Brazil: Pipeline closed, state oil firm to be fined following major spillage

Source: BBC Monitoring Americas - Economic

Publication date: Jan 31, 2000

Excerpts from report by Brazilian newspaper `CorreioBrasiliense' web site on 27th January

In addition to Guanabara Bay [off Rio de Janeiro], 55 rivers and other areas in the region could be contaminated by the 1.3mlitres of oil that spilled on 18th January from a pipeline belonging to Petrobras's Duque de Caxias (Reduc) Refinery in theBaixada Fluminense area. This warning is contained in a reportby the Brazilian Institute for the Environment (Ibama), which also considers the equipment used by the company to contain and recover the oil to be insufficient for controlling theenvironmental disaster.

In the Ibama survey, the loss of leaves from several plant species was the mangrove swamp's first response to the oilspill. "The marked loss of leaves and buds after the spill isnot compensated by the production of new leaves, which resultsin a progressive loss of energy," the report says.

But the most serious finding in the report is that the quantity of oil spilled in the bay is large, and, because it is arelatively closed environment, the consequences of the accident are most critical in its interior. "Because there are calm waters due to the incoming tides, the damage will also extend into the region's rivers (a total of 55), which have not beenaffected yet."

The document also shows that the toxicity caused by the spill will affect the consumption of fish in Rio. "The oil can be incorporated into the animals' flesh, making it inadequate for human consumption." The report warned that even small oilpatches create several problems for birds, such as the loss of impermeability of the affected feathers, which damages the birds' thermal insulation and their ability to float.

According to the report, the environmental accident - which is considered to be the largest in the last 25 years - is being treated by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation(ITOPF) - an entity that evaluates environmental damage of this kind - as an accident "of large proportions". The evaluation,according to Ibama President Marilia Marreco, is still preliminary. Only after verifying the behaviour of the ecosystem will we know the exact extent of the disaster.

Yesterday, the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) closed the Petrobras pipeline from which the oil spilled and announced that it will fine the state company up to 2m reals. The Rio Public Ministry announced that it will ask the Justice Ministry to terminate those industrial activities of Reduc that are operating without a State Foundation for EnvironmentalEngineering (FEEMA) licence.

The pipeline's licence has expired, and at least another 12 pipelines are operating without a licence. According to the Rio attorney-general, Jose Muinos Pineiro Filho, in addition to the pipelines, the refinery as a whole may be closed if it is proven that it is operating without a licence...

According to the agency that regulates the petroleum industry,the pipeline was closed because Petrobras did not comply with the requirements of Regulation 170, which condition the operation of industrial installations on the presentation of an environmental licence, a maintenance plan, and a certificate from an external entity assuring that the units are operating safely.

Publication date: Jan 31, 2000

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-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

Hi Carl, Do you remember when this all started? We had refineries going down, gas pipelines going up and then this "little" leak close to shore in Brazil. Didn't seem too important at the time. But it wasn't quite so insignificant, was it?

-- Pam (jpjgood@penn.com), February 01, 2000.

Brazil has a long history of corruption from the highest levels of government to the lowest. If you can pay, you're okay.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), February 01, 2000.

There's a Bible verse to correspond with this .... something about the seas becoing wormwood and 1/3 of the life within them being extinguished.

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-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 01, 2000.