UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 23, 1996
7A
Oil not so slick for wildlife
The Associated Press
ANGLE, Wales — Human error probably caused last week's tanker grounding, which opened the way to one of the 10 largest oil spills in history, the vessel's manager said yesterday.
The environmental devastation the spill has generated in one of Britain's prime wildlife refuges was becoming apparent yesterday. More than a dozen dead sea birds have washed up, and hundreds more — mottled with oil — reportedly have been sighted.
Biggest oil tanker accidents
The Sea Empress now has leaked about 65,000 tons of crude oil off the coast of Wales. Here is how the accident ranks in comparison to the worst accidents of the past:
Year Tanker name Oil spill, metric tons Where
1979 Atlantic Empress 276.000 Tahao
1978 Amoco Cardiz 228.000 France
1983 Castillo de Belver 255.500 South Africa
1967 Torrey Canyon 108.000 England
1980 Irene's Serenade 102.000 Greece
1977 Hawaiian Patrol 101.000 Honolulu
1976 Urquiola 94.600 Spain
1979 Independenta 90.000 Turkey
1993 Braer 85.000 Shetland Islands
1975 Jacob Maersk 84.000 Portugal
1996 Sea Empress 65.000 Wales
1989 Exxon Valdez 40.000 Alaska
"It is not just the things you can see, like birds, seals and porpoises, that will be affected, but sponges, mollusks and other forms of life," said Phil Rothwell, head of policy operations for the Royal Society for Protection of Birds. "This must be a disaster in anyone's terms."
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Peter Cooney, managing director of Acomarit Ltd, the company that manages the Sea Empress, the tanker that spilled the oil, said there was a high probability that human error was to blame for the Feb. 15 grounding off St. Ann's head, the western headland of the Milford Haven estuary.
About 20 million gallons of oil have leaked into the sea.
"The early information we have is
that there was nothing wrong technically with the ship whatsoever," Cooney said. "This can be borne out because she steamed in her own power finally to the berth where she now resides."
John Fredrisken, a Norwegian who owns the vessel through companies in Cyprus, said Wednesday that the ship's crew and officers had passed tests for drugs and alcohol that were
administered immediately following the accident.
The government also was defending itself against claims by environmental groups and St. Ann's residents that it was slow to respond to the grounding. It took six days to tow the tanker clear of the rocks.
George Young, transport secretary, told critics the rescue operation would be investigated.
In Angle, a village six miles west of the town of Milford Haven, residents were fearful the spill would tarnish the village's image.
"It's not just the wildlife that suffers. This area relies heavily on tourism," said Margaret O'Shea, Angle resident.
The Sea Empress was carrying light crude oil, which experts say is more easily dissipated.
The spill is almost twice the size of that from the Exxon Valdez, which released 11 million gallons of heavy crude oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989, causing a major environmental disaster.
The Coast Guard said that about 25 percent of the spillage had already evaporated, and that the ship was stable and no longer leaking oil. Salvage operators plan to start pumping the vessel's remaining cargo into smaller ships today.
The main oil slick is about 12 miles long. Smaller slicks and other patches of oil are being tackled along a 45-mile stretch from Ramsey Island eastwards across Carmarthen Bay to Caldery Island, however.
At Texaco's bird cleaning center, John Hayes scrubbed an oil-soaked guillemot with dishwashing liquid before rinsing it with warm water and placing it in a cage with a fish supper.
Shuttle Columbia to be electrified
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Seven shuttle astronauts blasted into orbit yesterday to attempt a space age version of Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment — unreeling a satellite on the end of a 12.8-mile cord.
Columbia, carrying an international crew, rose from its seaside pad at 3:18 p.m. As the shuttle sliced through a hazy sky, Mission Control got a scare when a cockpit light came on, indicating engine trouble that could have forced the crew to abort the flight. It proved to be a false alarm.
“Arrivederci, au revoir, auf Wieder-
sehen and adios," shuttle commander Andrew Allen said before liftoff. "We'll see you in a couple of weeks."
Tomorrow, in a risky maneuver, the four Americans, two Italians and one Swiss will reel out the satellite. They will try to generate electricity from the half-ton metal ball and its slender cord as they sweep through Earth's magnetic field at 5 miles per second.
The same U.S.-Italian experiment flopped four years ago; the tether jammed on the reel, and the satellite got no farther than 840 feet from the shuttle, producing hardly any electricity. All known problems have been fixed this time.
Yesterday's engine scare came a
few seconds into the flight. The caution light as well as a gauge indicated one of the three main engines wasn't providing enough thrust. It turned out to be a faulty reading.
If the engine had malfunctioned, the crew probably would have had to attempt a dangerous return to the launch site, something that never has been done. Scientists hope to generate 5,000 volts of electricity with the tethered satellite and produce some 1,000 watts of power as current flows down the tether to Columbia.
Electron guns on the shuttle will shoot the electrons back into space and thereby close the electrical circuit.
"We're going to work and discover the properties of electricity in space, very similar, very analogous to Benjamin Franklin sending up the kite with the key at the bottom," Allen said.
The hardest and most dangerous part of the experiment will be the release and retrieval of the satellite. The crew has guillotine-style cutters on board, as well as giant scissors and, if all else fails, a hacksaw to cut the tether.
Some of the scariest scenarios would be the tethered satellite swinging like a wayward pendulum, bobbing like an out-of-control yo-yo or whirling like a jump rope.
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