Lebanon's oil spill still not contained

Lebanon Oil Spill May Rival Exxon Valdez of 1989 (Update1) Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Lebanon's oil spill, caused by Israeli bombardment of oil storage units at a power plant, may rival the leakage from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989 if left untreated, the United Nations Environment Program said. ``In the worst case scenario, and if all the oil contained in the bombed power plant at Jiyyeh leaked into the Mediterranean Sea, the Lebanese oil spill could well rival the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989,'' the UN said in an e-mailed statement today. The spill has yet to be cleaned up or assessed more than three weeks after the bombing of the coastal Jiyyeh power plant south of Beirut because of the continuation of hostilities, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, said in the statement. The spill, which has polluted around two-thirds of the Lebanese coast and spread into neighboring Syria, may threaten East Mediterranean countries such as Cyprus and Turkey, Lebanon's Environment Minister Yacoub Sarraf has said. About 10,000 tonnes (about 3.1 million gallons) of oil has escaped from the Jiyyeh power plant and 35,000 tonnes (10.8 million gallons) in total may be spilt, the UN's shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization has said. The Exxon Valdez, which struck the Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound in Alaska, spilled more than 11 million gallons of crude oil, making it the largest spill in U.S. history. Read More At: Bloomberg