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"I use as much fuel as anyone else, so ultimately it was my fault," said Iolo. | WITH less than a week to the tenth anniversary of the Sea Empress spilling 72,000 tonnes of crude oil of the Pembrokeshire coast, Welsh TV celebrity Iolo Williams has said that we are all partly to blame for the disaster.
Iolo, an officer with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at the time of the incident, was immediately dispatched to Milford Haven to offer whatever assistance he could as the devastating slick made its inevitable way towards the coast.
“It was unclear initially how bad the accident was, said Iolo.
“At first we heard a ship had run aground off the Pembrokeshire coast. Then I switched on the TV when I got to work, and within half an hour my boss had said, 'You've got to get there immediately'. There was no question, I just had to get there and do whatever I could.
“I remember the news crews were desperate for pictures - they kept asking, 'Oiled birds, can you show us oiled birds?'.”
Milford Haven Port Authority paid a £750,000 fine – reduced for an initial order of £4m – after pleading guilty to allowing the oil to pollute large areas of the coastline, but Iolo believes the real blame lies with our oil-dependent lifestyles.
“It's interesting looking back 10 years on - there was so much false information going around at the time, it was horrendous,” he said.
“A lot of people were blaming the tug boat captains, but they were just doing the best they could. It's a much clearer picture now whose fault it was.
“As much as anybody's it was my fault.
“I travel about 25,000 miles a year in my car, I travel all over the world. I use as much fuel as anyone else, so ultimately it was my fault.
“You can point fingers, but you have to look at the bigger picture.”
Iolo believes another Sea Empress disaster is inevitable but hopes that next time, the lessons of February 15th, 1995, will be used to better deal with the situation.
He also pointed to the resilience of nature and the way in which Pembrokeshire’s coastline has managed to regenerate itself over the past decade to turn itself into one of the most beautiful spots in the UK.
“You look at the area 10 years later and you'd never guess that 72,000 tonnes of crude oil had spilt,” he said.
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