/ Wednesday, October 21, 2020
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Listing Venezuelan Vessel Risks Massive Oil Spill in the Caribbean western coast of Venezuela. An oil spill in that area would therefore devastate the Caribbean’s delicate ecosystems. If no action is taken to prevent an oil spill, it would represent a greater environmental catastrophe than the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, which spilled 260,000 barrels (10.8 million The Weekly Journal Staff gallons) of crude oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska. To date, the Exxon Valdez disaster is everal government entities and considered the worst oil spill in terms of its effects organizations warned that on the environment. Nabarima, a Venezuelan-flagged The Trinidad-based environmental group vessel, is at risk of spilling millions Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, which of gallons of oil in the Gulf of represents 50,000 people in the industry, has Paria in the Caribbean Sea, raising called for a national emergency, noting that the environmental concerns for the spill would crush fishermen’s livelihoods, as well region. as destroy millions of wildlife. In a video published According to Newsweek, by the group, Gary Aboud, its efforts are underway to unload corporate secretary, denounced the crude oil aboard as safely as government inaction, saying: possible. “What we found is frightening Since Aug. 13, the Commission … This requires a national of Environment, Natural emergency.” In the video, shared Resources and Climate Change on Facebook, the vessel is shown of the Venezuelan National tilted and barely held together by The Nabarima Assembly has warned about the a couple of anchors. is anchored in risk posed by the vessel, which “We strongly support the Gulf of Paria, has been abandoned since immediate actions to bring the located between the January 2019 after Petrosucre Nabarima up to international Caribbean island shut down production at the safety standards and avoid of Trinidad and the Corocoro oil field following U.S. possible environmental harm, western coast of sanctions by President Donald which could negatively impact Venezuela. An oil Trump. The Commission’s not only the Venezuelan spill in that area president, María G. Hernández people but also those in nearby would devastate the del Castillo, denounced that the countries. Pdvsa (Petróleos de Caribbean’s delicate risk of an oil spill has “increased Venezuela) has a responsibility ecosystems. alarmingly.” to take action to avoid an “The tanker Nabarima, which environmental disaster in is anchored in the Gulf of Paria, Venezuelan waters,” the U.S. is presumably loaded with 1.3 Embassy of Trinidad & Tobago million barrels of crude (54.6 million gallons), informed in a statement last Friday. as a result of the weight and tides, the ship is The threat of a devastating spill could perceived to be more inclined (listing) than what potentially reinvigorate environmental discussions was reported last August,” Hernández said in an about oil. Greenpeace, a renowned eco-conscious official missive. organization, has repeatedly advocated stopping The Gulf of Paria is an inland sea located the use of oil altogether, warning that “it’s not a between the Caribbean island of Trinidad and the question of if oil will spill, it is a question of when.”
Would represent greater leakage than the infamous Exxon oil spill
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In fact,
The Nabarima vessel has been idle since January 2019, but 1.3 million barrels of crude oil remain onboard. >Fishermen and Friends of the Sea/Reuters
Moreover, Hernández affirmed that Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro dictatorship is destroying the country’s natural spaces, with effects that could impact the whole world. “We already have enough with the destruction of the south of our land, our Amazon, with that badly named Mining Arc. Furthermore, all the disaster that PDVSA is generating in its refineries, spills from Morichal in Monagas, passing through Anzoátegui, Carabobo in El Palito, the spill on the gulf in the Cardón refinery, denounced in satellite images by Professor Eduardo Klein, which is still ongoing, and the constant spills on the Maracaibo Lake in Zulia. The dictatorship has made our iconic lake black, as its conscience, oil comes out even on the streets of Cabimas,” she said.
