South Korea Clea ns Up Big Oil Spill
An oil slick has been washing up since Saturday along a 12-mile-long shore of South Korea’s west coast. Strong tides hampered the cleanup efforts of thousands of volunteers over the weekend. More Photos >
SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 9 — Thousands of fishermen, soldiers and volunteers struggled on Sunday to clean up an oil spill that has caused an environmental disaster in South Korea. It has blackened once scenic beaches, coated birds and oysters in sludge and driven away tourists with its stomach-churning stench.
Some 7,000 people have been mobilized to cope with the worst oil spill in South Korea’s history, including these workers in Taean. More Photos >
But the 7,000 people mobilized were too few to clean up the oil slick, which has been washing up since Saturday along a 12-mile-long shoreline of the nation’s west coast. Strong tides, which dragged the sludge before pushing it ashore again, hampered the cleanup operations by villagers, who complained of headaches and nausea from the stench.
The oil spill occurred Friday when the steel wire linking a tugboat to a barge carrying a crane snapped in stormy seas. The barge lurched toward the Hebei Spirit, a Hong Kong-registered oil tanker, which was at anchor, and punched three holes into its hull.
The spill came a week after the South Korean port town of Yosu won the right to be the host in 2012 for an international event called Expo. Bidding for the event, South Korea championed the theme of “the living ocean and coast,” a slogan it hoped would bolster environmental awareness in Asia.
The size of the oil spill was about one-fourth that of the 260,000 barrels, or 11 million gallons, leaked into Prince William Sound off Alaska from the Exxon Valdez in 1989. It was twice as big as a spill off South Korea in 1995 that cost $101 million in damages to fishermen and required a cleanup operation that took months.
By Sunday, it became clear to local residents that they were battling an environmental disaster. The tidal flats near Taean County, about 95 miles southwest of Seoul, are home to rich wildlife, oysters and fish farms, and a national park. Each year, millions of tourists flock there to bathe in the summer or watch migrating birds stop to feed in the muddy flats teeming with clams. About 64,000 people live in Taean.
“Everyone is out there fighting — there is so much oil we have to use buckets to scoop it up,”Moon Hong-chol, a resident in the village of Wonbuk in Taean, said by telephone.
“The dark brown slime is all over our oyster and abalone and clam beds. Tourists are canceling resort reservations. I think we are finished.”
The provincial government appealed to people to donate used clothes for soldiers who were collecting the sludge in the freezing cold.
The central government declared a state of disaster, which makes it easier for regional governments to mobilize personnel and equipment.
Neither ship involved in the spill was in danger of sinking, and there were no casualties. But the tanker spilled an estimated 10,500 tons, or 2.8 million gallons, of crude oil before the last of the three holes was plugged Sunday.
“The worst is over in that there is no more spill,”said Ryu Young, a coast guard official in Taean.
“We are doing our best to contain as much of the slick as possible before it reaches the shore.”
The 147,000-ton Hebei Spirit was five miles off the coast at the time of the collision, waiting to unload its 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a nearby port.
The barge belonged to Samsung Heavy Industries, a shipbuilder affiliated with the Samsung conglomerate. The police were questioning officials of the company, as well as the crews of the barge and the tanker, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Kang Moo-hyun, minister of maritime affairs and fisheries, said Sunday that it would take at least two months to complete the cleanup.
“The oil stuck to the shore or sank to the sea bottom, causing serious damage to the maritime biology and ecosystem in the region,”Mr. Kang said.
“Even if some maritime organisms survive, they won’t be marketable for quite a while.”
Coast guard vessels hurried to establish floating oil fences, but high waves left them useless. Offshore, 105 coast guard, navy and private fishing boats were throwing absorbing cloth and spraying chemicals, as oil continued to zigzag toward the shore, where people wearing rubber gloves and masks spread out with mats to absorb oil.
“All day, people have been scrubbing boulders coated with oil and scooping up sand soaked with oil,” said Lee Hyun-jin, a resident in the village of Sowon in Taean. “But now they are retreating because the sea is in high tide again. We feel hopelessly outnumbered.”
Kim Eun-young, in the nearby village of Yiwon, said:
“This morning, we found clumps of oil floating like ugly pan-fried cakes. They retreated with the tide and now are coming back again.”
“This is getting worse, and we have 260 villagers out there today with buckets, cans and whatnot, compared with 57 yesterday,”Ms. Kim added.
Environmental Recovery of Oil Spill Needs at Least 12 Years
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Full recovery of the marine ecological system from the nation's worst oil spill at Taean, South Chungcheong Province, will need at least 12 years, a marine expert said Monday.
