Three-mile oil spill affects
Simpson Bay to Cupecoy
PHILIPSBURG--Several beaches were badly affected Monday in what environmentalists have called the biggest oil spill in as many years, when oil coming from a source not yet known entered the coastal waters in the area near GEBE in Cay Bay around 9:00am.
Residents and visitors alike called environmental groups, local police and the Coast Guard after seeing the black substance moving along the coast line, hindering their bathing or diving in some cases.
Nature Foundation’s Assistant Marine Park Manager Paul Ellinger told The Daily Herald, “I have seen a couple already, but this is the biggest I have ever seen. It is more than 1,000 gallons of what looks like old diesel mixed with waste oil.”
The Coast Guard also received several calls and, according to Officer Charlene Craig, a team was dispatched. They found an oil spill that spanned three miles along the coast from Simpson Bay to Cupecoy.
The spill gained widespread attention and Environmental Law Expert Prosecutor Paul Mooij was taken to the scene in police helicopter Air 1, from which he had an aerial view of the disaster.
According to the Coast Guard and Nature Foundation, while there are four companies that use oil in large quantities in the exact area where the spill reportedly started, no one has come forward and claimed responsibility. The four companies are GEBE, Texaco, Shell and Oil Mop.
Ellinger said trying to locate a source was a difficult task, but more difficult was the task of cleaning the spill. He believes it is important for government to demand a contingency plan be put in place by the four operators to deal with such oil spills.
Ellinger said, “The spill was in the area of Simpson Bay at the northern end of Beach Side Villas, the northern end of Mullet Bay and almost the entire Cupecoy Beach as far down as the French/Dutch border.”
He said, “Our problem is that no one has claimed responsibility for the spill and the question now is ‘how it is going to be cleaned up?’”
He said it was also sad that the fines that would be given to anyone found responsible were usually nothing compared to the damage to the environment.
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