EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Terrorist attack, human error, the weather – whatever the cause, oil pollution is a messy business. Last month, seven and a half years after the SEA EMPRESS grounded in Milford Havens approaches spilling 72,000 tonnes of crude into the sea and onto the shore, the port authority finally settled the civil claims brought against it. This followed criminal charges that the authority had pleaded guilty to. Its reasons for so doing reveal a serious and unresolved Catch 22 in the law that could ensnare other ports in similar circumstances.