Show Date: August 23, 2006 
Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond. Join us each week on Newstalk K57 on Wednesday night from 7 to 8 p.m. for exciting live science expeditions or listen live on our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com

We talk a lot on The Deep about the environment. Global warming is one of our frequent topics. Global warming affects us all, but this week we’ll be talking about disasters of a more localized nature that are a little closer to home.

There’s been a major oil spill off one of the most beautiful islands in the Philippines. The Petron oil tanker Solar 1 sank of the southern coast of Guimaras Island on 11 August 2006 in heavy seas. Two crew members were lost. Solar 1 was carrying half a million gallons of fuel oil and she sank in 3000 feet of water. It’s estimated that Solar 1 has spilled almost 100,000 gallons of oil since it sank, causing one of the Philippines' worst oil spills. The oil slick has damaged some 200 miles of coastline, 1,235 acres of mangroves and 150 acres of seaweed plantations, and affected the lives and livelihood of 26,000 villagers in Guimaras. Two coastal villages in nearby Iloilo province have reported that oil residues have reached their shores and six more are threatened. The slick could spread to two nearby provinces and destroy rich fishing grounds in the Visayan Sea.

So why should we care? Well, if you’re a mango lover you should care a lot. According to the WOW Philippines website (http://www.tourism.gov.ph) “Guimaras is home of the famous and the best export-quality mangoes in the Philippines, and hosts the “Manggahan Festival”. But the real problem is the threat to fishing resources. The tanker still holds most of the oil she sank with, and poses an environmental time bomb.

New reports have surfaced that imply this disaster could have been prevented. Industry sources say that Solar I shouldn’t have been contracted by Petron Corp. to transport oil. They describe the obsolete, single-hull tanker as a disaster waiting to happen. And the initial findings from a Board of Marine Inquiry investigation reveal that the safety management certificate of Solar 1 had already expired. Moreover, the board suspended the ship’s captain Norberto Aguro, for failing to undergo oil tanker training and management.

We’ll be talking about how the Philippines is handling this disaster in the face of local corruption and massive world indifference this week on The Deep.

Then we’ll move to an environmental disaster that’s a lot closer to home. If you live in one of Guam’s southern villages, you’ve had a very uncomfortable, dry and smelly summer. Water may be flowing out of your tap now; but if those heavy rains start again, there’s certainly no guarantee it will continue to do so. So what’s up with the Navy and Fena Lake? How come they haven’t been maintaining their equipment so it can cope with all the heavy rain?

The short answer is that it’s not the Navy’s fault. There has been an unprecedented amount of dirt, soil, rocks, erosion runoff whatever you want to call it, pouring into Fena Lake. And where is it coming from? Well, Fena is in the drainage basin of all of central southern Guam and if you live down south or make trips down there you’ve noticed something strange happening over the last few years. The land is bleeding. Everywhere you look you see large and small red depressions that look like weirdly colored lakes.

They’ve always been there, but over the last 25 years, their numbers have exploded. That’s because the underlying dirt in southern Guam is red and the grass and topsoil is being ripped from the land by a very specific cause. And no, it’s not wildfires: it’s offroading. Offroad vehicles are ripping the landscape to shreds with their gigantic tires. All that unprotected dirt has to go somewhere; and guess where it’s going? On an express trip into YOUR water supply! Join us this week as Dr. Mohammed Golabi joins The Deep panel to talk about the state of Guam’s water.

The Deep is broadcast on Newstalk K57 every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. You can also listen live from our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com. Join Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick, and Peter Melyan on the deepest radio show on Earth.