Pollution

Citation

(2005), "Pollution", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 14 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2005.07314aac.003

Pollution

23 March 2004Exxon Valdez (USA)

Fifteen years after non-specific tanker Exxon Valdez split open on a submerged reef off Alaska, stubborn pockets of crude oil persist on once-pristine beaches and creatures ranging from sea otters to harlequin ducks and herring are still struggling. But local residents and some government scientists are at odds on whether Exxon Mobil Corp. should be forced to pay an additional civil penalty for the spill. The landmark $900 million civil settlement Exxon signed in 1991 to resolve federal and state environmental claims included a $100 million re-opener clause for damages that “could not reasonably have been known” or anticipated. Under the settlement terms, the re-opener may be asserted until 2006. Doing so would be a legal decision, not a scientific one, say those studying the spill. “I think it’s pretty clear that there were adverse effects that were not anticipated. I think that’s pretty well established. It doesn’t make a case for the re-opener,” said Jeff Short, a National Marine Fisheries Service scientist who studied the lingering oil spill’s effects. Experts assumed all the 11 million gallons of crude from the 1989 spill would be gone by 1995, Short said at a recent conference in Anchorage. But 600 tonnes of oil remained on beaches in 1995, much of it still liquid, he said. Sea otters digging into relatively fresh oil are still unleashing toxins, he said. And government studies indicate that oil causes harm at much lower concentrations than originally believed and that previously ignored chronic effects are long-lasting. Even if those findings are surprising, the settlement requires more than that to enact the re-opener. It mandates specific restoration projects to address the unanticipated injuries. Identifying such projects could be difficult, some scientists concede. Ending all damages, such as the swollen and pale livers in sea otters loyal to the spill-struck beaches, could require a generational turnover, said Brenda Ballachey, an expert with the US Geological Survey. “It may be that if there’s liver damage, it’s lifelong for animals,” she said. Some environmentalists fear that there will be no attempt by the Bush administration or Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski to secure the additional $100 million. “If any case deserves a re-opener, this one does,” said Rick Steiner, a marine biologist and environmental activist. “I’m perfectly confident that the entire $100 million can and should be obtained. The fact that they haven’t gone after it indicates that the two administrations are simply too cosy with the oil companies,” he said. The government settlement is a separate case from the class-action lawsuit filed by fishermen, Alaska Natives, property and business owners, and municipalities. In that case, a jury in 1994 ruled that Exxon’s actions leading to the spill were reckless and reprehensible, and the panel awarded a $5 billion punitive fine to the plaintiffs. After various appeals, a federal judge upheld a fine of $4.5 billion, plus interest. “We have until 2006 to do this. We don’t want to do it prematurely, and we don’t want to do it ineffectively,” said Assistant Alaska Attorney General Craig Tillery. The re-opener was one of the most difficult parts of the 1991 settlement, said former Alaska Attorney General Charlie Cole, who represented the state in the settlement deal. “We negotiated on that clause for two or three days. Each word was thoroughly discussed and carefully selected,” he said. The government insisted on the provision despite Exxon’s opposition, said Cole, who supports using the re-opener.

Exxon Mobil, the successor to Exxon Corp., argues that there is no lingering harm from the 1989 spill. “The environment in Prince William Sound is healthy, robust and thriving. That’s evident to anyone who’s been there, and it is also the conclusion of many scientists who have done extensive studies of the Prince William Sound ecosystem,” Exxon Mobil said in a statement. “What science has learned in Alaska and elsewhere is that while oil spills can have acute short-term effects, the environment has remarkable powers of recovery,” it added. Jerry Neff, a scientist who once worked for the company, said spilled oil takes a long time to dissipate and questioned assertions of long-term damage. “In many cases, the so-called long-term effects are really due to natural changes in the environment,” said Neff, a marine biologist and ecologist with the Massachusetts-based Battelle Memorial Institute. Trying to dig up the spilled oil would do more harm than good, he said. “It would cause a lot of disturbances and set the recovery back several years,” he said. “My feeling is, if it’s not doing any harm, why not just leave it there?” But scientists say the remaining oil is slowly poisoning sea life.

