A total of 28 people have been treated for oil spill related illness in the La Brea community over the past 13 days.This comes after state-owned oil and gas company Petrotrin detected the first of 11 oil spills in the southern peninsula on December 17.The first 25 people were attended by doctors and medical personnel provided by the company up until last Friday.Over the weekend one asthmatic child and an elderly couple were sent to the hospital to receive treatment.Most of the people who fell ill were children and the elderly.
Despite that and another leak discovered on the Trinity Platform on Sunday night, Petrotrin chairman Lindsay Gillette said the situation was under control.A total of 11 leaks, both on land and offshore, have been discovered since December 17, five at Petrotrin locations, five at Trinity exploration locations and one at a Neal and Massy site, Moruga."As of today, we feel we have the whole situation under control and our clean-up will be completed within two weeks," Gillette said.
Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali said while all the leaks had already been fixed, the company had sent samples abroad to test to determine the source of the oil.Hassanali said more than anything else, the company was concerned about the communities affected, the security and the clean-up."We have provided medical care for those who needed it, meals for those who couldn't cook and we will continue to do those things."
The company is still investigating how the leaks occurred and though he would not say the word sabotage, Hassanali said most of the incidents were highly unusual.
Clean-up
Petrotrin is set to double the amount of labour being used to clean up the affected areas.The company, which hired 100 La Brea residents as well as contractors from the area, announced yesterday it would increase the number to 200.The company also said it would increase the heavy equipment used to speed up the exercise, the cost of which is estimated at $5 million."Within the next few days the heavy work will alleviate some of the discomfort that has been caused in La Brea," Hassanali said.
Also within the next three days, residents will be allowed to cook their own meals.Residents were told not to use their stoves and were provided with meals by the company, though several residents complained about the quality of the food.Though Petrotrin says most of the clean-up on beaches was near completion, residual oil north of La Brea would take two weeks to complete.
Petrotrin's health, safety and environment manager Shyam Dyal said all of the areas south of La Brea, including south of Point Fortin, Point Coco beach, John Williams beach front areas, Granville beach and Cedros beach were 100 per cent completed to accepted standards.This means the beaches were clear of visible oil and water quality met Environmental Management Authority (EMA) standards.He said work was still going on at Unity beach but was 90 per cent complete.
The Carat Shed area in La Brea was said to be 85 per cent complete and within a day or two clean-up exercises in Coffee Beach were expected to be completed."We will continue to monitor to ensure that any oil gets to the beach will be managed," Dyal said.Water currents could move the oil and allow it to recontaminate the other beaches.