Luck prevented `Sea Empress' devastation

THE `SEA EMPRESS' oil tanker disaster cost between pounds 50m and pounds 100m in environmental damage and would have destroyed more wildlife if the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction, it was claimed yesterday.

The tanker ran aground at the entrance to Milford Haven two years ago this Sunday when the wind was blowing off-shore - a rare phenomenon on the west Wales coast - and the tourist season was still a couple of months away.

Even so, some 72,000 tonnes of oil spewed from the stricken vessel polluting 125 miles of coast, much of it inside the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and dealing a hammer blow to an economy based on tourism as well as on oil refining.

Speaking in Cardiff at the start of a three-day conference called to discuss a government-backed report The Environmental Impact of the Sea Empress Oil Spill, Professor Ron Edwards who chaired a lengthy investigation, said: "Had the tanker grounded later in the year when beaches would have been thronged with visitors and had the wind been blowing on-shore - as normal - it could have been much worse."

The report is based on almost 100 separate investigations and cost pounds 2m. Damage to the environment is estimated at between pounds 50m and pounds 100m, with losses to the tourist trade ranging from an optimistic pounds 1.5m to a numbing pounds 40m, with extra health costs put at pounds 17m. Losses to the fishing industry have yet to be fully quantified.

Professor Edwards denied that the 260-page document pulled punches. "It is not a whitewash as some have claimed. I won't have whitewash in any report I make," he declared. Conservationists pointed out later that little appeared to have changed since the Braer ran aground off the Shetlands in January 1993. Joan Edwards, marine conservation officer of the Wildlife Trusts, the umbrella body of 47 trusts claimed that the key recommendations in the report into the Braer accident had not been implemented. "We are still waiting for areas at risk to be identified so that measures can be put in place to handle future problems," she said.

The report urges the establishment of what it calls "a national contingency plan for environmental assessment" to enable experts to step in promptly. "The early weeks are critical and measures must be in place so that action is taken swiftly," Professor Edwards said.

He reinforced appeals to ensure that the "polluter pays" principle is followed to the letter. "A lot of damage is caused to society itself and that cost should be included as well as more high profile costs."

The clean-up in west Wales was hampered by a lack of local sites to receive the thousands of tonnes of oil removed from the coastline. Some had to be driven 100 miles for disposal at Merthyr Tydfil.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is urged to review the training of volunteer bird cleansers in the light of evidence suggesting that many oiled birds returned to the wild died later.

Local MP Nick Ainger later expressed dismay at the Government's decision not to have a powerful tug permanently on station to cover Milford Haven. "Year-round cover should if necessary be funded by a levy on shipping and oil interests - that was one of Lord Donaldson's recommendations when he enquired into the Braer disaster."

Ron Davies, the Secretary of State for Wales, said: "The Government will be considering the report carefully over the coming months."

The Environmental Impact of the Sea Empress Oil Spill. Available at Stationery Office bookshops. Price pounds 19.00