July 21, 2010
Dear Editor,
Chief Environmental Officer, Mr. Martin Alegria, has said that Belize does have a national emergency plan, specifically targeting oil spills: “We call it NEPPOS for short”, he says.
Well, at least it has a name – National Emergency Preparedness Plan for Oil Spills.
Impressive sounding name. However, names do not clean up oil spills. People and equipment clean up oil spills. So the man in the street is entitled to ask, which people? What equipment?
After all, we were told by Mr. Cho, Director of Geology and Petroleum, on a recent Love FM Morning Show that a common fund was to be established via government legislation “this year” for the purpose of funding this emergency plan.
So what that actually means is that we do indeed have a plan called NEPPOS, but right now no funding. So presumably, that means no people and no equipment actually exists.
In spite of this, Mr. Alegria, the CEO of the DoE, told us on the same programme that Belize has the capability to respond to a spill of up to ten thousand gallons of oil.
Really? With what?
Senator Hulse has this completely right. “If we don’t have an absolute quick response, we may as well not talk about petroleum.”
Judging by the morning show referred to above, there is a concerted effort to confuse the rights and wrongs of offshore oil drilling with the risks of transportation accidents by both land and sea. There are risks involved in transportation, and yes, we do need to be ready for them.
However, the risks associated with an offshore oil well or multiple oil wells are of a different magnitude altogether, as we have seen in recent months in the Gulf of Mexico. Some have argued that any spill off our coast might be a lot smaller.
So it might, but who is to say that it might not also be a lot bigger?
And due to the location of the proposed wells, and the prevailing winds, computer modeling shows us that the oil will be ashore in Belize in not months, or weeks, or days, but in just a few short hours.
We want the Department of the Environment to tell us what the specific plans are for containing an oil spill from an offshore oil rig. Are they 100% guaranteeing just such a spill would be contained within those few short hours, and our beaches, reef and cayes protected?
Consider this: an offshore oil rig has a major spill at 1a.m. How long will it take the DoE’s NEPPOS vessel (if it exists) to be under way and out beyond the reef to start laying booms? A few hours? Does ANYBODY believe that?
The NEPPOS vessel will pass the oil slick on its way out to lay booms, by which time the reef will be coated with oil and ruined, along with our tourism industry, and the livelihood of our 4,000 odd fishermen and their families.
Over the past three months, we have all witnessed the struggle between the richest and most powerful government in the world and one of the world’s largest oil companies to finance and manage the disaster in the Gulf. Who can possibly stand up and say our government can do better, or even as well, dealing as we are with largely unknown minor oil companies?
You, Mr. Cho? You, Mr. Alegria?
Would anyone else like to explain how we could match or come anywhere near the rescue and cleanup effort running into billions of dollars undertaken in the Gulf?
Where are the miles of booms, the hundreds and thousands of gallons of dispersants, the thousands of protective Tyvek work suits, the skimmer boats (that not even the US or BP had in adequate numbers), and most of all, where is the technical expertise to oversee all this?
Even the US had to appoint a retired Admiral of the US Coastguard, because they had no one with the expertise.
And so to the key question — where is the money to pay for all that?
The truth is we have a plan in name only. Perhaps somewhere on a bookshelf there is a nice big fat document laying out in the future tense what we need to do, and that’s about it. If I am wrong, then I challenge the Department of the Environment to tell us where all this equipment is, and who will man it, and who in their department or in the Fire Department or in the Coast Guard or in the Department of Geology and Petroleum has the experience and technical know-how to supervise recovery from an oil spill of any size.
Perhaps they could start by telling us the name of the DOE vessel that will be used for all the offshore supervision that they say they will do, and who it is that is qualified to carry out those assessments. Or perhaps the oil companies will do their own assessments?
Sir, it is high time for some straight talking on this matter by those responsible; the stakes are too high to allow this to rumble on. The assurances and platitudes we have received so far just do not stand up to close examination. Perhaps a national referendum would help convey the depth of feeling I and many others are experiencing around the country.
Chris Harris
Chairman, South Coast Citizens for Sustainable Development
(Ed. NOTE: We consider these charges very serious and thought-provoking. We welcome a response from Mr. Alegria, Mr. Cho or anyone in authority.)