Pollution

Citation

(2001), "Pollution", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310dac.002

Pollution

Pollution

25 October 2000 – Athens, Greece

The owner of m bulk carrier Eurobulker X, which sunk in the Evian Gulf last month after splitting in two, has been ordered by the government to provide a letter of guarantee for the sum of 128 million drachmas. Merchant Marine Minister Christos Papoutsis yesterday requested that Silverline Maritime provide the guarantee to cover any possible fines the firm may be ordered to pay in relation to pollution caused by the accident. Crude oil choked a long stretch of coastline in Attica and Viotia and polluted the waters of the gulf in the 1 September spill. The full extent of the environmental damage caused when the vessel split in two, killing one of her crew members, has not yet been determined. However, Michalis Angelopoulos, who headed the clean-up conducted by the company Technical Protection of the Environment, said yesterday that the sea area in question was no longer polluted. When the Eurobulker X broke in two, oil escaped from the "double bottom", he explained. The crude oil seeped into the sea and, although a floating barrier was set up, strong currents which are common to the gulf brought the oil and barrels of lubricants to shore. In all, 15 kilometres of coastline were smothered in oil. The spill not only affected the environment, smothering marine habitats and blackening sandy beaches, but it also impacted on the local tourism industry. Angelopoulos said that his company's last oil and debris skimmer vessel left the area on 9 October. The floating barrier, however, remains around the wreckage. A company, which Angelopoulos said is owned by Silverline Maritime and operates under the name Halkida shipyards, is continuing the clean-up of the coastline. He said that his firm did not know exactly how much oil escaped from the vessel as some remains trapped in the wreckage. When Eurobulker X split in two she sank to the bottom of the sea, trapping oil in her remains. "Our vessels could not reach this oil. That is why we left the barrier there," said Angelopoulos. It is expected that water currents will gradually remove the oil from the wreck and it will float to the surface from where it can be absorbed.

25 October 2000 – Kentucky, USA

Approximately four million gallons of slurry water are currently being removed daily at the site of the Martin County Coal Corporation impoundment accident outside Inez, Kentucky. Equipment is working around the clock to remove the material, which is then transported to approved sediment storage cells constructed for the project. Three cells have been constructed and an additional five will be constructed to ensure that there is enough storage space available. The storage cells are earthen ponds constructed in a series that allows sediment to settle at the bottom and water to be siphoned out and moved to the next cell. At the last cell in the series, the water is tested to make sure that it is suitable before it is returned to the creek. Dredging has emerged as the most effective way to remove the slurry under current conditions. Because some water flow is necessary for the removal process, the recent rain has been helpful. In the event of a major rain storm, a precipitation plan has been formulated to allow Martin County Coal and Martin County Emergency Services to alert residents. Officials continue to monitor weather and would enact an early warning system to contact residents along the affected creeks either by telephone or door-to-door. Water services continue to improve. Martin County residents' water supply is back to normal and meets drinking water standards. The boil-water advisory in the city of Louisa has been lifted. Residents of the city of Louisa may resume normal water consumption and usage. However, Lawrence County residents outside Louisa who are in the Big Sandy Water District should continue to boil their water. A water line has been laid across the bridge from Louisa to Fort Gay, West Virginia, and should be operational as soon as the city of Louisa's water supply tanks get back to normal. Currently, water is being trucked into Fort Gay and residents have not lost any services. Water systems on the Ohio River are being monitored but are operating normally at this time. The City of Ashland and towns of Russell and Greenup are all operating normally with no impact.

