Trinidad and Tobago
Express
40,000 barrels of liquid waste from 'Gulfstream'
¦ Khamarie Rodriguez
APPROXIMATELY 40,000 barrels of liquid waste (hydrocarbons and seawater) have been collected from the wreckage of the leaking vessel that overturned in Tobago last month, and laid waste to much of the island's coastal ecosystem.
Twelve thousand barrels of solid waste, including contaminated solids such as tainted sand and absorbent booms, have also been collected and are being stored, pending disposal at the Studley Park landfill in Tobago, while authorities continue to gauge the long-term environmental impact of the spillage.
The Gulfstream barge was found overturned off Cove Industrial and Business Park on February 7, spilling a crude-like substance identified as bunker fuel.
Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) director Allan Stewart yesterday said the vessel's leaking has not been completely paused. Rough seas, he said, have resulted in additional hydrocarbon releases that are being contained.
'(It) has not stopped running… When you have rough seas conditions like we are experiencing over the past 48-hours we are seeing some releases, very small indeed. We have been able to control that,' he said.
Speaking to the Express during a telephone interview yesterday, Stewart said containment efforts have so far proven successful, despite the vast scope of the spill.
He said that the hydrocarbon waste collected was placed into frac tanks and transported to the landfill while officials are yet to determine how they will be disposed of. Currently, he said, there are 26 frac tanks on the island with a capacity of around 21,000 gallons each.
Around 300 people are still actively involved in the clean-up operations, he said. The removal of the vessel from the reef in which it remains lodged, he said, was a matter being overseen by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, which has engaged the T& T Salvage international company.
The company's use of specialised equipment, he said, had allowed a swift and effective clean-up of the oil-like substance that is being emitted from the capsized barge.
'The Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries engaged a company by the name of T& T Salvage, no connection to Trinidad and Tobago, an international body that has been skilled with this type of operation in salvaging. They have been in operation for in excess of two weeks and we would have seen they were able to successfully bring the spillage under a level of control that is acceptable, mopping up what is around the vessel using an instrument called the NOFI current buster.'
'The removal of the vessel is also part of their scope of work. They play a key role in the salvaging of the vessel. The details of it I cannot share with you at this time based on what it may undertake- the methodology, the equipment and the reef, those details may be found in some documents when they present their proposals,' he said.
Environmental impact Last week, the Environmental
Management Authority (EMA) told the Express that the assessment of the environmental damage incurred as a result of the spill was still ongoing.
The Authority said it was monitoring the proper handling of the hydrocarbons and contaminated materials, including sargassum seaweed, which are being contained in double-lined pits. It said it was also monitoring the installation of an air quality monitoring station within the area and a plan to commence flushing the hydrocarbon that moved upstream in the Petit Trou riverine system.
The potential impact of bunker fuel contamination, it said could include the coating of animal and plant life leading to suffocation and poisoning, habitat destruction, water contamination, economic damage to livelihoods, impacts on human health including risks related to respiratory issues and skin irritation.
Lagoons and mangroves affected have been boomed off, Stewart added yesterday. He said varying techniques were being used in sensitive areas, to flush the contamination.
'We are in discussions around how we may abate and resend to the impact on the reef and the corals. Actions have been taken on the shoreline around the corals using a technique called high volume flushing with low pressure. The rock sites and coral sites in terms of leaning or flushing from hydrocarbons have been locked in canopies of these areas.'
'The other is that in areas such as Scarborough where you want aesthetics to be pleasing, especially the Welcome to Tobago sign, we have been utilising high pressure with low volume, that is like utilising a pressure washer. Those are the issues we are dealing with at this time,' he said.
Stewart said that the spill's effect had rippled over into a loss of livelihoods, especially within the fisherfolk community. Although Lambeau fishermen had to be relocated in the aftermath, he said, some were able to access State intervention within the past two weeks. /
TEMA DIRECTOR: Allan Stewart - Photo