CAY BAY—An oil spill was discovered on Friday morning at the GEBE power plant. It is thought that the oil spill occurred during the night but could not be detected by GEBE personnel in the darkness. The effects on the environment are at this point yet to be determined. GEBE has dispatched a team with oil pads and a vacuum truck to clean up the oil.The cause of the oil spill has been linked with the overloading of the Waste Oil Treatment System (WTS) that is used to skim off any waste oil from the production process.
GEBE had begun putting containment measures in place in the form of an oil boom and WTS re-training to mitigate any effects of oil spills, but these are still pending to be completed. Further a valve has been installed to be able to shut off the runoff of the WTS in case a leak is detected.
Mitigating measures currently in place have prevented more oil from flowing into the sea. A lot of oil accumulated on the Western side of the boom allowing the clean-up crew to remove it quickly.
On Wednesday, the oil boom was placed in the ocean and the necessary attachments were being made by the contractor. Unfortunately, the oil spill occurred before the boom could be fully completed. This resulted in oil escaping from the not yet attached section of the enclosure and drifting out to sea.
GEBE will continue its cleanup efforts to minimize the effects on the environment.
In the meantime the Nature Foundation has responded to the spill said once again a significant Oil Spill originating at the GEBE power plant on Friday morning. Staff of the Nature Foundation responded with their vessel Yellow Tail to monitor the situation and asses the environmental impact the spill is having on the marine environment. Initial assessment found that a large quantity of oil has been entered into the sea due to overflow at the GEBE Power Plant. During the assessments executed by the Foundation it was found that the spill stretched for approximately five kilometres in a west south westerly direction, which indicates a large amount of oil was leaked and the oil slick could be seen from the top of Cole Bay Hill stretching to the horizon. Contact was immediately established with the Environmental Department of Anguilla so that they were made aware of the situation and so that they could monitor for oil in their coastal waters.
The Nature Foundation determined that the oil slick covered a large section of beach in Cay Bay and offshore coral reefs, both of which have a significant ecological and tourism value to the island. Contact was made with the dive operators advising them that certain dive sites should be avoided because of a large amount of oil in the water and swimming in Cay Bay and certain areas of pelican should be avoided. Fishermen were also informed that they should avoid fishing along the south-western shore of the island until the oil has been dissipated offshore, as the consumption of petroleum contaminated fish could cause significant health problems. The nature foundation will be conducting survey dives to determine the extent of the damage which occurred on local coral reefs and the possible compensation which can be requested for their damage. "Aside from the damage caused to the coral reef ecosystem this oil spill is also disastrous to the sea turtle population. We are in the middle of sea turtle nesting season and inevitably turtles will die because of all of this oil," commented Tadzio Bervoets, Manager of the St. Maarten Nature Foundation.
GEBE was busy conducting clean-up efforts in the Cay Bay area and meetings and consultations were held with the EPIC and St. Maarten Pride foundation, the Prosecutors Office, ROB, VROM, the Fire Department, and GEBE on the origin of the spill and the follow up actions which should be taken to clean the spill and to ensure that such an event does not happen in the past.
"It is unfortunate that something like this is still happening, especially considering that this is the fourth incident of an oil spill in the past few months, and especially considering what is currently happening in the Gulf of Mexico. St. Maarten depends heavily on the Marine Environment for tourism revenue and for fisheries so if events like this continue to happen the island will eventually loose the value of its tourism product and its fishery will collapse. Without proper protection, such as the approval of the Marine Park Ordinance, events like this will continue to happen and will go unchallenged," commented Bervoets.
The Foundation will be active all weekend monitoring the situation and investigating the effects the spill is having on the Marine Environment. The Foundation can be contacted on 5444267 or on 5270490.