oil spill: 4.000 m3 in a nature reserve

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oil spill: 4.000 m3 in a nature reserve




by recyclinage » 08/08/09, 20:46

Oil leak: 4.000 m3 in a nature reserve in the South, end of pumping

(AFP) - 1 hour ago

MARSEILLE - The pumping operations on the surface of the oil spill that spread on Friday, following a leak in an oil pipeline that occurred in the Coussouls de Crau nature reserve (Bouches-du-Rhône), ended on Saturday, a announced the prefecture of this department.

They had started on Friday morning to recover 4.000 m3 of crude oil which spilled after a leak on a pipeline from the South European Pipeline Company (SPSE) connecting Fos-sur-mer (Bouches-du-Rhône) to the 'Germany.

A survey will be carried out Sunday morning to assess the height of the land affected, prior to the excavation of the 2 hectares of polluted land, said the SPSE.

The supply of drinking water to riverside municipalities is not at this stage threatened, said the prefecture, which specifies that public water supplies are located more than 4 km from the polluted area. A qualitative analysis of the groundwater (evaluated at 9 m) must be carried out, she specifies.

"Ecological monitoring of the site is carried out jointly by the Center d'Etude des Ecosystèmes de Provence (CEEP), manager of the national nature reserve, and the State services in order to limit the environmental impacts (soil, flora and fauna) inherent in clean-up operations, "adds the prefecture.

Several protected species have already been affected by the incident, in particular the ganga cata (bird), the ocellated lizard, the Crau locust and the crustacean lichen, says the prefecture, according to whom "a precise assessment of the environmental impacts of this break in the pipeline must be carried out ".

"We will not leave this ecological crime unpunished," said Benjamin Kabouche, adding that the LPO would file a complaint once the extent of the damage has been examined.

"We are going to take the time for a detailed legal analysis of the situation because in these cases of pollution, like that of (the oil tanker) Erika, we must take legal action for five or ten years," he explained. considering that "the law will not pass for a long time" on this pollution because of "the strategic nature of this project for the State".

He also highlighted the difficulty of "quantifying the ecological damage affecting non-commercial living".

"We are not at all reassured about the route of this pipeline which crosses half of France and passes mainly through natural spaces," he also indicated.

This leak is a reminder of "the urgency and the need for the establishment of reinforced security systems, especially in areas located near the coast", according to Greeenpeace which denounced "the poor consideration and management of industrial risks upstream by the French authorities. "

The representative of Bouches-du-Rhône of the environmentalist party Cap 21, Achim Gertz, expressed his fear in the face of the risks incurred by the "water table of 500 km2, which is also unique", due in particular to the announced rains and the runoff of these waters through the polluted land.

The Coussouls de Crau reserve, 7.400 hectares wide, and which covers seven municipalities, is the last dry steppe in Europe. Friday, Secretary of State for Ecology Chantal Jouanno, who came to see the damage on the spot, denounced a "real ecological disaster".

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More "


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