Lebanon sees environmental devastation

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060801/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_environment_lh1_2

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Endangered turtles die shortly after hatching from their eggs. Fish float dead off the coast. Flaming oil sends waves of black smoke toward the city.

In this country of Mediterranean beaches and snowcapped mountains, Israeli bombing that caused an oil spill has created an environmental disaster. And cleanup cannot start until the fighting stops, the U.N. says.

World attention has focused on the hundreds of people who have died in the 3-week-old conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The environmental damage has attracted little attention but experts warn the long-term effects could be devastating.

Some 110,000 barrels of oil poured into the Mediterranean two weeks ago after Israeli warplanes hit a coastal power plant. One tank is still burning, sending thick black smoke across the country.

Compounding the problem is an Israeli naval blockade and continuing military operations that have made any cleanup impossible. And environmental officials say the longer the problem is allowed to go unchecked, the greater the lasting damage.



Smoke rises from fuel storage containers at a power plant that was hit a number of of days ago in an Israeli missile strike in Jiyeh, Lebanon, south of Beirut, Friday, July 28, 2006. Much of Lebanon's coastline is now awash with crude oil believed to originate from the Jiyeh power plant, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Lebanese capital, which has been ablaze since it was targeted by Israeli airstrikes and is said to have leaked 15,000 tons of oil into the Mediterranean sea, according to local environmental organisations. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

[Purveyor]

1. Note that we are seeing very little, if any coverage of this

disaster on the US televised media.

But by god, they are covering Mel Gibson's tirade...

[et in Arcadia ego]

2. cheers

You're doing a HECKUVA job, Israel..

:banghead:

[daleo]

3. 110,000 barrels = about 4.62 million gallons

Exxon Valdez was about 11 million (maybe more). So this is about half a valdez, so far.

http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/exxon.htm

[sasha031]

4. this is all so depressing

our once beautiful planet being destroyed by the insane.:cry:

[Barkley]

5. Oh, I bet the Lebanese/ Hizbollah blew this up and blame Israel...

end of sarcasim.