[environmental disaster in the making] get that tanker up - now!

All the words in the world are not going to get that tanker off the ocean floor and 450 000 litres are ready to spill now. Until that tanker's salvaged, all talk of who's responsible and how deeply Petron is into graft, all such talk is just so much oil on the water.

After that, Sunshine Marine Development Corp., the owner of the Solar I, which sank off Guimaras two weeks ago, needs the most rigorous investigation into how they could commission such a derelict ship through such an environmentally sensitive area on such a mission.

Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources investigating the oil spill have promised to release the results of their inquiry sometime this week.

Oh yes? Like National Power Corp. off Semirara island last year? The NAPOCOR barge spilled 364,000 liters of fuel and ruined vast stretches of the coast of Antique province.

This current oil spill from the Solar I, which sank in rough seas August 11, has affected over 200 kilometers of the Guimaras coastline, including beaches and mangroves—killing wildlife and disrupting the livelihood of at least 10,000 Guimareños.

The cleanup has been haphazard and ineffective, the spill happened right smack in the middle of the monsoon season but much worse is that they plus Greenpeace are expending their energy on ‘why it happened, how to prevent another etc. and meanwhile:

Full text here.