|
CGA finally able to clean up oil spills
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER:
Although it was formed two and a half years ago, the Coast Guard only recently acquired the ability to handle oil spills on its own
By Brian Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jul 22, 2002, Page 4
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) recently announced that it has acquired self-sufficient oil spill handling capabilities -- an objective that the CGA couldn't reach until just two and a half years after its inauguration.
CGA deputy director Yu Chien-tzu (´å°®½ç) made the announcement last week at a press conference.
"The CGA is now capable of handling oil spills of major kinds that the country has experienced. But we cannot guarantee we can deal with all sorts of oil contamination that could happen. We have a lot to improve," Yu said.
"To build oil-spill response capabilities, we have spent NT$90 million buying various sorts of required equipment. We have also sent personnel abroad to learn from countries that have long-term experience in the field," he said.
Yu himself went to England in mid-June to take a two-week course on oil-spill response at an international-renowned company specializing in the area. Yu was the highest-ranked among 12 CGA officials sent for the course.
Yu said they learned a lot from the course provided by South Hampton-based Oil Spill Response Ltd, which is a company jointly invested by 26 oil companies in Britain.
During the course, Yu volunteered to participate in operations of oil-spill handling equipment, which was quite unusual for a high-ranking government official of his level to do.
Besides the training of personnel, the CGA has bought NT$90 million in equipment such as sorbent, booms, skimmers, dispersant and personal-protective suits for oil-spill handling personnel.
The equipment is now stored evenly at three CGA bases in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
Despite having the equipment, the CGA has yet to become capable of responding quickly to oil spills.
What the CGA lacks now is special vessels whose main functions are to carry and deploy oil-spill handling equipment such as booms and skimmers.
To overcome the deficiency, the CGA is scheduled to build between 2003 and 2006 a 600-tonne oil-spill response ship, which is to be based in Tamsui.
The CGA plans at the same time to convert four 35-tonne patrol boats to oil-spill response vessels, which could be completed earlier than building the new 600-tonne ship.
According to relevant laws, the CGA is the government agency responsible for handling ocean oil spills, a mission it has been assigned since the very day it became operational two and a half years ago.
But the CGA couldn't claim to have acquired oil-spill response capabilities until only recently, after it overcame two main difficulties -- budgetary constraints and lack of specialized personnel in the field.
The CGA was caught almost unprepared early last year after a Greece-registered oil tanker ran aground near Kenting, bringing a large-scale oil contamination to the otherwise beautiful coastline, CGA officials said.
On the Net:
http://www.cga.gov.tw
This story has been viewed 1540 times.
|
Print
Mail
wiki links