May 8, 2012 9:00am by David Farrar

So who shall we believe?

Environment Canterbury is standing by its report that a maximum of 4000 litres of oil spilled into the Timaru harbour last weekEnvironment Canterbury is standing by its report that a maximum of 4000 litres of oil spilled into the Timaru harbour last week, despite claims by NZ First that as much as 40,000 litres was spilled.

NZ First yesterday called on Environment Canterbury (ECan) and Timaru port authorities to reveal the extent of last week’s oil spill, which, the party said, was a “major” volume.

NZ First leader Winston Peters said in a statement he had been “reliably informed” that 40,000 litres of fuel was spilled and that all that authorities would reveal was that it was a “significant” amount.

However, ECan’s South Canterbury on-scene commander for oil spills, Grant Finlayson, told the Timaru Herald on Thursday he estimated two to four tonnes of oil had spilled, equating to a maximum of 4000 litres.

Mr Finlayson said yesterday that figure had not changed.

Oh this is a difficult one. Do we believe the first hand account of the ECan on-scene commander or do we believe Winston’s “reliable information”?

Wow, this is so very hard.