Lebanon Oil Spill is of a Significant Magnitude and Spreading

Radar Image from The Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information Lebanon Oil Spill Threatens Eastern Mediterranean Coasts Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- An oil spill seeping from a Lebanese power station that was bombed by Israeli jets threatens to pollute countries in the eastern Mediterranean such as Cyprus and Turkey, Lebanon's environment minister said in Beirut. ``As soon as we had the outburst of the first spill, we thought of the potential danger that this spill will have on the whole Mediterranean,'' Yacoub Sarraf said in an interview. The spill was caused by the bombing of oil storage units at the Jiyyeh power plant, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Beirut, in the early days of Israel's campaign against the Hezbollah between July 13 and 15. About 10,000 tons of oil has escaped and up to 35,000 tons may finally seep out, the United Nations' International Maritime Organization said. Israel has bombed airports, ports, bridges, roads and other facilities in Lebanon, inflicting losses estimated at more than $4 billion, according to the Lebanese government. The oil spill has already contaminated about 10 kilometers of coastline in Syria, according to the UN Environment Program. The slick had polluted two-thirds of Lebanon's 220-kilometer coastline as of a week ago, Sarraf said. Read More at Bloomberg U.N. worried about Lebanon oil spill 'Significant magnitude and spreading,' says environment chief MSNBC staff and news service reports Updated: 1:09 p.m. ET Aug 3, 2006 NAIROBI, Kenya - Oil leaking from a bombed power station in Lebanon has reached the coastline of neighboring Syria and is spreading north, the Kenya-based United Nations Environment Program said. Israeli jets hit storage tanks at the Jiyyeh plant south of the Lebanese capital Beirut at the beginning of the war, spilling an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 metric tons of oil into the Mediterranean. "It is nearly three weeks since the bombing of the power plant and the initial satellite imagery unfortunately confirms that the oil spill is of a significant magnitude and spreading," UNEP Director Achim Steiner said in a statement. "A coordinated response must urgently be allowed to proceed, so that we can limit the immediate environmental damage as well as the longer terms implications for the economy and the Lebanese people." Read More At MSNBC