European Surfing's Oily Apocalypse
CD: How hard has
this been to clean?
JB: If the oil
is coming on a sandy beach you can manage it. But if it's coming on a rocky
coast or near a cliff, it's incredibly difficult to clean. That's the main problem
in Gallacia. I just read a few minutes ago that there were 200 beaches in Spain
that had not been cleaned at all yet. It will be long, hard work. You have to
wait for the sea to be still, then set up work teams and work for weeks.
CD: So in France,
you'll be able to get the beaches open by the summer?
JB: It will be
possible. But our government has to be very careful with what they say. Because,
for instance in Spain they sent a lot of volunteers to the beaches to clean
-- because there was nobody else to clean the oil. They said, 'go ahead,' and
all the main organizations like Surfrider, we said, 'there's no way. It's industrial
pollution. We're not going to clean that. People should have hazardous material
suits. This stuff is toxic.'
For the spill of
the Erika 3 years ago, we now have two to 300 people complaining in front of
the court who became sick as a result of trying to clean that oil without suits.
And in Spain, I heard that it was around 500 or more already sick or under medical
control from the Prestige oil.
Bakio Beach in Spanish Basque Country
Right at the beginning,
right after it happened. There were people just picking the muddy oil up with
their bare hands out of the sea. There were some fishermen who for days and
days, were working completely unprotected.
On the Spanish
government's side, it was really terrible. They did the same thing we did in
France 3 years ago. Now, they're in a very bad situation.
|
No comments have been added to this entry.
Add Comment