Tanker with 1,500 tonnes of oil sinks off Philippines

tal , 11 hours ago

If it doesn’t leak and it’s close enough to Manila and thus shallow, I wonder if the oil can be economically-salvaged? Like, probably would be preferable not to have it just waiting there until it does start leaking.

dudeami0 , 11 hours ago

Most oil is not economically salvaged due to the low cost of extraction from wells. At best they’ll try to burn it off, at worst they just won’t give a shit.

tal , 11 hours ago

goes looking

It sounds like the US does pay attention to sunken ships with substantial amounts onboard near US shores, and has removed oil before, but also, sounds like this is the government being concerned about the spill potential rather than companies with interest in valuable salvage:

…noaa.gov/oil-be-removed-sunken-wwii-tanker-near-…

Oil to be Removed from Sunken WWII Tanker near Long Island

The Coimbra is one of 87 wrecks prioritized for oil pollution risk in a 2010 NOAA study — a continuation of the Remediation of Underwater Legacy Environmental Threats (RULET) project, a joint effort with the Coast Guard to address threats from vessels sunk off U.S. shores that contain significant volumes of oil. After looking into about 20,000 known shipwrecks, the two agencies identified the 87 high level risk wrecks. Those sites are routinely monitored by the NOAA Satellite and Information Service Satellite Analysis Branch.

I suppose that dealing with sunken vessels without salvage potential probably isn’t super-high on anyone’s priority list.

Periodically on British and European forums, I’ve seen discussion about a sunken WW2 ammunition ship at the mouth of the Thames; an explosion would cause a lot of damage to buildings near the shore. The Brits have a fair amount of money, the thing is not in a great place, and the wreck is in shallow water, with the ships masts above water, so accessible, and they still haven’t removed it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

I suppose that if they aren’t going to try to remove those explosives, removing oil from a potentially-deeper wreck probably is even less-likely.

shalafi , 11 hours ago

Fuck. And they just rode out a typhoon. My wife was showing me pics of the airport back home in Manila, totally flooded out.

DancingBear , 11 hours ago

Meh, this is only 461,790 gallons or so. Willing to wager we spill far more than this every day into the ocean just by regular drilling.

The issue would be how close this is and can it impact any tourist sights etc.

Otherwise nobody will pay to have it dealt with.

If you think world governments and corporations care about climate change…. Haha

We all need to commute 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to work every day here in the USA.

But damn if I’m going to use a plastic straw

lurch , 9 hours ago

Basically you’re saying “Let’s not fix anything, because several things are broken.”

I think, we gotta start somewhere.

FlyingSquid , 6 hours ago

“Stop complaining. We only put a little rat poison in your food. That other restaurant puts a lot of rat poison in your food.”

Bumblefumble , 5 hours ago

If you think world governments and corporations care about climate change…. Haha

A lot actually do, that’s why progress is happening, although not nearly fast enough.

We all need to commute 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to work every day here in the USA.

You don’t need to. A lot of people have much shorter commutes. But yes I agree with you, the US is way too suburbanised, and people need to push for more urbanization, 15 minute cities, etc.

But damn if I’m going to use a plastic straw

There are hundreds of things that we need to change in the fight to be sustainable. This is one of them. Just because it’s not everything doesn’t make it not worthwhile.