A clean-up is underway in Far North Queensland after thousands of litres of kerosene and bitumen spilled into a creek in Cairns.<\/p>\n
The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) said the spill was first reported by building company Boral on Monday.<\/p>\n
DETSI said it had since been leading the clean-up of “about 10,000 litres of kerosene and bitumen” at Smith’s Creek.<\/p>\n
The spill is impacting Trinity Inlet around the city’s port, which leads out to the Great Barrier Reef.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Boral says the spill originated at its asphalt and bitumen plant in Cairns. (ABC News: Sharnie Kim)<\/p>\n
In a statement, a Boral spokesperson said the spill first occurred at its asphalt plant site over the weekend, due to a “bund safety valve failure”.<\/p>\n
“This was discovered after the plant was closed and an unrelated fire in a neighbouring industrial business,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“We regret the impact this has had on the local community and environment.”<\/p>\n
Signs outside Boral’s Cairns plant warn of hazardous materials like LPG, kerosene and bitumen. (ABC News: Sharnie Kim)<\/p>\n
The company said it was working with Maritime Safety Queensland and the environment department on “securing the source” and clean-up.<\/p>\n
Concern for reef<\/p>\n
Australian Marine Conservation Society Great Barrier Reef campaigner Tanya Murphy, who attended the site of the spill on Tuesday morning, said it was devastating for the environment and human health.<\/p>\n
“I have seen blobs of it stuck to some of the boats at the marina \u2014 it wasn’t contained in Smith’s Creek,” she said.<\/p>\n
Maritime Safety Queensland is working on the clean-up. (Supplied: Maritime Safety Queensland)<\/p>\n
Ms Murphy said a spill this close to the Great Barrier Reef should be impossible.<\/p>\n
“When there is so much investment being made in protecting the reef, it beggars belief that something like this can be allowed to happen in the first place,” she said.<\/p>\n
Cairns and Far North Environment Centre project officer Shannon Bredeson said the spill would adversely affect the snorkel roots of mangroves, reef fish and crabs.<\/p>\n
“Crabs that live in the mangroves \u2026 those small little animals really provide the whole foundation of the ecosystem,” Ms Bredeson said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Environmental advocates are concerned the spill could impact the Great Barrier Reef. (Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science)<\/p>\n
“Those little creatures play a really important role in sequestering carbon in the mangrove mud, and so it is very, very concerning that we’re hearing these reports about mangroves being around this pollution.<\/p>\n
“If you don’t have mangrove crabs, you can’t have mangrove.”Kerosene impacts<\/p>\n
James Cook University marine biologist Jodie Rummer said kerosene \u2014 which dissolved in water \u2014 could cause “immediate shock” to fish and some invertebrates.<\/p>\n
“We might see impaired swimming, reduced predator awareness, gill damage \u2014 many species could die outright,” she said.<\/p>\n
Dr Rummer said there were also broader implications for the Great Barrier Reef.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Barriers are being used to contain the kerosene and bitumen spill in the Cairns inlet. (ABC News: Sharnie Kim)<\/p>\n
“Trinity Inlet is a nursery ground for a lot of reef fish species and prawns \u2026 also organisms the [reef] depends on for a healthy ecosystem,” she said.<\/p>\n
Dr Rummer said it was important the area was monitored for potential long-term effects, even after the visible signs of the spill were gone.<\/p>\n
DETSI said it was focused on protecting the reef.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The state’s environment department says impacted vessels must be cleaned before they leave Trinity Inlet. (Supplied: Maritime Safety Queensland)<\/p>\n
“Given the proximity of this spill to the Great Barrier Reef, our priority is to ensure it is not further spread \u2026 which is why impacted vessels must be cleaned before they leave Trinity Inlet,” the spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DETSI said it was considering potential compliance action against Boral.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A clean-up is underway in Far North Queensland after thousands of litres of kerosene and bitumen spilled into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,115744,115741,115739,45863,1044,115740,44,115742,115738,115743,115737],"class_list":{"0":"post-179770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bitumen","11":"tag-boral","12":"tag-chemical-spill","13":"tag-environmental-pollution","14":"tag-great-barrier-reef","15":"tag-industrial-spill","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-smiths-creek","18":"tag-spill","19":"tag-trinity-inlet","20":"tag-water-pollution"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}