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The Jiyeh Power Station oil spill is an environmental disaster caused by the release of heavy fuel oil into the eastern Mediterranean after storage tanks at the thermal power station in Jiyeh, Lebanon, south of Beirut, were bombed by the Israeli Air force on July 14 and July 15, 2006 during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. The plant's damaged tanks leaked up to 30,000 tonnes of oil into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, A 10 km wide oil slick covered 170 km of coastline,〔(DLR: Oil Spill at the Lebanese Coast )〕 and threatened Turkey and Cyprus. The slick killed fish, threatened the habitat of endangered green sea turtles, and potentially increased the risk of cancer. Earlier reports compared the scale of the oil spill to that of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. However, later assessment found that the volume spilled was 30 000 tonnes of the higher estimates compared to 42 000 tonnes For Exxon Valdez oil spill. The coastline affected was between 150–170 km, while the Exxon Valdez oil spill affected 2,100 km of coastline. Since the cleanup operations were delayed by four weeks, there have been a more serious long-term effects from this oil spill compared to the Exxon Valdez According to Lebanon's Environment Minister Yacoub Sarraf, Israeli jets deterred firemen from putting out the fire at the storage units, which continued for 10 days, and the Israeli Navy blockade stopped Lebanese and foreign officials from surveying the damage of the spill. ==Effects== The spill affected one-third of Lebanon's coastline. Beaches and rocks were covered in a black sludge up to Byblos, north of Beirut and extended in to the southern parts of Syria. The slick killed fish, and threatens the habitat of the endangered green sea turtle as well as the endangered logger head sea turtle.〔 *On 31 July the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) expressed its "grave concern" about oil pollution in Lebanese coastal waters. The oil slick was at the time reported to cover one third of the coastline (10 miles) and it was considered possible that the eventual slick could reach 35,000 tons of oil. Malta-based Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre (REMPEC) for the Mediterranean, which advised the Lebanese government, reportedly said "a very small quantity of tar balls" also reached the Syrian coast in the north.〔 The UNEP later revised those concerns and has stated that long-term damage from this incident has been avoided. Already in 2007, one year after the spill, the UNEP published a report that indicated that the regularly occurring anthropogenic stress from untreated sewage, boating and other activities is a greater stress on the Lebanese marine environment than the oil spill. The report indicated that the disposal of the waste from the temporary storage during the cleanup was only major issue remaining. *The Lebanese Environment Minister said, "Up until now 20,000 to 30,000 tons heavy fuel oil have spilled out into the sea," "Until now, the worst ecological disasters have taken place in the oceans and it's the first time that an oil spill has happened outside the open sea," "We can have no illusions." "If nothing is done, not only will currents flowing towards the north mean that one third of Lebanon's coastline be hit, but also Cyprus, Syria, Turkey, Greece and even Israel," "The fauna and the Mediterranean ecosystem risk suffering badly and certain species are threatened with extinction," "I have appealed to Britain, Italy, Spain, the United States, all the countries which have already suffered oil slicks to ask for technical assistance as we cannot act on our own," Lebanese Environment Minister Yacub Sarraf said. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jiyeh Power Station oil spill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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