The following was found on the "Courier Mail" web site:
River saved from oil spill
Brendan O'Malley
18mar03
EMERGENCY workers have contained a potentially devastating oil spill at the
mouth of the Brisbane River.
About 7000 barrels, or more than one million litres, began seeping into
creeks sometime last night.
Trucks used earth to seal South Creek where it entered the river and workers
also dumped sand bags into the creek.
A sucker truck had begun pumping the slick out of the creeks but it was
expected the operation would take a considerable time to complete.
Booms further up the water course had not stopped the oil and the outgoing
tide was threatening to drag the slick into the river and Moreton Bay.
A 500m stretch of South Creek was affected as well as several hundred metres
of another creek feeding into the river.
Some low-lying paddocks near the Caltex refinery also were contaminated.
Santos Limited said in a statement that the problem was due to a leak which
developed overnight in its Moonie-to-Brisbane pipeline at Lytton.
The cause of the leak had not yet been determined but Santos was working
with the Port of Brisbane, the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service and the
Environmental Protection Agency to work out what went wrong.
The affected area was sealed off by police and fire crews and surrounding
buildings evacuated.
Perhaps we were lucky this time.
Terry Pacey
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