GEBE apologises for oil spill

GEBE St Maarten confirmed on Monday that there had been an oil leak at the power plant on Friday, November 9, at 12:11pm. GEBE said a “small amount” of waste oil, which would normally go to the waste oil treatment had run over the drainage pit and leaked into Cay Bay. GEBE gave no estimate of how much oil had spilled. Neither did it explain whether the problem had been due to technical or human error or how the waste oil had managed to spill over into the sea.

“GEBE personnel took immediate action to remedy the situation. The oil damage was limited to outgoing currents of the sea going into the Caribbean Sea; the coastline was not affected,” a release from the company read. “GEBE has taken measures to assure that a similar leak does not happen again. GEBE is aware of the importance of our island’s (red.: St Maarten’s) environment and apologises for this incident.”

Source: “The Daily Herald” 2012-11-13