Archived press release

Opposition to New Oil Threat in South Wales

19 April 1996

In the wake of the Sea Empress disaster, Friends of the Earth is calling on local people in South Wales to oppose plans to burn orimulsion - a dirty, tar-like fuel from Venezuela - at Pembroke Power Station [1].Campaigners are urging the community to lobby the new Pembrokeshire County Council to reject plans for a jetty to import the fuel and export waste.

Pembrokeshire County Council are expected to make a decision on the jetty application in early June. If rejected, a public inquiry could follow. This is the first controversial planning decision the new Council has to make.

Friends of the Earth believes that if a tanker carrying orimulsion hit the rocks off the Welsh coast the disaster could be worse than the Sea Empress. Orimulsion, unlike normal oil, does not float on the surface, but dissolves in water. This makes it difficult to clean up using conventional methods.

The fuel contains a chemical which is know to have gender-bender'effects, damaging the reproductive system of species [2]. Far from harmlessly dispersing, the dissolved orimulsion would be taken up by marine plants and animals and build up in the food chain, posing a risk to wildlife and human health.

Gordon James, Head of Campaigns for FOE Cymru, said:

"This proposal could harm some of our most valuable wildlife sites. It is a large construction project next to two Sites of Special Scientific Interest[3] and in the middle of a proposed Special Area of Conservation. They deserve the maximum level of protection."

The jetty construction would require seabed blasting and dredging of about a million tonnes of material in the centre of a protected fish nursery[4].

There is also concern about shipping safety and the impact on recreational activity. The site for the jetty is popular for personal water craft use and retired pilot boat captains have warned that the jetty would pose a hazard to shipping in the Haven.

Gordon James concluded:

"The Sea Empress disaster showed that port safety and anti-pollution measures at Milford Haven are inadequate. We must not risk another accident with even worse consequences to wildlife, human health, and the fishing and tourism industry of South Wales."

NOTES

[1] Pembroke Power Station is owned by National Power, who propose to convert it from Residual Fuel Oil to orimulsion. The application for the jetty is being made by the Milford Haven Port Authority.

[2] Nonyl phenol.

[3] Angle Bay SSSI and Pembroke River & Pwllcrochan Flats SSSI.

[4] The blasting will take place in the centre of a protected sea bass nursery and adjacent to important herring and flatfish spawning sites.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust