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State offers spill cleanup assistance to Spain
Petroleum News Alaska
Gov. Tony Knowles has sent a letter to the Honorable Camillo Barcia, consul general of Spain, offering expertise and assistance as Spain confronts the damage caused by the breakup of the oil tanker Prestige off Spain’s northwest coast. A fuel slick 70 miles long by five miles wide is moving onto the Spanish coast, where fishing has been temporarily banned in an area famous for its shellfish, octopus and crabs.
Brown named as contact “We are fortunate in Alaska to have technical experts in spill response management, oil spill response and cleanup, shoreline impact assessment, and related areas that could assist you in the response effort,” Knowles wrote Nov. 19. He named Commissioner Michele Brown of the Department of Environmental Conservation as Alaska’s lead contact for coordinating Alaska’s resources, should Spain take up the state’s offer of assistance.
“As you may know, the state of Alaska experienced a catastrophic oil spill in 1989 when the tanker Exxon Valdez went aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound,” wrote Knowles. “The spill had widespread impacts on a formerly pristine marine environment. Hundreds of miles of shoreline were oiled and the cleanup effort lasted several years. Spills of this size are potentially devastating and
Given its experience with response to significant oil spills, the state typically offers assistance to others facing the same situation. According to DEC, the state has offered help to five foreign entities in recent years (England, Taiwan, Spain, South Africa and Ecuador). England and Taiwan accepted the state’s offer.
The Bahamian-flagged tanker Prestige, which sprang a leak during a storm Nov. 13, split in half the morning of Nov. 19 amid salvage operations about 130 miles off Spain’s Atlantic coast. The stern sank quickly with little seepage of fuel from its tanks, salvage officials said. The bow sank later in the day, according to Spanish authorities.
Twice the oil The amount of oil aboard the Prestige is about twice that lost during the Exxon Valdez spill. Salvage officials said the ocean where the ship sank is about 11,800 feet deep and the fuel in the tanks should congeal at the temperatures at that depth, minimizing further damage.
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