Brian Hutton, Press Association The Independent 17 Feb 09;
The biggest oil slick to threaten Ireland and the UK for more than ten years was tonight being tracked as it moved closer towards coastlines.
The spill, discovered near to where a Russian warship was refuelling in the Celtic Sea, is now believed to be 1000 tonnes - over three times the original estimate - and could reach Irish and Welsh shores in just over two weeks.
The incident in Irish-patrolled waters has sparked a flurry of diplomatic contact between Dublin and Russia, while British authorities have also been drawn into the ongoing investigations.
Environmentalists said it has the potential to devastate marine and wildlife, with knock-on effects on seaside tourism and fishing hot-spots.
A Russian destroyer, a British destroyer, an Irish Naval vessel and a Russian aircraft carrier remain at the scene of the spill about 50 miles south of Fastnet Rock, off the west Cork coast, along with an ocean-going tug and two refuelling tankers.
The Irish government has asked the Russian embassy in Dublin to hand over samples of the oils carried onboard the Russian tankers and aircraft carrier.
While some of the slick - originally covering an area of around 2.8 miles by 3.1 miles - will break up or evaporate, the bulk of it is expected to remain on the surface, and is veering eastwards at around 12 miles a day.
"The residual oil remaining is expected to develop into tar balls," said a spokeswoman for Ireland's Department of Transport.
"Depending on weather conditions these may end up on the Irish south east coast in approximately 16 days time and also impact on the Welsh coastline."
Both the Irish Coast Guard and the UK Coastguard are carrying out aerial surveillance flights, using special sonar equipment, over the area while a tug is being launched from Cork to carry out tests to see if the oil is recoverable at sea.
But authorities believe from past international experience that it is too difficult to contain and capture such a slick.
Friends of the Earth (FoE), the environmental organisation, has described it as a "significant spill" bound to cause serious damage to marine life and has called for a full investigation.
"It's extremely significant at that size. Damage to marine life is likely to be devastating, and this will have, as many environmental things do, economic repercussions," said Molly Walsh, FoE spokeswoman.
Samples of the oil have been taken from the scene for analysis, while Government departments and agencies are being constantly briefed about the potential impact to the environment.
Irish authorities were alerted to the spill on Saturday through a satellite surveillance pollution report by the European Maritime Safety Agency in Lisbon.
The Russian Navy confirmed one its carriers was refuelling at sea from a Russian supply tanker and said it was carrying out its own internal investigation.
The incident happened outside Irish territorial waters, but within an area known as Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone, which it patrols, according to the Irish Government.
John Lucey, a senior biologist with Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency, said it was the biggest oil spillage in the waters around Ireland for more than 10 years and its impact depends on when it hits our shores.
When the Sea Empress ran aground off Milford Haven in south west Wales, in 1996, shedding 72,000 tonnes, it caused widespread damage to the nearby coastline.
By the time it reached Irish shores, the oil had formed into "tar balls" and had little or no impact.
But a spillage of just 31 tonnes in Cork Harbour a year later proved disastrous for marine and wildlife, particularly birds.
"If it did land here, and if it was two weeks, it could start forming tar balls and not be as potentially dangerous as a big, fresh slick coming onshore as we've had in the past," said Mr Lucey.
"If it's a slick, that's the danger."
Ireland scrambles over Russian navy oil spill
Andrew Bushe Yahoo News 18 Feb 09;
DUBLIN (AFP) – Irish aircraft monitoring an oil spill believed to come from a Russian navy refuelling accident off Ireland's south coast have recorded 522 tonnes of fuel spreading across the sea, officials said Tuesday.
Following an overfly of the spill, Irish authorities downgraded an earlier estimate of 1,000 tonnes given by the British coastguard, and said the fuel oil was now in three distinct slicks in the North Atlantic, heading east.
The spill, thought to have occurred at the weekend, was about 48 to 64 kilometres (30 to 40 miles) off the south coast and could eventually pollute the Irish or Welsh coastlines, the transport ministry said.
But it added it was too early to predict how much could come ashore, noting that oil had already begun dispersing late Tuesday.
Ireland has scrambled aircraft and a naval vessel to monitor the spill, and a tug was sent out to establish whether the oil can be mechanically recovered at sea, in theory starting on Wednesday.
Irish naval vessel Aisling and British destroyer HMS Gloucester have taken samples of the oil which will be sent for testing in Scotland.
Other vessels at the scene Tuesday included two refuelling tankers, one aircraft carrier, one Russian ocean-going tug and one Russian destroyer. The Coast Guard said it had established that no nuclear vessels are involved.
The Irish authorities were alerted on Saturday by a satellite surveillance pollution report from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in Lisbon.
The ministry said aerial surveillance "confirmed an oil spill covering approximately 4.5 km by 5 km surrounding a Russian aircraft carrier and a refuelling tanker."
The Russian naval attache confirmed on Monday that the carrier had been carrying out a fuel transfer at sea -- called bunkering -- from a Russian supply tanker, the transport ministry said.
"The attache confirmed an internal investigation is being carried out into the cause of the incident and said that Russian aerial surveillance considered that approximately 300 tonnes of oil was on the sea surface," it said.
The statement said the attache "could not tell the Coast Guard how this happened or whether it was from their refuelling operations."
In Moscow, the head of the Russian chief of staff Nikolai Makarov confirmed that a group of Russian warships had been refuelling in the area but denied there had been any significant leaking of fuel.
"In this area a group of warships carried out refuelling but according to the commander of the group Admiral Korolev the refuelling proceeded normally and no significant outflow of fuel took place," he said, cited by Interfax news agency.
A Russian naval spokesman, Igor Dygalo, disputed the size of the oil spill, saying it neither "has a catastrophic character nor constitutes a threat to coastal ecology."
The Russian embassy in Dublin has been asked to supply samples of the oils carried on board the Russian tankers and the aircraft carrier and for oil characteristic data sheets.
"The oil spill is forecast to continue to disperse and to break up. The residual oil remaining is expected to develop into tar balls," the ministry said.
"Depending on weather conditions these may end up on the Irish south-east coast in approximately 16 days time and also impact on the Welsh coastline. At this point it is too early to predict accurate volumes."