23 March 2004Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

The Maritime Safety Authority believes a vessel deliberately discharged oil causing a huge oil slick, covering an estimated 200 sq.km off the Mahia Peninsula. The spill, about 60 km off Hawke’s Bay, was reported to the MSA by Gisborne fishing Katrina on Friday evening (March 19). The slick was breaking up and was 0.001 mm thick and now appeared as a sheen on the surface of the water. Maritime Safety Authority spokesperson Amanda Heath said the slick, about 50 km long and in places more than 5km wide, was believed to have been caused when a vessel pumped out its engine room bilges after sailing from the Port of Napier last week. Ms Heath said “the MSA had a definite vessel in mind but proving it would be difficult”. It is believed the vessel left Napier last week. The sailing assessment was based on the rate the oil was dispersing. Ms Heath said the authority was doing everything in its power to identify the offending vessel and take appropriate action. The authority made an aerial survey of the slick and said it posed no immediate threat to the New Zealand coastline. The slick was beginning to disperse naturally and the weather, including an off-shore wind, meant the remaining oil was likely to move further away from the coast. While the location of the oil slick meant no mop-up action was required, the authority was concerned that a vessel had apparently deliberately pumped the oil into the sea in direct contravention of New Zealand and international maritime law. The MSA along with the Napier Harbourmaster, and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, will continue to monitor the situation closely. Moana Pacific’s Napier manager Terry Gittings said the slick was no threat to the fishing industry.

27 March 2004Tasman Spirit (Malta)

A single bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) comprising Justice Shabbir Ahmed yesterday dismissed the applications of two unsuccessful bidders of the wreckage of crude oil tanker Tasman Spirit awarded by its owner – Assimina Maritime Co. Ltd. The plaintiffs have pleaded that they wanted to purchase the wreckage at a much higher rate than the successful bidder had agreed to pay. The Judge observed the court could not interfere in the matters to accommodate the potential bidders, particularly when the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), which was authorized to allow the removal of the wreckage, had no objection to the already executed sale. Asian Salvage Company and an individual, Raziul Hasan, in their applications said they wanted to offer a much higher amount than the one for which the wreckage was sold to M/S S S Enterprises. But in the publication for bids no address of the company submitting the bids was mentioned. M/S S S Enterprises had paid Rs102.5 million for the two broken parts (front and rear) of the vessel, while Asian Salvage Company had an offer for Rs130 million for the two parts and Mr Hasan had an offer of Rs100 million for one part. At the very outset, Justice Ahmed inquired about the locus standi of the applicants, saying that the KPT had not raised any objections to the sale of the wreckage to M/S S S Enterprises. To a query by the court, the counsel for the owners of the Greek vessel also confirmed they had no objection to the sale. Although Salim Samoon, counsel for Asian Salvage Company, and Sofia Saeed, counsel for Raziul Hasan, pleaded that they were offering much higher amount than the wreckage was being sold for, Justice Ahmed did not agree with their contentions observing that it was not a court sale and the matter of profit or loss was only between the owners and the KPT. He observed that the court could not revert the whole process only for some intending bidders. With these observations the court dismissed both the applications and also turned down a verbal request by Saleem Samoon, Advocate, for extending the stay against dismantling of the wreck for seven days, earlier granted by another bench, to enable the applicants to file an intra-court appeal.

2 April 2004. Karachi Port Trust (KPT) said this afternoon that Smit Salvage BV is still busy removing debris of crude oil tanker Tasman Spirit from the seabed at the mouth of the harbour. The left over broken parts comprise approximately 900 tons and 700 tons of forward and aft sections, respectively. As a result the salvor’s vessels/tug have yet to be moved from port. The Port Authority made a pre-condition of having the channel cleared before issuing a NOC for demobilisation of equipment. So far about 1,000 tons have been removed from the casualty site.

2 April 2004. Pakistan port authority has offered out of court settlement of the compensations issue in the wake of the oil spill from crude oil tanker Tasman Spirit. The authority invited the American P&I Club and the owner of Tasman Spirit to come to Pakistan and start dialogue in order to resolve amicably the compensation issue and release of the crew and salvage master as Pakistan does not want to linger on the issue.

