's fallen on their shoulders, everyone is more preoccupied with National and that's a consequence of the Rena.

[i]but Labour and the Greens should have been looked at in more depth to consider all sides of this story[/i] - And again, this article wasn't a political one - that was just a mere aspect of a consequence...much like the dead birds are a consequence.

[i]There were two significant threats in 2002 while they were in power, with 25 tonnes leaking out in the first instance, but obviously they didn't consider the threat high enough either? And of course, none of this has been pointed out. [/i] - that's because this isn't about the other oil spills in New Zealand. This is about Rena and the oil spill in the Bay of Plenty and the small mention of how the Bay of Plenty, last year, had been presented as a spot for deep sea drilling and how [i]this[/i] disaster would make it a very bad idea to have drilling in the area in the future, if that's what happens. Like I said, it wasn't meant to be an article about politics - that was merely an angle that has been presented as a consequence from online sources.

And I'll admit, I'm a local of the area for the most part (not when I'm at University, of course), but I've lived in the Bay for six years now. When I saw those images on the internet, I laughed. You have to, because you know it's not his fault, and you have to laugh at the pointlessness of such pictures. I mean, I agree it wasn't John Key's fault. It was the fault of the two captains who somehow ended up on the reef, and the ports that let the ship go saying it wasn't their problem (information I wasn't as well informed on at the time, hence it wasn't presented in depth here at all).

IF this was about the political side, your points are valid, but that wasn't my point. I mean, maybe you could write an article about the political parties and the things going on leading up to the elections because you sound well-informed on it all, (that wasn't a rude comment and if it kind of sounded like one, apologies). But I just wanted to present what happened with the Rena, and the consequences coming from it...and unfortunately politics is one of them, but it shouldn't be the only consequence.

(hopefully this makes sense, I've taken things out, moved things around, and am not sure what else to add without repeating the same things at least a million more times).

I think this was a fairly decent article however there were a few important things left out. Such as what kind of oil was leaked, which has already helped the clean-up and will do in the future, considering its tar qualities and can be scraped off rather than what we've seen in the past with other oil spills. It's not the same type of oil you get on a rig, and there is only so much of it.

Of course New Zealand lacks the ability to immediately deal with oil related disasters, and it's because we don't have deep sea drilling. There isn't a high enough demand for an immediate response team and resources. With the country's financial state after the recession and Christchurch earthquakes, it's easy to see why this area had to be overlooked. Out of the number of years we've had oil in this country ,we have had very few oil spills, and none to the extent of the Rena, so why should the taxpayer foot the bill to have a clean-up team/boat/whatever on standby 24/7 when the likelihood of an oil spill is so little? It's just not practical when the country has bigger issues. If you want a team on call like that, it's only going to come with a big enough need. We'd only have that need if we were deep-sea drilling. It's a bit of a vicious circle really. That and we'd have the finances for it if we were deep-sea drilling.

You also mentioned the BP oil spill, which was and will be far more damaging to the Gulf of Mexico than this. It also took them three months to stop that oilrig flowing. Now that is a pitiful response. It's been about two weeks here and despite poor weather conditions, people involved in the recovery effort have been out there everyday. Since they've had the pumps ready, they've been out there. They have responded to the crisis rather than just sitting on it. And okay, it is arguable that the immediate response was not great, but because we don't have those resources on standby, we couldn't respond. To approach such a disaster takes planning and getting the experts in. It's not all going to happen within an hour, as the media has continuously made out. And the NZ media is so left-leaning, it's a wonder they're not on Labour's payroll.

The government has also had meetings with businesses affected by the Rena working out compensation deals already. Again, they're not just leaving them on their own to fend for themselves in this disaster. What other country does that? What other country would bail out all those people in Christchurch? New Zealanders have so much to be grateful for from this government, and yet at every possible turn there are people criticising; people who don't even understand what's going on. The government aren't just going to pack up and leave the BOP.

And Goff saying that there is no chance of drilling oil is a bloody idiot. He'll say anything to win his party election votes, but in all honesty, I'd hate to think what kind of state the country would be in if he and Labour had been in during Key's time. He gives all these hypotheticals about what he would've done if they'd been in, and yet, Labour had 9 years to install an oil spill response team. There were two significant threats in 2002 while they were in power, with 25 tonnes leaking out in the first instance, but obviously they didn't consider the threat high enough either? And of course, none of this has been pointed out.

It's not like the Greens have done very well in this disaster either despite it being their area of expertise, per say. Complaining about the oil, but then flying/driving to Tauranga? They're the biggest hypocrites going.

Key has been dealt the roughest hand possible for his term as prime minister, and he's done pretty well in the circumstances I think. People who make those images like he's sitting there in his pool giving an "F You" to people in the BOP, are extremely ignorant. Like he's the one who drove the Rena into the well-known reef and caused it. It's just immature, and often made by teenagers/people in their early twenties who will jump on the anything to "stick it to the man", despite knowing very little about it.

The Rena has been disastrous for the country and it is truly awful. I'm not trying to take away from the severity of the situation, but I think that a lot of this "bad response" information is just so warped and controlled by the media that bias has become the story now. It isn't just straight reporting anymore. It's pro-Labour everything. Subtle but not that subtle.

Obviously I'm very opinionated about this and sorry for the essay. You managed to keep most bias out of it, which was brilliant, but at the same time you've introduced it by the last couple of paragraphs. I agree with you that it is an election issue and these propaganda images have been rampant lately, but Labour and the Greens should have been looked at in more depth to consider all sides of this story. That will definitely help in the future. I'm not saying to single those parties out every time or whatever, but it'll help to get a fuller picture.

How long ago did you write this by the way? (That must've sounded rude, sorry) But there's nothing in here about the response now with the pumping of the ship, which makes me wonder.