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Saturday, September 16, 2006
Oil spill continues to cause 'sleepless nights' for Negrenses
By Danny B. Dangcalan
GOVERNOR Joseph Marañon Friday said Negrenses continue to have "sleepless nights" knowing that the sunken tanker, with more than 1 million liters more of remaining oil, may very well be a bomb ready to explode anytime.
Marañon maintained his stand to salvage or re-float the sunken tanker so the remaining bunker fuel will be safely contained.
Negros island though is still safe from the spillage as no oil spill sightings in Negros territorial waters have so far been reported as of Friday by the Provincial Task Force Oil Spill area coordinating center.
Tanker M/T solar 1 sank off the waters of Guimaras strait on August 11.
Marañon's comment was a reaction to the reported stand of the National Government was to siphon the remaining oil from M/T solar 1.
"The question now is whether or not the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) will accept it for compensation," asked Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr., who also heads the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) and the Task Force Guimaras.
The decision to siphon the remaining oil was made after the vessel was found to be in upright position on the seabed 600 meters beneath the surface.
This finding was contained in a video report conducted by Shinsei Maru, a Japanese underwater surveillance vessel, which was hired to determine the exact location of the sunken tanker, and to gather related information about its sinking.
Joe Nichols, deputy director of IOPC, said the vessel may remain stable on the seabed for a while, but in the long run, the remaining oil will leak.
If the IOPC will shoulder the siphoning expenses, it would take several more weeks to plan the operations, Nichols said during the NDCC meeting at Camp Aguinaldo.
(September 16, 2006 issue)
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