10 April 2004. SMIT Salvage BV said it has completed discharging the recovered bottom hull-plating and side-shell plating from rude oil tanker Tasman Spirit at mouth of Karachi harbour, at 1600 Thursday (April 8). A spokesman of salvage team said that the side-scan survey carried out indicates that the sea-bed is now clear of any obstructions/debris from Tasman Spirit, and the results of the side-scan survey have been presented and accepted by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) directorate. He added that this completes our scope of works on-site in connection with Tasman Spirit, and we have obtained outwards clearance permission for the salvage spread to depart from Karachi waters. A source in KPT said that Smit had recovered about 2,500 tonnes of broken pieces of Tasman Spirit from sea bed to meet the precondition of demobilization from casualty site and all crane/tugs/vessels had safely departed from Karachi yesterday morning. Earlier, the Port Authority made a precondition of having the channel cleared before issuing a NOC for demobilisation of equipment.

18 April 2004. The crew of crude oil tanker Tasman Spirit is finally allowed to leave Pakistan as the KPT lawyers yesterday conceded bail to the crew. The entire crew of the vessel and the salvage vessel yesterday appeared in the court of Karachi Judicial Magistrate Mumtaz Solangi, where the case was fixed for arraignment and hearing of acquittal and exemption applications. The settlement of the crew issue has ensured Greek support for Pakistan in the voting on ratification of the Third Generation Trade Agreement in the European Parliament. Greek Foreign Minister, George Papandreou, is arriving in Islamabad on Tuesday. He is also scheduled to meet President Pervez Musharraf and PM Zafarullah Jamali.

20 April 2004. Following received from the Greece Ministry of Mercantile Marine, dated today: In reference to the erroneous report on crude oil tanker Tasman Spirit in April 20 issue, Manolis Kefalogiannis is the Ministry of Mercantile Marine. Petros Moliviatis is the Foreign Minister. Mr George Papandreou is a leader of a political party in Greece and he is not Greek Foreign Minister since the last election.

27 March 2004Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, USA

The owners of a barge that leaked tens of thousands of gallons of oil last spring off the Massachusetts coast are expected to pay a $10 million settlement, according to published reports. Bouchard Transportation Co reached a settlement agreement this week in the criminal investigation of the spill. The settlement would reportedly be the largest environmental penalty in the state’s history. US Attorney Michael Sullivan is expected to announce the fine Monday (March 29), newspaper reports said. A spokesman for Sullivan declined to comment. A Bouchard official confirmed only that a news conference was planned for early next week. The 55,000 gallons spilled in the April 27 accident polluted 53 miles of Buzzards Bay coastline, killed more than 450 birds and shut down 100,000 acres of state shell fishing beds. Coastline in Rhode Island also was fouled, though to a lesser extent than in Massachusetts. Federal authorities began an investigation into the spill after allegations that the captain and first mate of the tugboat pulling barge B.No.120 were absent from the bridge when it struck a submerged rock. The company also initially underestimated the spill’s size. “After the lies and deceit of this company, one only hopes for a conclusion with very serious criminal and civil penalties,” said state sen. Mark C. Montigny, D-New Bedford, who had not seen the settlement. “It’s the only way you get strong enough laws in the future.” The company has already accepted responsibility for the cleanup costs and paid more than $38 million for the effort, a figure that is expected to rise as scientists learn more about the long-term damage to wildlife. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is conducting its own probe of the spill and its aftermath and the state Legislature is expected to take up new laws governing oil barge transportation next month.

1 April 2004Erika (Malta)

French judge Dominique de Talance ended a four-year investigation into the case of tanker Erika by issuing charges against 19 persons in connection with the largest ever ecological disaster that hit France. The list includes the Malta Maritime Authority’s director, Lino Vassallo, who has already rebutted such charges. The Maltese-registered Erika sank off the French coast in December 1999, polluting 400 kilometres of coast with 15,000 tonnes of oil. The list of the accused includes the tanker’s master, its builder, and Total-Fina-Elf, which hired the vessel. Four army officials who did not answer SOS calls will also be prosecuted. The list also includes Italian company RINA, which classified the ship as safe. Judge de Talance estimated that Erika did €450 million worth of damages to the French coast. The accused have now 20 days to request the nullity of the procedure or to ask for further investigations.