Prof. Lee Jae-hak, director of the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute, said because the West Sea is blocked on west, east and north side, the current circulation is not fast enough and it may take more than 12 years to make a full recovery. He also said that the coast of China could be affected.
Although visible oil may seem to be contained, the aftermath of the contamination will destroy the environment and ecological system, experts said.
The oil that soaked into the sand, pebbles and tidal land will remain without being dissolved and will seep out occasionally. Also, oil left inside the sea will kill plankton, fish eggs and microscopic creatures first. When these die off, the food chain will be disrupted.
Prof. Kim Sang-jin, another professor of the institute, said in the sea off Yeosu in Jeolla Province, where the Sea Prince spilled 5,000 tons of crude and fuel oil back in 1995, oil can still be found stuck on seashells and in the sand. He said due to the spill, the amount of seaweed decreased as did the fish and shellfish eating it.
``The sea off Alaska where the Exxon Valdez leaked oil in 1989 is still reported to be contaminated with oil, and Taean will be no exception,'' he added.
At the moment, alongside the 40 kilometer-seashore of Taean, there is an oil slick 10-30 meters in width. The government said a mere 5 percent of the 10,500 tons of leaked oil has been contained.
The beaches are covered by the oil slick and cormorants, grebes and other birds and creatures are being found dead after being suffocated by it. More than 440 oyster and abalone farms have reportedly lost all their products and migratory birds that visit the area will be affected by the contamination, too, experts said.
Natural Treasure No. 431, Shinduri Dune, was saturated and environmental activists fear that Taean Seashore National Park, one of the world's five largest tidal lands, may be destroyed.
Also, another concern is the use of emulsifier. The government has already used more than 34,000 liters of it out at sea, and though it dissolves the oil into smaller particles, it kills seaweed and causes whitening, Choi Ye-yong of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements said.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
| MARITIME OIL SPILLS July 1979 - Greek tanker Atlantic Express spilled 287,000 tons off Trinidad and Tobago March 1978 - Amoco Cadiz spilled 223,000 tons off Brittany, France November 2002 - Greek-owned Prestige spilled 77,000 tons off Galicia, Spain March 1989 - Exxon Valdez spilled 37,000 tons in Prince William Sound, Alaska, US December 2007 Hebei Spirit spills 10,000 tons off S Korea's west coast |
 The Age | Smell, tides hamper oil cleanup in S. Korea San Jose Mercury News, USA - The tidal flats near Taean County, about 95 miles southwest of Seoul, are home to rich wildlife, oysters and fish farms, and a national park. ... Korean oil spill threatens marine farms S. Korea Expected to Declare Oil Spill Coastline a Disaster Area South Korea fights huge oil spill |
 Boston Globe | S. Korean wildlife, livelihoods being choked by spill Toronto Star, Canada - For Chung and others in Taean County, 160 kilometres southwest of Seoul, the pollution shattered lives and livelihoods. South Korea declared a "state of ... Oil spill hits small businesses in region South Korean Spill Hits Seafood Industry Workers no match for vast oil slick |
 Korea Times | Oil Spill Devastates Korean Coast Chosun Ilbo, South Korea - The slick from an oil spill in the waters off Taean, South Chungcheong Province rapidly reached the nearby coastline with devastating effects. ... Environmental Recovery of Oil Spill Needs at Least 12 Years Oil Blankets West Coastal Line Korea뭩 Worst Oil Spill Ever |
South Korean Oil Spill Ruins Seafood Farms Donga.com, South Korea - According to authorities, the oil leak now stretches 2100ha as of yesterday, devastating aquatic farms and six beach resorts in Taean County and beyond. ... |
South Korea fights worst-ever oil spill Christian Science Monitor, MA - But now they are retreating because the sea is in high tide again," said Lee Hyun Jin, a resident in Sowon village in Taean. "We feel hopelessly outnumbered ... |
 PRESS TV | S Korea trying to clean up oil spill PRESS TV, Iran - The Hebei Spirit tanker was about eight kilometers north west of the Taean peninsula, which is 110 kilometres south-west of Seoul, waiting to enter the port ... |
 AFP | Volunteers struggle to save the beach that turned black AFP - Marine farmers around Taean county, 90 kilometres southwest of Seoul, were also in shock. At Uihangri village, where 150 farms are located, ... |
Cleaning up of leaked oil Yonhap News, South Korea - 9, TAEAN, South Korea -- Volunteer workers pour oil into a plastic jar to clean up the oil flown to the seaside of Taean on the west coast of South Korea on ... |
Reuters Canada, Canada -
... South Korea's maritime ministry said on Friday. The Hong Kong-registered Hebei Spirit was struck while at anchor off Daesan port in the Taean region on ...
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