The Cabildo of Lanzarote, in its fight against oil exploration, has denounced that "Repsol caused a new oil spill" this Wednesday, "after the explosion of a well in Alaska." This occurred in the Colville River Delta, in North Slope, Alaska (USA). According to Reuters, the accident occurred after the rupture of a crude oil pipeline for reasons still unknown, causing a spill of at least 25,000 liters of crude oil into the natural environment, into the Tundra, which is an open and full terrain with frozen subsoil. Repsol has had to interrupt operations in the exploitation area.
The Cabildo has recalled that it is not the first time that Repsol has caused a spill in this North American territory. "Last February 2012, the multinational company was forced to abandon two wells due to a spill of more than 15,000 tons of crude oil, after an explosion induced by a gas leak in the facility was recorded," he insisted.
The Cabildo considers that "these oil spills into the natural environment systematically demonstrate with real facts that the technology and safety measures of the oil industry in general, and of Repsol in particular, do not guarantee in any way or in any place the safety of operations and the exemption from risks and spills."
The first Island Corporation has assured that in this case it is "relevant to emphasize" that Repsol's spills in Alaska "have occurred on a land space, without any type of environmental pressure or difficulty of access to the leak points." On the contrary, in the Canary Islands, the perforations are intended to be carried out "at more than 3,500 meters deep, in some cases exceeding 6,000 meters." "Any rupture or leak at those depths could have very serious consequences for the Canary Islands and the Ocean that surrounds them", the Cabildo defended through a statement.
The Cabildo of Lanzarote has criticized Repsol's "propaganda campaign" and the Ministry of Industry for being "biased and based on supposed and not real facts, in that the exploitation operations in the Canary Islands are safe, something completely uncertain and completely reckless, insofar as the effects on tourism and on the natural environment of the Islands can be very harmful and even catastrophic."
Second spill in Alaska
But, in addition, the first Corporation has insisted that this is the "second" accident that has been recorded in Alaska "so far this year". At the beginning of 2013, the latest generation oil platform called Kulluk, operated by the Shell company, ran aground on Kodiak Island. On the part of Repsol, "at least three known spills have been recorded this year: one in Tarragona, which was discovered by the Catalan authorities two months after it occurred, another on the Pacific coast of Peru in February, and the present spill in Alaska."
The Cabildo has insisted that the company itself has recognized in its facilities "about 7,000 spills of hydrocarbon products between 2006 and 2010, and among them at least a dozen in the Mediterranean waters of Tarragona, where it has been operating for more than 30 years with the Casablanca platform."
"This oil spill into the environment only confirms that no current technology nor any company can guarantee safety in operations of this industrial magnitude and, if there is no safety, there is uncertainty, threats and enormous and justified concern. It is not possible to live in a permanent state of alert, attentive to future spills that approach the coast, and analyzing whether the available containment measures will prevent the disaster in any way," the Cabildo stated.
In this sense, it has addressed Repsol and the Government of Spain to ask them for "common sense and responsibility, and to definitively suspend this oil field that they impose in front of the Islands."