16 June 2004. The French Court of Appeal has dropped all proceedings initiated against the Malta Maritime Authority and its executive director Lino Vassallo in connection with the non-specific tanker Erika disaster. The Court of Appeal in Paris ruled yesterday that the MMA was an extension of the Maltese state and therefore the administration of the Malta Flag was covered by the states’ “immunity of jurisdiction.” In December 1999, Erika, a Maltese registered oil tanker, sank off the coast of France, spilling 10,000 tonnes of oil in one of the worst environmental disasters. The toxic cargo coated the seabed and washed up on the coastline, prompting a long and expensive operation to get rid of the muck. In a somewhat unexpected twist of events last September, Parisian inquiring magistrate Dominique de Talance held Mr Vassallo and the MMA personally responsible for “endangering the lives of others” and of having been “an accomplice in pollution”. There were no fewer than 76 plaintiffs claiming damages in the criminal proceedings. Whilst 74 of the parties refrained from indicating the exact extent of their claim at the start of proceedings, the French state and the League for the Protection of Birds filed a claim for €76 million and €14 million respectively, besides unquantified damages. It was estimated that plaintiffs could have claimed damages of more than €1 billion. Mr Vassallo and MMA chairman Marc Bonello appeared before the French judge last September. But the authority’s lawyers maintained that the magistrate was violating Mr Vassallo’s and Dr Bonello’s state immunity, given that they were representing a Maltese government authority. The two MMA officials sought recourse to the French Appeals Court, claiming that the magistrate had no jurisdiction over a foreign government or a state official exercising his normal duties. When the magistrate still went ahead and summoned the two MMA officials to appear again last December, they were instructed not to do so, given that they were still awaiting the Appeals Court’s ruling. Their absence in court provoked the magistrate to threaten to issue a warrant of arrest against Mr Vassallo and Dr Bonello. The legal counsel representing both Mr Vassallo and the MMA in France maintained that the authority had in fact abided by the established international regulations governing ship registration, adding that the French court had no jurisdiction to uphold or refute the local authority’s decision. The Court of Appeal of Paris appointed a sitting for May 10 during which further arguments were presented, based on the fact that the expert’s report on which Ms de Talance relied had been declared inadmissible by the Supreme Court. The court yesterday accepted the arguments of state immunity and decided in favour of the MMA and Mr Vassallo, stating that since they were acting on behalf of the Maltese state they should benefit from immunity of jurisdiction. There is no right of appeal against this decision of the Court of Appeal. Interested plaintiffs may however file proceedings attacking the validity of the decision within five days. Both Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo expressed their satisfaction at the decision. In a statement the MMA said: “Despite the general conviction that MMA’s and Mr Vassallo’s conduct were correct, responsible and professional – as was confirmed by the conclusions of various technical inquiries into the incident – the government acted strongly to protect the sovereignty of the state, its entities and their officials”. The MMA said it had always maintained that, according to international law, the French courts did not have the necessary jurisdiction to press charges. The MMA and the Maltese authorities cooperated extensively with the French authorities in the investigation. Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo expressed their appreciation for the government’s support, particularly from Communications Minister Censu Galea and Anthony Borg Barthet, who was Attorney General at the time. The MMA and Mr Vassallo were assisted by Franco Vassallo of the legal firm Mamo TCV, together with his French colleagues Renard and Associates. Since the incident, the Maltese government has been trying to rid itself of the tag that the Maltese maritime flag is one of convenience.

1 April 2004Firth of Forth, UK

Hundreds of birds have died after a mystery oil spill in the Forth Estuary. Around 50 birds have been rescued from the coastline and only two are fit enough to be returned to the wild. Investigators from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Forth Coastguard say they may never know the source of the spill, which hit the coastline last week. Officers from both agencies have been scouring the beaches and inlets where oil-covered birds are continuing to be found, looking for clues. SSPCA spokeswoman Mairi Ball said there was little they could do for affected birds left in the wild. She said: “Seabirds get stressed very easily. By the time the rest of the birds are found it will be too late to save them.” It has been suggested the spill could have been caused by a vessel illegally dumping the oil at sea. Another possibility is a small pocket of oil was carried into the Forth by currents from a North Sea oil field.

