Lebanon Oil Spill May Rival Exxon Valdez of 1989, UN Says

[cal04]

Lebanon's oil spill, caused by Israeli bombardment of oil storage units at a power plant, may rival the leakage of the Exxon Valdez in 1989 if left untreated, the United Nations Environment Program said.

``In the worst case scenario, and if all the oil contained in the bombed power plant at Jiyyeh leaked into the Mediterranean Sea, the Lebanese oil spill could well rival the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989,'' the UN said in an e-mailed statement today.

The spill has yet to be cleaned up or assessed more than three weeks after the bombing of the coastal Jiyyeh power plant south of Beirut because of the continuation of hostilities, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, said in the statement.

The spill, which has polluted around two-thirds of the Lebanese coast and spread into neighboring Syria, may threaten East Mediterranean countries such as Cyprus and Turkey, Lebanon's Environment Minister Yacoub Sarraf has said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axANnF12vLNk&refer=home

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