FOR ALL intents and purposes it’s all over but the shouting. Well, there was really no shouting save for some insignificant shrill voices that were soon drowned out by actual doable solutions immediately implemented.
As the English would say with a bit of French flavor, Le Affair AC Energy is done and dusted with almost everyone happy and satisfied.
If you’ve just tuned in, Le Affair AC Energy is a July 3, 2020 explosion at Power Barge 102 owned and operated by AC Energy (a member of the Ayala Group) which tore a large hole in its hull and leaked bunker fuel.
According to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) station in Iloilo, 268,948 liters of bunker fuel leaked from the barge, affecting coastal villages in Iloilo City and neighboring areas.
This incident had the potential to be a major ecological disaster and could have been if not for the quick thinking of AC Energy’s people on the ground. They immediately responded to stave off the looming eco-disaster.
To recap, these were AC Energy’s responses from Day One: The leakage was contained at around 10 p.m. on July 3 with the rapid deployment of more than 170 combined personnel of the company and the Philippine Coast Guard with 14 boats and multilayered spill booms, and those from Petron Corp. and Global Business Power Corp.
After containment, the company and the coastguard immediately started recovery of the remaining floating residue. Recovery capacity was increased with additional oil skimming equipment from Shell Philippines the following morning and another from the company’s Power Barge 103 the next day.
“The company then engaged Harbor Star, a leading maritime services provider, to finish the cleanup of the waters and the coastline, beginning with the inlet areas, followed by the coast, and then any offshore areas to recover and safely disperse any remaining oil residue.
AC Energy also tapped US-based AECOM as third-party consultant to assist the company in the cleanup activities.
And this is my favorite: instead of housing the families affected by the oil spill in your usual cramped and uncomfortable public school classrooms which served as evacuation centers, this was what AC Energy did:
About 336 families, or 1,240 individuals, from five evacuation centers were transferred to three hotels located in Mandurriao District here, namely, the District 21, the Diversion 21 and the Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo, according to Gabino Ramon Mejia, head of plant operations of AC Energy Philippines.
“We provided them with air-conditioned rooms with toilets and television sets. We also shouldered their food until they can return to their homes,” he added.
Now that’s thinking out of the box.
As of this writing, the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 6 disclosed last week that it recorded zero presence of hydrogen sulfide and there was a very safe level of benzene – chemicals that could be found in petroleum oils.
Of the 268,948.61 liters of bunker oil spilled as verified by the coastguard, some 95 percent have already been recovered by AC Energy’s cleanup team.
The remaining five percent are floaters which naturally evaporate or either stick to sea walls, or carried away by tidal movements.
Wait, there’s more. AC Energy together with AECOM also presented its spill assessment update and criteria called Shoreline Clean-up and Assessment Technique (SCAT).
This method, based on international standards, is used to survey and document the impact of spills on shorelines, the effectiveness of cleanup activities, and conduct of post-cleanup inspections and evaluations.
The assessment includes fisheries and mangrove rehab.
And to assure all parties concerned and those affected by the bunker fuel oil spill that this is not just a one-off thing, AC Energy promised the following: completion of oil spill cleanup, that water quality would be restored to safe levels, continued monitoring of air quality, proper collection and disposal of oil contaminated materials and wastes and rehabilitation of affected mangrove and fisheries areas.
Well played, indeed./PN