8 April 2004Prestige (Bahamas)

Work to recover the remaining fuel oil from the wreck of crude oil tanker Prestige will start again next month, weather permitting. Alongside removal of the oil, the operation is likely to include raising further samples from the ship’s hull in the hope they will offer clues to the root cause of the loss. Research Polar Prince, which acts as a platform for the technologically-advanced remotely-operated vehicles used in the operation, is due to arrive on site early in May. A team of specialist companies, led by Spanish energy group Repsol, has spent the winter fine-tuning the complex plan to remove the oil using an innovative gravity extraction process. It involves hot-tapping the hull, which lies in two halves at nearly 4,000 metres below the surface of the sea, and allowing the oil to flow into specially designed shuttle bags. These will then float slowly to just below the surface, from where the oil will be pumped into Odin, chartered for the operation, before transfer to Repsol YPF in Corunna. “All the tests have proved successful and everything is ready for a May start,” a government spokesman said.

4 May 2004. Robots will start boring holes in sunken crude oil tanker Prestige this week in a pioneering effort to recover more than 13,000 tonnes of fuel oil trapped in the vessel’s wreckage, nearly 4 km under water, officials said yesterday. The tanker ruptured and sank during a storm off the north-west Galicia region on Nov 19, 2002, spilling most of its 77,000 tonnes of thick fuel oil onto the beaches of northern Spain and south-western France. Lucia Perez, spokeswoman for the government commission handling the tanker disaster, said once the holes are drilled into the hull of the tanker, the extraction will begin next month, weather permitting. Since oil is lighter than water, Perez said, the 13,700 tonnes of oil remaining, mainly in the bow, will ooze out of the wreckage and flow upward into the funnel-like bottoms of huge, specially designed aluminium cylinders above the hull. The cylinders will then seal shut and be hoisted close to the ocean surface so the oil can be pumped onto barges. Then the cylinders will be taken back down to swallow more oil. The oil that remains in the stern will be treated with bacterial agents to help the ocean degrade it. Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF developed the extraction technique. The project is estimated to cost 99.3 million euro ($165 million) and expected take months. Undersea extraction of oil is not new, but working at these depths is.

31 May 2004. Poor weather will delay the pumping-out of the remaining 13,000 tonnes of oil in crude oil tanker Prestige, government officials said. The fuel is eventually to be brought out with the aid of aluminium balloons which will help lift it to the surface from the wreck. “Several technical tests have been carried out. The perforation of the prow and putting the valves in place is under way and should be completed this week, which will allow us to move into the final phase, the actual pumping,” a government official said. However, Purificacion Morandeira, the government commissioner overseeing the operation, later said bad weather would force “a small delay” until the middle of June. Spanish-Argentine oil company Repsol-YPF has been charged with extracting the remaining fuel via rigid balloons each 70 centimetres in diameter which will be passed through the remainder of the vessel’s hull. The balloons will be brought to within 40 metres of the surface and emptied through a flexible hose linked to a ship. Some 10 percent of the remaining fuel is to be degraded with the aid of special bacteria. The government has put the cost of the operation at €99.3 million.

5 June 2004. The first 79,000 gallons of tar-like oil from a sunken crude oil tanker Prestige off Spain’s north-west Atlantic coast have been successfully extracted, Spanish officials announced today. Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF developed a pioneering technique that involved drilling small holes in the wreckage and having the oil float out – since it is less dense than sea water – into giant bags that take it to the surface for recovery. Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the extraction work had started on Thursday (June 3) and that the first bag full of oil from the bow area had been brought to the surface early today. The extraction project is expected to take months and cost $122 million. The vessel split apart in a storm off the Galicia coast on Nov 19, 2002, disgorging most of its 20 million gallons of thick, toxic fuel oil onto the beaches of northern Spain and south-western France in what was Spain’s worst environmental disaster. The Spanish government says nearly 3.7 million gallons of oil remain inside the two pieces of the vessel.

