PALAU OIL SPILL TAINTS PELELIU MANGROVES, WATER

PALAU OIL SPILL TAINTS PELELIU MANGROVES, WATER
Corroded pipe at power plant blamed

By Aurea Gerundio-Dizon
KOROR, Palau (Island Times, July 11, 2011) – The oil spill that was discovered last week in Aimeliik was due to a damaged pipe at the Aimeliik Power Plant, Palau Public Utilities Corporation explained yesterday.

PPUC Safety Officer Vicente Pua said that upon inspection of the pipe, there were no signs that somebody tried to damage it.

“The pipe is too old and corroded. Nobody destroyed it,” Pua said.

Pua said that on Monday and Tuesday, APP people were preparing the dock area for the arrival of a tanker but they did not find any leak on the pipe.

The pipe that leaked is used to transfer fuel to Peleliu boat. Pua said that three small holes were found on the pipe where oil was flowing down to the ground. “It was not just dripping,” he said.

Because of the rainy weather and strong winds last week, the fuel spilled into the mangrove area and into the water.

“We stopped the leak prior to the discharging of fuel from the tanker,” Pua made it clear.

Pua assured that the oil spill will not severely damage the environment in Aimeliik. As of yesterday morning, he said there are still traces of fuel on the ground but diesel will reportedly dissipate. “If it was crude oil, it could be a big problem,” he added.

PPUC said that they are trying to find ways to change the ageing pipe but the company does not have enough funds at this point.

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This entry was posted on July 14, 2011 at 5:53 am and is filed under Palau to the letter!. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.

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