Govt Launches Legal Action Against O/S Company For Massive Reef Oil Spill

After a year-long investigation, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has launched legal action, under the Protection of the Sea Act, against Panama‘s Globex Shipping and shipmaster Kuk Hyun Jang, for an oil spill near the Great Barrier Reef in 2015. 
The Queensland Government hopes that the action, especially the possibility of being fined $17 million schmakeroos under Commonwealth law, will act as a strong deterrent to polluters, hopefully leading to safer practices when dealing with fucking massive oil shipments such as these.
Kuk Hyun Jang and Globex Shipping are alleged to be responsible for an incident in July 2015, where 15 tonnes of oil washed up on shore near Cape Upstart, along the Queensland coast between Townsville and Mackay, at Forrest Beach on the Queensland mainland, Hinchinbrook Island and the Greater Palm group. 
You wanna know how much 15 tonnes is? Apparently it’s two elephants, or four hippos. Two elephants worth of oil, out there, wreckin’ our reef. 
And further to that: clean up of the beaches took two weeks, two sea birds died, and a bb flatback turtle needed to be rehabilitated over the course of six weeks. A poor defenceless turtle. It’s an outrage. 

Last year, when the allegedly responsible ship was first identified by Queensland authorities, Queensland Ports Minister Mark Bailey called the incident “absolutely outrageous environmental vandalism“. 
The investigation by Maritime Safety Queensland, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Australian Maritime Safety Authority checked on-board records, interviewed crews, and tested oil samples from the ships against samples from the spill, finding that 17 of Globex Shipping’s ships had been in the area in the three days before the spill. 17! That’s like a small gathering of ships, full o’ oil, while your parents are away for the weekend. 
A hearing on the action is scheduled for Townsville Magistrates Court in August. 
Photo: Arterra / Getty.
Source: Brisbane Times.

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