Pollution and Torrey Canyon tanker disaster’s lasting legacy for environmental policy – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Bill Rigby, Knaresborough.
File photo dated 27/03/1967 of the giant tanker Torrey Canyon, broken in two on the Seven Stones Reef off Land's End, Cornwall.File photo dated 27/03/1967 of the giant tanker Torrey Canyon, broken in two on the Seven Stones Reef off Land's End, Cornwall.
File photo dated 27/03/1967 of the giant tanker Torrey Canyon, broken in two on the Seven Stones Reef off Land's End, Cornwall.

FIFTY five years ago, in February 1967, oil tanker, the Torrey Canyon, loaded with 100,000 tonnes of crude oil left Kuwait for Milford Haven.

A few weeks later it was wrecked off the Cornish Coast, causing the most dramatic environmental disaster in our history. The soul searching which followed led to the setting up of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, to act as a watchdog and advisor to government and society, and advise on legislation and precautionary acts to prevent any repetition.

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It proceeded to provide a stream of such advice until it was abolished in 2011, by Government, to “save money”.

The long oil slick drifting from the stranded Torrey Canyon in 1967.The long oil slick drifting from the stranded Torrey Canyon in 1967.
The long oil slick drifting from the stranded Torrey Canyon in 1967.

This brings me to current concerns about pollution in the rivers in our district. We now know that each year, many thousands of tonnes of untreated sewage are dumped into rivers and coastal waters by the privatised water companies.

We also know that the Environment Agency has been so cut back that it is unable to police this illegal activity, and may only exact derisory fines, while billions go to water company shareholders in dividends.

Yet the companies fail to find the cash to engineer proper sewage treatment solutions.

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Which begs the question, how many Torrey Canyon’s worth sewage has flowed down our rivers without comment or proper response from the authorities?

Back in the 60s, the Government had egg on its face for its bad management of a disaster, but made an attempt at redress with the setting up of a commission. Free of the scrutiny of a watchdog, this government is poised to embark on another bonfire of regulation, under the guise of releasing us from ‘EU red tape’.

In practice it will lead to more unexpected and expensive disasters, such as queues at the ports, sewage in the rivers, thousands of substandard houses in unsuitable locations, and contaminated food in the supermarkets.

We are in the sorry place where business knows that the easiest way to invest is not to improve quality, but to lobby politicians to relax regulation, leaving them free to cut corners and get us to pay for their mistakes through taxes, as is happening at present.

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Why can’t our local MPs themselves lobby government, asking it to do what households do when shopping – take time to check the ethics of the supplier before entering the premises, and then check till receipts for any mistakes?

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