1 November 2000 – Freja Jutlandic (NIS)

A federal grand jury indicted four men for trying to hide a hole in a leaking tanker, dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil and oily water overboard and lying to the coastguard. A seven-count indictment against the vessel's operators and arrest warrants for the ship's captain, her chief engineer and their two supervisors in Denmark were unsealed yesterday in the US District Court in Baltimore. The indictments stem from a routine inspection of m tanker Freja Jutlandic in Baltimore in March. Authorities learned of a hole in the vessel's hull when a crew-member slipped coastguard personnel a hand-written note, federal prosecutors said. Inspectors found a "cascade of water" pouring into the tanker through a hastily patched hole in the engine-room, court records said. Days later, Capt. Davor Maric of Croatia and chief engineer Ryzard Pawlowski were told by a company supervisor to dump 25,000 gallons of fuel contaminated with water overboard en route to Mexico, court records said. The indictment alleges that Maric discharged more than 260,000 gallons of oily water between February and April. The defendants also failed to report that the vessel was pumping out from 100 to 500 gallons of oily water an hour for ten days from the leak, prosecutors said. K/S Transport, Freja Jutlandic's owner, and D/S Progress, her corporate operator, are subject to criminal fines of up to $500,000 for each of the seven counts against them. Erik Moller, a supervisor at D/S Progress, was charged with ordering the dumps. Another supervisor, Jo Goksoyr, was charged with telling the crew that the leak "shall not be reported to the coastguard in Baltimore." Goksoyr was the "designated person" under the new International Safety and Management Code, making him responsible for the ship's safety and compliance with the law. Federal prosecutors said that it was the first time a designated person has been charged with directing vessel pollution. No court date has been set.

4 November 2000 – Levoli Sun (Italy)

The European Commission has launched a task force to look into the sinking of m chemical tanker Levoli Sun off northern France. The commission said that it was responding to a request from the French government for information on shipping safety regulations and the possible environmental risks posed by the incident. The task force will collate information on experience in EU member countries on the impact of the chemical styrene in the marine environment. The Levoli Sun was carrying 4,000 tonnes of the toxic hydrocarbon used to make plastics. "From the outset, the services of the commission and the French authorities have been in close contact," environment commissioner Margot Wallstrom said in a statement. "The commission is ready to provide assistance through its network of marine pollution experts." Meanwhile, UK officials working with their French counterparts in Cherbourg said that there was no indication of any significant environmental impact as a result of the sinking. However, amid reports yesterday of a small oil slick sighted over the wreck, environmentalists warned that the vessel's chemical cargo could seriously damage wildlife. The vessel was carrying 3,998 tonnes of styrene owned by oil major Shell, 1,027 tonnes of methyl ethyl ketone and 996 tonnes of IPA-ISO propyl alcohol. "If they can successfully recover the cargo, hopefully there won't be any environmental impact," said Dr Sian Pullen, head of the WWF's marine programme. "But if the chemicals and the oil do manage to leak into the sea, we are extremely concerned about the impact that will have in the area." Dr Pullen said that styrene was a possible endocrine disruptor, which means that it could potentially interfere with the hormone systems in wildlife if released into the sea. Concern was also focusing on possible adverse impacts as a result of the three chemicals reacting with one another or with any bunker fuel leaking from the vessel. "We have a toxicology problem here, to which no one knows the answer," said Doug Cross, a UK consultant expert witness in field forensics. It is believed that tests carried out by the International Tanker Owners' Pollution Federation show that the components of the various substances on board are supposed to be non-reactive. The official line is that any styrene released should in theory evaporate on reaching the surface, though that could depend on local conditions at the time and the extent of the leak. Speaking from Cherbourg, a spokesman for the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency described yesterday's fuel slick as minor, amounting to 45 litres of the vessel's fuel. Reports of white streaks over the wreck and white clouds under the surface were put down to weather conditions on the site. "We are looking at a very noisy, angry sea," said Kevin Colcomb, the MCA's chief scientist in Cherbourg. "We would know about it, I am sure, if we were looking at any significant release." Efforts are under way to organise a salvage plan following a meeting in Paris between Marnavi, the vessel's owners, French authorities, P&I representatives and officials acting for the cargo owners, which include Shell and Exxon Mobil. Robin Middleton, the UK secretary of state's representative in Cherbourg, said that a four-point plan had been agreed and would be implemented as soon as weather conditions allowed. The first step would require an underwater survey using an ROY, and negotiations were already under way to contract a company to handle the operation. "It is anticipated that work will start early next week," he said.

