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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Oil spill could surpass '89 Exxon disaster

 •  Coast Guard says it's ready for oil spill here

By Jeff Donn
Associated Press

Marine experts hope that a sunken tanker off Spain will hold much of its immense cargo of fouling oil trapped on the ocean floor, away from shore.

The magnitude of the disaster caused by the Prestige oil tanker, which split apart and sank yesterday, is uncertain. It held twice as much oil as the Exxon Valdez did in 1989.

Associated Press

But they remain worried about the health of surrounding waters, nearby wildlife and beaches.

"Just because it's offshore — out of sight, out of mind — does not mean it won't have a significant effect," said Richard Steiner, a marine conservationist at the University of Alaska who helped clean up the Exxon Valdez tanker spill off that state's shore in 1989.

The tanker off Spain was carrying almost twice the oil the Valdez spilled, In this case, the cargo is fuel oil, described by some experts as sometimes tougher to deal with and perhaps more toxic than the crude oil in the Alaska spill.

Experts say it is too soon to judge how severe the ecological impact in this case might be. That will depend on a maddeningly complex set of factors, including the precise brew of the 20 million gallons of oil, whether nearby animals are in a sensitive life cycle phase, and weather and water conditions in coming weeks. Storms tend to disrupt and disperse oil.

The ultimate magnitude of the mess will also depend on how quickly the tanker oozes its oil, whether its cargo thickens and tends to stay put in the cold depths, or whether it pours out when the ship's holds collapse under pressure. The slower the leak, the easier for the environment, experts say.

The Bahamas-flagged Prestige went under yesterday about 150 miles off northwest Spain, near some of the region's most abundant fishing grounds. Its hull broke six days earlier, and it was towed away from the coast.

It was hauling more than 20 million gallons of fuel oil, used to power ship engines and electricity plants. It had already lost up to 2.6 million gallons. Some has already blackened beaches and animals. Sticky oil can disable or kill animals and cause long-term genetic defects.

Though there have been spills well over 25 million gallons, the size of this disaster gives reason for worry, experts say. The fuel oil may be longer lasting in the environment. In any event, oil spills can persist for decades, research shows.

However, experts took heart in several developments. They were pleased that the tanker had been lugged away from shore.

"If it's sunk and if the oil remains in there, that's better. It will not be contaminating the shorelines and hopefully it will degrade," said Hung Tao Shen, an engineer at Clarkson University, in Potsdam, N.Y., who has studied how oil spreads in water.

Once the oil begins to surface, the relatively warm water off Spain may also promote growth of the very bacteria that break down oil into a more benign form.

However, Steiner, at the University of Alaska, predicted that the holding tanks will "almost certainly" rupture. He said the oil could hurt migrating birds, whales and other animals even far at sea.

"If the tanks release the oil at some point all of a sudden ... then you could have one of those mysterious large slicks coming ashore," added John Farrington, at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, who has researched the effects of oil on marine life.