US experts arrive in Mindoro to support PH oil spill response

MANILA – The United States government has dispatched eight experts to Oriental Mindoro province to support the Philippines in its oil spill response efforts, the U.S. Embassy in Manila said on Tuesday, March 21.

The team arrived in Pola town, Oriental Mindoro on March 21, a day after a briefing with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Japan Disaster Relief Expert Team about mitigation efforts taken so far since the tanker MT Princess Empress capsized and spilled about 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil off Naujan town last month.

“When vessels are in deep water, as in this case, cleaning up the remaining oil becomes a complicated issue. Through our incident management professionals’ wealth of experience and strong expertise in oil spill response, we will assist the PCG in developing safe and efficient methods to contain and recover the oil and minimize damage to the environment,” said Commander Stacey Crecy, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) Pacific Strike Team.

“The USCG remains deeply committed to our relationship with the PCG.”

The U.S. Embassy said the assistance is upon the request of the Philippine government.

Five of the experts are from the U.S. Coast Guard National Strike Force and will assess the affected areas to determine the most effective method and equipment to contain and clean up the slick from the sunken vessel.

Two are from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who will work closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to conduct rapid environmental assessments of affected areas, identify priority areas at risk of environmental damage, and assess needs for ecosystem restoration.

NOAA, on the other hand, has provided the PCG with satellite imagery to boost assessment efforts and the University of the PhilippinesMarine Sciences Institute with support for scientific modeling to estimate the trajectory of the spill.

The last member is a Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving who will evaluate the technical parameters required to support the possible deployment of a remotely operated vehicle.

Earlier this month, the US Agency for International Development partnered with the World Food Program to help the Department of Social Welfare and Development transport 20,000 food packs for families affected by the oil spill.

Meanwhile, 80 pieces of coco coir logs were transported Monday afternoon from Batangas province to Mindoro to help contain the oil spill.

Fr. Edwin Gariguez, director of the Diocesan Action Center of Calapan,