Eight tons of fuel collected on the Atlantic coast

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recyclinage
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Eight tons of fuel collected on the Atlantic coast




by recyclinage » 30/11/09, 10:38

More than eight tonnes of fuel oil cakes of unknown origin were collected on the beaches of the island of Noirmoutier (Vendée) and on the coast further south, but this pollution was tending to disappear, we learned from firefighters Sunday, November 29 in the evening.
"We are moving towards a return to normal, the pancakes which could reach 60 cm in diameter having ceased to arrive on certain beaches on the coast," said the spokesperson for the Vendée firefighters, Isabelle Forestier.
Eighteen sites were opened during the day in the island communities of Barbâtre, L'Epine, La Guérinière and Noirmoutier and in La-Barre-de-Monts and Notre-Dame-de-Monts, two municipalities on the continent affected by the pollution since Saturday evening.
Only four sites are due to reopen on the island on Monday morning, the other beaches affected by the pollution having been entirely cleaned up on Sunday, according to Isabelle Forestier.
In total, a hundred firefighters and several dozen municipal agents and departmental services were mobilized Sunday for this depollution.
Yellow suit on the back and bucket in hand, the staff were busy on the fine sandy beaches of La-Barre-de-Monts or even Barbâtre, fighting against the gusts of wind.

"Definitely a degassing"

Pellets 2 to 20 cm in diameter also continued to wash up further north, on the Loire-Atlantique coast, in particular in Pornichet, Saint-Brévin-les-Pins, Pornic or even Batz-sur-Mer, a town at the epicenter of the Erika oil spill. “Between one and two tons” of waste were collected there, according to the prefecture. "It was painstaking work", testifies the mayor of Barbâtre, Gérard Guillet.
No trace of pollution at sea was found. But the area has been experiencing unfavorable weather for several days, with strong winds and swells, likely to bring to the surface of previous pollution deposited on the sea bottom, according to an expert.
This hypothesis is however contradicted by Bernard Fichaut, expert in marine pollution, according to which this pollution is rather due to degassing at sea.
According to this geographer from the University of Brest, pellets were found "near Le Conquet (Finistère) about a week ago, certainly coming from degassing". In addition, he stressed, "after the sinking of the Erika at the end of 1999, the oil slicks at the bottom of the sea, close to the coast, were treated".
Samples were taken to try to determine the origin of this pollution. The Brest public prosecutor's office was seized of the case and the investigation entrusted to the maritime gendarmerie.

(Nouvelobs.com with AFP)


http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualit ... tique.html
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