5 November 2000 – A brown oil slick has been seen at the site where m chemical tanker Levoli Sun, carrying thousands of tonnes of chemicals, sank in the English Channel. The sighting above the wreck follows reports from residents and fishermen of a fibre-glass resin smell on the nearby Channel Island of Alderney. The slick was spotted by French and UK surveillance flights. It is estimated to extend 400m by 60m and is described as a "stain" by the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Agency says, however, that even in the "worst case scenario" there would not be any hazard to human health more than 1.8 miles from the wreck. Earlier yesterday French firefighters were deployed on Alderney, about 11 miles south of the wreck, to install atmospheric monitoring equipment following the reported chemical smell. Similar equipment placed on the French coastline near Cherbourg has not yet picked up any traces of atmospheric pollution. Small quantities of oil found on a beach west of Guernsey have been sent for analysis by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's laboratory in Scotland. Mark Clark, from the MCA, said: "It is thought that some chemicals have been released since the vessel sunk. Some of the chemicals will evaporate naturally into the atmosphere when reaching the surface, generating a vapour plume. Chemical plume models have been run and show that the concentrations of chemical vapour are rapidly diluted and outside 3km of the wreck site, in the worst case scenario, will no longer present any hazard to human health. At this time no concentration strong enough to register on monitoring equipment has been detected." Video footage taken by a remote operated vessel deployed from the French mine-hunter Cephee shows that the Levoli Sun has not moved from her original position. No cracks or breaches in the hull have been found, although the bow section has yet to be surveyed. M diving support vessel Northern Prince, which will deploy another remote operated vehicle to survey the wreck, is expected to be on site tomorrow. A salvage plan has been agreed with the owners of both the Levoli Sun and her cargo, who have accepted responsibility for any necessary recovery work.

6 November 2000 – French officials on Thursday (2 November) spotted the first signs of pollution from m chemical tanker Levoli Sun, but said the risks of an ecological disaster at the scene appeared to be easing.

9 November 2000 – M diving support vessel Northern Prince arrived at Cherbourg harbour yesterday carrying a remote operated vessel with a camera and articulated arm, which will be used to locate and repair damage to the hull of m chemical tanker Levoli Sun, which sank off the coast of France last week, while carrying 6,000 tonnes of toxic chemicals.

22 November 2000 – New proposals for keeping at bay the threat of pollution from the cargo of m chemical tanker Levoli Sun have been submitted by the vessel's Italian owner, Marnavi, and its insurer, the Standard P&I Club. The marine prefecture in Cherbourg declined to give details of the proposals yesterday evening but said that it would be recommending stricter measures on its own account. The different proposals, which concern intermediate surveillance and other protective measures pending a decision on definitive action for dealing with the wreck and her cargo of chemicals, are to be submitted to two committees of experts set up by the government to guide it in its response to the accident. The marine prefecture said last night that inspection of the sunken vessel, which is lying on the seabed a few kilometres off Alderney and Cap de la Hague, France, has been completed for the time being. A robot submarine, which has so far made nine dives to the vessel, is due to dive again tomorrow in an attempt to patch the two leaks it has found on the vessel's hull. The submarine, which is operated from UK diving support vessel Northern Prince had been due to start the operation yesterday but was prevented by bad weather. It is thought that the two leaks, which are described by the prefecture as small, could be at the origin of the discoloration spotted on the surface of the sea in the vicinity of the wreck. The discoloration, the scale of which appears to vary from day to day, was reported to be covering an area 1,500m long and 100m wide by the crew of a French pollution surveillance aircraft.

14 November 2000 – Pearl River, China

At least two sailors were feared dead after Chinese vessel Dehang 298, carrying oil, sank today following a collision with m oil/chemical tanker Bow Cecil (23,206gt, built 1998) in the Pearl River, state media said. Dehang 298 and Bow Cecil, which was carrying a cargo of chemicals, collided at around 02.10 hrs (18.10, UTC, 13 November) in the mouth of the river near Hong Kong, said the Xinhua news agency. Dehang 298 sank and her crew of five were thrown into the water, said the report, adding that three of the crew were later rescued, while two others were still missing. Xinhua said around 230m³ of heavy oil began leaking into the sea from Dehang 298 and authorities in Hong Kong, Macao and Shenzhen had been alerted to combat the spill. The report said that the rescue and clean-up operation was still under way, and Bow Cecil had safely dropped anchor near the collision site.

14 November 2000 – Small mainland oil vessel Dehang 298 collided with m oil/chemical tanker Bow Cecil and sank near Hong Kong early today, leaving two crew members missing, Xinhua News Agency and maritime authorities said. Dehang 298, carrying 230m³ of heavy oil and five crew, began leaking after the collision at 02.10 hrs on the Pearl River, about 125km north of Hong Kong, said an official for the Maritime Safety Administration, who gave only his surname, Xie. Clean-up operations were under way and authorities down the river in Guangdong province were warned of slicks headed their way, Xinhua said. Bow Cecil, carrying chemicals, anchored nearby and apparently was not seriously damaged, Mr Xie and the news agency said.

