Coal polluting La Union coast as group removing barge spill meets problems

BY JERRY PADILLA

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union —A task force formed to remove a barge causing a coal spill, 200 meters from the shorelines of Barangay Lingsat here is experiencing difficulties in extracting effluents from the marine sanctuary where it ran aground.

Valmar Valdez, city environment officer, said a tug boat, equipped with a crane which came from Lingayen, Pangasinan to help in the rescue operation proved futile despite the gradual lightening of the trapped barge by the manual unloading of at least 3,000 of the estimated 9,607 metric tons of coal on the barge.

Valdez said retrieval operations may not be finished before the arrival of another storm.

Cloudy weather and rains and the afternoons were experienced in this city since Nov. 17.

"Worse is that, it a typhoon may further cause damages not only to the barge and underwater ecosystem but also cause danger to life and property of coastal residents in the area," Valdez said.

Task Force Kabayan composed of divers formed by Mayor Pablo Ortega for clean-up, reported balls of coal of at least 1,000 metric tons have already covered the sea grass beds and corals dropped in the area.

The retrieval operation is now going in its second week.

The boat, B/Nava Ratna 3, departed Souh Kalmantan Port, Indonesia last Oct. 19. Its barge ran aground while towing it, during the height of typhoon Kabayan on Nov. 6, when strong winds and waves carried it from the vicinity of Poro Point Pier.

Valdez added it cannot forcibly tug or yank the barge even at high tide due to damages it will further cause on the ship’s hull or the underlying live corals.
Task Force members initially planned to employ manual method, unloading the cargo carried by men through sacks.

City Councilor Francisco Kit Ortega, Jr., an ex-officio provincial board member, initiated a probe of the incident that would summon representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Holcim Cement and Sea Pine Shipping Corp., coal owner and barge transporter, respectively, in the board’s next session, Thursday.

Ortega said no charges were filed against the transporter of the Indonesian barge and Holcim because they have promised to help in the cleaning of the spillage and rehabilitation of the affected area.