An oil slick is covering the Yellow Sea after a pipeline explosion. Cleanup efforts are already underway concerning the China oil spill. The work is certainly cut out for the containment workers; the oil slick at the moment covers 165 square miles of water. It is far smaller than the BP oil spill off Louisiana.
Exploding pipeline touched off China oil spill
An oil pipeline exploded in Dalian, a port in Liaoning province. It is one of the largest shipping and receiving ports in China. The explosion dumped thousands of tons of crude oil to the ocean, and set it alight. The fire raged for 15 hours before firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze. Over 1,000 vessels were mobilized to clean up the China oil spill, and they’re deploying oil consuming bacteria.
Response to spill was fast
By Tuesday, shipping activity was back to normal, but tourist beaches were still closed. The fire was contained early on, but the size of the oil slick has increased since the explosion. The estimates for the area of water covered by oil have doubled as of Wednesday, though it is still far smaller than the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The China oil spill at the moment covers fewer than 200 square miles of ocean, whereas the BP oil spill covers more than 2,000 square miles of water. The government in Dalian estimates it can have the spill cleaned up within a week. It is the second largest oil receiving port in China.
Greenpeace sounds off
Greenpeace saw an opportunity in the China oil spill to remind every person of the hazards of depending on fossil fuels. The Gulf oil spill and also the numerous accidents of coal mining were mentioned also. The pipelines that exploded were at an oil storage facility owned by the China National Petroleum Corporation.
Additional details at these websites
csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0721/China-oil-spill-spreads-but-not-as-big-as-BP-oil-spill-in-Gulf
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100719/wl_asia_afp/chinaenvironmentoilpollution