15 November 2000 – Two Chinese seafarers were reported missing yesterday after small oil tanker Dehang 298 sank at the mouth of the Pearl River between Macao and Hong Kong, following a collision with m oil/chemical tanker Bow Cecil. Chinese authorities were reported to have cautioned the southern city of Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao about a pollution hazard emanating from the sunken vessel's cargo of 230m³ of oil, some of which was said to have leaked. One survivor from Dehang 298 was reported injured. Hans Lund, a spokesman for Odfjell, the owners of Bow Cecil, said from the group's Bergen headquarters that he had spoken with the vessel's Norwegian master, who had also submitted a written report. He reported no damage or casualties on board Bow Cecil. The vessel was yesterday reported anchored down-river of the incident. Chinese investigators had reportedly visited her. Representatives from P&I Club Britannia Steamship and hull insurer Bergen Ship were also said to have reached the site. Mr Lund did not know when Bow Cecil might leave, but said Odfjell was co-operating with the local authorities. The company would also launch a Norwegian investigation into the incident. He said that Bow Cecil was transporting chemicals from Xiaohudao to Zhuhai, and was sailing down-river with two Chinese pilots on board. He described the weather as calm with reasonable visibility, but said that there was a strong current and heavy traffic against the current as well as crossing the river. At 02.10 yesterday (18.10, UTC, 13 November), near the Rumen bridge in Guangdong province, the Norwegian master suddenly spotted Dehang 298 crossing Bow Cecil's path. Mr Lund said that the sighting took place when Dehang 298 was five cables away. Dehang 298 was said to be displaying "only one yellow signal". Mr Lund said it was not possible to stop Bow Cecil "for several reasons", and Dehang 298 sank.

17 November 2000 – Oil from sunken Chinese tanker Dehang 298 has seeped into a marine park in Hong Kong waters which is a popular habitat of endangered Chinese white dolphins. A clean-up operation is to be launched tomorrow on polluted island shores in Sha Chau Marine Park. The vessel sank in the mouth of the Pearl River on Tuesday (14 November) following a collision with m oil/chemical tanker Bow Cecil. The oil has covered an area of 10,000m² around Tung Chung, Lung Kwu Tang and the Brothers Islands. A Marine Department spokesman said that it had mobilised eight anti-pollution vessels to join the clean-up. Department deputy director Tsang Manching said that it had acted swiftly to deal with the spill, but denied that the spread could have been prevented, if Hong Kong had helped to tackle the spill in mainland waters earlier. "The mainland did not ask for help from us, as they thought that they could handle the spillage themselves," he said. However, by Wednesday the oil had spread to the Sha Chau Park. Dick Choi Kwong-chuen, senior marine conservation officer, said that no white dolphins had been found dead since the spillage, but the long-term impact would be closely monitored. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will send a team to clean up polluted shores tomorrow. The department has also taken water samples from Deep Bay and results are expected in three days.

15 November 2000 – Greenville Area, Texas, USA

The costs related to cleaning up Lake Tawakoni after a March fuel spill have swelled to $13.4 million, city officials say. They want that tab picked up by the owners of a pipeline that ruptured, spilling 600,000 gallons of gasoline into a creek just north of the lake. But the company, Explorer Pipeline of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said that it does not think that it should be responsible for all costs associated with the spill. Earlier estimates had placed those costs at $8.3 million. A primary reason for the higher estimate, city officials said, is that a second pipeline, from Lake Ray Hubbard to bring in more drinking water, while the city was refraining from using Tawakoni water earlier this year, cost $12 million to design and build, almost $5 million more than what the city forecast. At least some City Council members have said that they think that Explorer should pay all costs associated with the spill, the clean-up and alternative construction undertaken after Dallas Water Utilities officials decided to stop taking drinking water from Lake Tawakoni. On 10 March, Dallas Water Utilities was notified that a 29-year-old pipeline that transports gasoline from Texas to Chicago had ruptured, causing a spill into Caddo Creek, just north of the lake. The gasoline contained an additive, MTBE, that pollutes water, giving it a foul smell and taste even at low concentrations. A thunderstorm exacerbated the problem when it flushed the spilled fuel 24 miles downstream into the lake. Dallas Water Utilities shut down its water intake station at the lake, and pumping from the lake was immediately suspended. The pumps were turned back on after levels of MTBE in the water declined.