6 April 2004Trans-Alaska, USA

The man convicted of shooting the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and causing a 285,000-gallon crude oil spill has been ordered to pay $17 million in restitution. Daniel Lewis, 40, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence, was ordered to pay for the October 2001 shooting of the pipeline about 85 miles north of Fairbanks near Livengood. District Court Judge Jane Kauvar ordered the restitution yesterday nearly ten months after sentencing Lewis for his convictions of five state crimes related to the shooting. Kauvar and Lewis’ public defender, Jennifer Hite, were equally pessimistic yesterday about Alyeska’s chances of recovering the full restitution amount $17,371,386.63. Most of that amount stems from cleanup costs. Lewis has earned only about $16,000 in wages since 1990, Hite said. Lewis did not attend the hearing but testified by phone from prison. He said he has not received an Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, the annual check given to Alaskans from an account begun with oil wealth, since the 1980s. His only other income is a check for about $300 he receives twice a year from Doyon Ltd, the Alaska Native regional corporation for Interior Alaska created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Lewis signs that money over to his two children, he said. After listening to his testimony, Kauvar ordered that Lewis pay back at least $1,000 a year in the five years he’s scheduled to be on probation after his prison term. If his probation officer determines that Lewis is making enough to pay more, the restitution schedule could be increased, Kauvar said. During a December 2002 trial in state court, Lewis’ lawyers argued that Lewis’ older brother, Randy, shot the pipeline while the siblings were drinking and riding all-terrain vehicles near the family’s Livengood homestead. The jury disagreed. Jurors convicted Daniel Lewis of oil pollution and criminal mischief for shooting the pipeline with a .338-caliber hunting rifle, assault for pointing the gun at his brother, felony driving under the influence for driving a four-wheeler while drunk, and weapons misconduct for handling a gun while under the influence. Lewis was also convicted in federal court of being a felon in possession of a firearm. That sentence is being served at the same time as his state sentence.

9 June 2004New Carissa (Panama)

When wood-chip New Carissa careened into the central Oregon coast five years ago, its owner blamed the resulting oil spill on the US government, saying the Coast Guard’s maps were flawed. But in a settlement this week, Green Atlas Shipping S.A. and its affiliates agreed to pay the federal government $6.5 million, most of which will be used to restore natural resources harmed by the shipwreck near Coos Bay, Ore. Neither the shipping company, nor its operator, insurer or ship master, have accepted responsibility for the 70,000-gallon spill, but the $6.5 million the shipping conglomerate has agreed to pay is a victory for the six government agencies responsible for the restoration of wildlife habitat, said Larry Mangan, senior wildlife biologist for the Bureau of Land Management. The Bureau of Land Management will work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Forest Service, the State of Oregon and other groups to create a habitat restoration program – funded by the settlement money. The settlement brings partial closure to litigation stemming from the wreck. The State of Oregon sued the shipping conglomerate for $25 million for the trespass on the coast of ship’s stern. A Coquille jury voted in favour of the state, but the shipping company is in the process of appealing that decision. In a 2001 lawsuit, Green Atlas Shipping, its affiliate TTM Co. and the ship’s insurer, the Britannia Steam Ship Insurance Association, sued the US government for $96 million. According to court records, New Carissa anchored at a spot marked on Coast Guard maps as suitable for a ship of its kind. The 2001 complaint alleges that the location was not safe for large vessels in the winter months – and should have been designated as such. The USA denied liability and instead launched a counterclaim against Green Atlas, TTM and Britannia for damages of approximately $7 million, according to court records. TTM and Green Atlas are both subsidiaries of Japan-based Taiheiyo Kaiun Co., which was later named in the suit, along with Benjamin Morgado, the master of New Carissa, and his insurer, Shipowners Insurance and Guarantee Co. As part of this week’s settlement, the federal government will pay the ship’s owner, insurer and operator $4 million to settle the 2001 claim. The shipping parties are not gaining anything because the fine print of the settlement calls for Green Atlas Shipping to pay an additional $4 million for damage to natural resources – cancelling out the gains from the government’s payout. It’s total payment is still $6.5 million, following the court-approved settlement. Coos County officials were not as pleased with the decision. “It won’t benefit the people who were harmed,” said Coos County Commissioner John Griffith, who said the settlement should be aimed at business owners who were hurt by the beach’s closure.