EMB orders La Union depot shut down after oil spill

DAGUPAN CITY—The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) issued a cease and desist order to oil depot operators at Poro Point in San Fernando City after thousands of liters of oil leaked from the depot’s pipelines on Tuesday.

Joel Salvador, EMB regional director, said the leak occurred when MV Panglao was discharging oil into the pipelines of Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), one of the companies that share the depot. The two other companies are Shell and Petron.

CPI, in a statement on Thursday, said the spill occurred as the depot’s common receiving line sprung a leak while it was receiving diesel.

Salvador said the spill violated the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 (Republic Act No. 8749) and the depot operations should cease until a cleanup is completed and the pipelines are repaired.

Adamor Dagang, La Union information officer, said Gov. Manuel Ortega has ordered an investigation.

He said CPI officials attended a meeting and committed to reimburse all expenses incurred by the provincial government and the San Fernando City government to contain the spill and clean the area.

“They were apologetic,” Dagang said.

Salvador said records of MV Panglao showed that it discharged 530,000 liters of oil into the depot. He said the amount of oil that spilled was still undetermined.

The area around the vessel was clear so the leak could not have come from it, he said.

He said some residents living near Poro Point collected the spilled diesel from the water.

CPI, in its statement, said it completed recovering the spilled diesel in its San Fernando terminal.

“We have closed our containment and recovery operations at the site,” said lawyer Raissa Bautista, CPI spokesperson. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon and Amy Remo in Manila