La Union oil slick now under control

By Jerry Padilla

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – The oil slick from a busted underground pipe of an oil company here has been controlled and prevented from breaching into coastal waters, authorities declared Thursday.

The city government, the Philippine Coast Guard and the management of Flying V Corp. reported Thursday there was no contamination of sea water, following a leakage of 2,000 liters of unleaded gasoline in Poro Point, here.

Flying V, owner of the busted pipelines, said appropriate equipment were brought in to suck the seepage and vowed to treat the affected land by the breakwater.

The oil seepage occurred Wednesday but alert residents and employees of Flying V were quick to report it to the local police and the PCG so that swift action on the matter was made.

Mayor Pablo Ortega earlier ordered fast cleaning and coordination with Coast Guard and Environment officials in containing the unleaded gasoline that has leaked into the sea from a break in the pipeline of the Flying V fuel depot in Poro Point here Tuesday.

Barangay councilor Butch Funesto, Poro Point pollution control officer, said the accident occurred while the M/T King Jr. was unloading gasoline through the pipeline to the fuel depot.

Funesto said the pipeline leaked because of the heavy pressure of gasoline being unloaded from the vessel.

“The pipe is only six inches in diameter. Usually the standard size should be eight inches in diameter so it can accommodate the load from the ship going to the fuel storage,” Funesto explained.

Funesto said more than 30,000 liters of unleaded gasoline has leaked out as of noon July 20, some of which has already reached the coast.

Funesto said a spill boom was installed along the seashore to contain the spill.

Two tankers of Flying V were rushed to the scene to pump out the gasoline while some residents in the coastal areas tried to collect the spill in plastic containers.

Ortega ordered Flying V to speed up the cleaning and coordinate efforts with the Coast Guard and environment officials to contain the spill before it would affect the sea and the ground water.

The gasoline spill comes in the aftermath of last week’s bunker fuel leak in the Petron pipeline in Rosario, Cavite.

The Coast Guard had ordered the deferral in the flushing of the estimated 60,000 liters of bunker oil from the Petron depot in Cavite to allow sealing off the leakage in the 2.6-kilometer pipeline.