Oil spill fouls Curacao shore, threatens flamingos

[Bacchus4.0]

http://news.yahoo.com/oil-spill-fouls-curacao-shore-threatens-flamingos-212222292.html

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — An extensive fuel spill has fouled a stretch of shoreline and oiled pink flamingos and other wildlife in a nature preserve in Curacao, conservationists and residents of the tiny Dutch Caribbean island said Monday.

The leader of a local environmental group asserted Monday that the spill of crude oil at Curacao's Jan Kok preserve was from at least one storage tank owned by the Isla oil refinery, the largest business and employer on the southern Caribbean island best known for its diving opportunities and colorful capital of Willemstad. The island's refinery is run by the state-owned oil company of Venezuela, only about 40 miles away.

"This is probably the biggest (environmental) disaster in Curacao," said Peter van Leeuwen of the Stichting SMOC group. "The whole area of Jan Kok is black. The birds are black. The crabs are black. The plants are black. Everything is draped in oil."

"A lot of time has gone by without any action. It's been about one week before somebody at the company has done anything at all," he said, adding that workmen are now excavating holes on Jan Kok's beach to capture the spilled oil and mix it with sand and soil in order to cart it away.

[naaman fletcher]

1. Whatever you do DON'T question the maintenance spending. nt.