- The oil spill from the tanker Prestige, which sank off
Spain in November 2002, has been far worse than previously claimed, the
Spanish government has disclosed. Environmentalists are now comparing the
damage caused to that of the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989.
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- More than 80 per cent of the tanker's 77,000 tonnes of
fuel oil is now thought to have been spilled off Spain's north-east coast.
The government initially said just 17,000 tonnes had been lost, adding
that the other 60,000 tonnes would freeze and not leak from the sunken
tanker.
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- But earlier in 2003, it announced that half of the oil
had been lost, and now that figure has risen to about 63,000 tonnes.
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- "The environmental devastation caused is at least
on a par, if not worse, than the Exxon Valdez," says Simon Walmsley,
WWF's senior policy officer for shipping. "The amount of oil spilled
is more than the Valdez and the toxicity is higher, because of the higher
temperature." The Exxon Valdez spill occurred in extremely cold water,
although this also meant it was slower to disperse.
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- Experts predict marine life will suffer pollution from
the Prestige for at least 10 years due to the type of oil spilt, which
contain light fractions called polyaromatic-hydrocarbons. These toxic chemicals
poison plankton, fish eggs and crustaceans, leading to carcinogenic effects
in fish and other animals higher in the food chain.
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- Robot repairs
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- The Greek-operated, single-hulled tanker was flying a
Bahamas flag, had a Liberian owner and had been chartered by a Swiss-based
Russian oil company. In November 2002, in what became Spain's worst environmental
disaster, it split into two parts and sank 150 miles off the Galician coast
of Spain. More than 1000 beaches across Spain and France have been polluted
and the local fishing industry was destroyed in the disaster.
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- Engineers have spent the past months using robots to
seal cracks in the tanker's hull, now 4000 metres below the sea surface.
The oil leakage is now reported to have slowed to a trickle of 20 litres
a day. By October 2004, engineers hope to have removed the oil still in
the tanker. This will be done by drilling of small holes in the wreck,
and pumping it out into bags, 250 tonnes at a time. These will be floated
to the surface, at a total estimated cost of $100 million.
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- A recent report by the Galicia-based Barrie de la Maza
economic institute criticised the Spanish government's handling of the
catastrophe. It estimated the cost of the clean-up to the Galician coast
alone at $2.8 billion. The Exxon Valdez clean-up cost $2 billion.
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- The government was also slated for its decision to tow
the ailing wreck out to sea - where it split in two - rather than into
a port. But Walmsley believes most of the blame lies with the ship's inspectors
who allowed the Prestige to sail. "It was reported as being substandard
at one of the ports it visited before Spain. The whole inspection regime
needs to be revamped and double-hulled tankers used instead," he says.
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- © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
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- http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994100
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