[oil and gas] passing the buck in the solar 1 oil spill

So far, only one of the Solar 1’s 10 containers has ruptured in the sinking in the Panay Gulf, off Guimaris but this alone has spilt more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the sea.

The slick now stretches across 13 nautical miles of water polluting 1,100 hectares of mangrove and 26 hectares in the Taclong Island Marine Reserve, as well as seaweed plantations and coral reefs containing popular dive sites. The damaged areas are not merely where townsfolk get their source of livelihood; these are protected areas which took years to develop and will again take many years to revive.

About 450,000 gallons are still onboard, and there were fears the seawater and metal stress could corrode or burst, dramatically worsening the situation. Without urgent help to lift a sunken tanker, still loaded with fuel, off the ocean floor, it’s going to get much, much worse.

The tanker is on a seabed some 900 meters deep. The Philippines rushed ships and equipment on Monday to the seas surrounding the central island of Guimaras to stop the oil spill from spreading to other coastal areas. However, Philippine salvage teams are capable of diving only to around 120 feet and so international help is urgently needed.

"We cannot just sit and wait," said Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Coyme, spokesman for the Coast Guard. He said the spill could not be cleaned up for the moment and called raising the tanker the "foremost priority."

The government has asked Indonesia and Japan to send specialist teams to help

The United States has been asked for urgent assistance.

There has been no formal offer of help so far from Tokyo or Jakarta.

Continuous rains and strong winds are hampering efforts to stop the slick from spreading. Skimmer boats are using an oil spill boom to skim off the oil on the water’s surface before it reaches shore. They are also trying to contain it with chemical dispersants

The Coast Guard has ordered Petron Corp., which chartered the tanker, to hire a salvage company

Petron was also ordered to pay for the entire cost of the cleanup, including the fuel for the Coast Guard and other vessels involved.

Residents of Guimaras, including the fishing town of Nueva Valencia, have been asked to use picks, shovels, tall grass, rice husks and other absorbent material for the cleanup, the civil defense office said in a statement.

Petron gave its assurance that it would help in the cleanup but said that the slick is the primary responsibility of the tanker’s owner.

The ship’s captain, Norberto Aguro, gave the order to abandon ship about 4 p.m. Friday but did not raise a distress call.

The Coast Guard came to know about the sinking only on Saturday, when Nueva Valencia officials informed them of the rescue of the crew.

Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. on Thursday urged Sunshine Maritime Development Corp, the owner of the sunken tanker, to pay for the environmental and livelihood damage it caused.

Revilla said Petron should also be held responsible for the rehabilitation and restoration of the affected marine areas.

Meanwhile, 450 000 gallons await below the ocean.