GEBE to be prosecuted for
oil spill, other alleged
environmental offences
PHILIPSBURG--GEBE will be probably taken to court next Thursday, as “there is good reason to believe it is responsible for a recent oil spill” that spanned some three miles of coastal waters last week, Prosecutor Paul Mooij said Monday.
Mooij told The Daily Herald he had been compiling information for some time on the company’s repeated environmental offences and the recent spill that points to GEBE will be added to the list of charges against the local electricity and water supplier.
Attempts by this newspaper to reach Managing Director of GEBE Julius Lambert on Monday were unsuccessful.
Residents complained to police, Coast Guard and environmental groups on Monday, June 13, about a huge black spot in the coastal waters near Simpson Bay and Cupecoy. After investigating the matter Coast Guard officials announced that it was an oil spill, but for some time no one knew for certain where it had originated.
Mooij said, “A police report has been made against GEBE." He also stated that police had instructed the company to clean the spill, but he had seen no signs of efforts on its part to do so.
Mooij visited GEBE’s Cay Bay plant last week with Police Inspector Giterson and was informed that there had been an accident with the storage of waste oil.
The tanks in question are situated on the grounds of the plant with walls around them to protect against spills. However, the walls are cracked in some areas and the recent rainfall also contributed to their overflowing and allegedly resulted in oil spillage on the grounds that ran into the drainpipes that lead to the sea.
It was explained that in this same area, sea water is usually taken in for the water plant where water is treated for consumption. This makes the spill even more serious.
Mooij said it appeared that GEBE was only now taking action to acquire a hindrance permit and had requested the assistance of a consultant. “Based on the way they operate, it’s nearly impossible for them not to spill oil into the sea and this is, in my opinion, directly linked to the missing permit,” Mooij said.
He also stated that the primary goal of the hearing was to force the company to have a hindrance permit.
“Unfortunately most companies need some pressure, although in this case the VROM Department did not take swift action when a Dutch permit expert from the province of Utrecht travelled to St. Maarten to assist GEBE with this complicated permit. So in this case even VROM needs some pressure,” Mooij told this newspaper.
Meanwhile, according to Nature Foundation Environmentalist and Assistant Marine Park Manager Paul Ellinger, “In general this spill will likely result in fish kills, as well as in the deaths of crabs, lobsters and turtles.”
He said the island had been spared because of the winds that blew the spill farther out to sea.
He said that while the coast had been spared the mess, the situation was still very bad environmentally and would likely land on someone else’s doorstep.
He explained that if the spill had to be cleaned up it would be very costly and would require a large number of people using special oil absorbers.
He said that while treating such a mess with detergent was possible, it was better, based on the size, to gather it into one area and remove it.
Information regarding the spill was passed on to the Disaster Management Team, but the spill proved difficult to clean and resulted in complaints from several beachfront property owners about the mess in “their back yards.” (By Alfred Harley)
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