Some Taranaki people who witnessed the country's worst crude oil spill three years ago are not convinced New Zealand could cope with a disaster on the scale of that in the Gulf of Mexico.
Millions of litres of oil have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April. The spill has yet to be contained and desperate efforts are being made to protect the Gulf coast's ecosystem from the slick.
In 2007, the spill from the Tui oilfield washed along 14km of the Taranaki coast, including Maori sub-tribe Nga Mahanga's reserve land.
Reserve trustee David Jones says oil booms would often be useless in rough Taranaki seas, and winds and currents would determine the impact of a major spill.
Coastal resident Jacqueline Cran says oil industry workers know the need for profits leads to complacency on rigs.
But the Tui oilfield operator says Taranaki's shallower waters make a large spill unlikely, while the region's marine oil spill commander says trained teams are ready to respond.
