Monagas, Venezuela Oil Spill Fouls Guarapiche River

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Crude oil that spilled from a ruptured pipeline has blackened a river in eastern Venezuela, and the state oil company said workers are containing the spill.

Workers have removed a "good percentage of the crude" from the Guarapiche River in Monagas state, said Ramiro Ramirez, environmental director of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

Ramirez told the state-run Venezuelan News Agency on Friday that workers have been using absorbent barriers to block the crude in the river. He said they have also shut off water intakes along the river, where a drinking water purification plant is located.

State oil company officials said a pipe that transports crude to a processing plant ruptured on Feb. 4. Ramirez didn't say how much crude has spilled. He said officials were investigating what caused the accident.

Gov. Jose Gregorio Briceno said earlier in the week that the government had declared an emergency in Monagas state after the spill forced officials to halt normal water distribution to parts of the city of Maturin, the Venezuela television station Globovision reported.

Briceno said classes have been canceled at schools in affected areas, and public offices have reduced hours due to the water supply problems.

Comments

[JDINTX]

12:01 AM on 02/14/2012

In the socialist paradise? Impossible...more capitalist propaganda !

[dtucker2009]

09:11 PM on 02/12/2012

and the liberals love this guy WHY????????

[traceymarie]

10:19 AM on 02/13/2012

and the bags love pollution, why?

[Bruno Diaz]

01:27 PM on 02/13/2012

Hmmm... but polution is then OK if it is caused by a leftist goverment?

[nathanoj]

04:09 PM on 02/12/2012

"Move along, move along. Nothing to see here." said the Pro-Pollution for Profit lobbyist (Big Oil, Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear). "Everything is fine. Don't worry about a thing."

"But what about the wildlife." said the guy who thought that maybe animals have some rights, not just humans.

"They are fine. The beaches are clean! Don't worry about that rash and the fact that you're vomiting up blood." said the Pro-Pollution for Profit lobbyist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il5GYFEDJfk)

"But what about renewable power? Right now already in some southern states of the U.S, Grid Parity has been reached. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_parity)" said the guy who wanted to waste less energy, and perhaps even provide his own clean renewable energy from wind, solar, geothermal, micro-hydro.

"Nope, it can't be done." said Pro-Pollution for Profit lobbyist.

Then you google and see people are actually living completely off the grid. Some people have been since the 70s. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9EEHFKEckM

It's funny to see how completely incapable these supposed big energy experts are. One guy living out in the woods can live completely on his own energy, pretty much pollution free, but the Pro-Pollution for Profit lobby, representing the most profitable energy companies in the world say it can't be done. LOL!

[dtucker2009]

09:12 PM on 02/12/2012

Dude, you have smoked way to much dope over the years. Do yourself a favor and lay off the fire.

[traceymarie]

10:19 AM on 02/13/2012

troll, try facts sometimes

[Bruno Diaz]

11:36 AM on 02/12/2012

Chavez oil company PDVSA is too busy redistributing petro$ among themselves to pay attention to an already noted faulty pipe.

On another PDVSA ralted news:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120209/us-hedge-fund-venezuela/

[wtf is this]

12:01 AM on 02/12/2012

& we're told pipelines are absolutely safe?

[mhh310351]

01:04 PM on 02/12/2012

much better than trucking it.

[nathanoj]

01:45 PM on 02/12/2012

... and using solar, wind, geothermal, micro-hydro, bio-fuel is safer by far than either.

[dtucker2009]

09:09 PM on 02/12/2012

Seriously?????????

[Errant]

09:04 PM on 02/11/2012

Success or not, I hope this and BP put things into perspective come time to debate Keystone again.

[dtucker2009]

09:10 PM on 02/12/2012

are you really this ignorant?

[Errant]

11:11 PM on 02/12/2012

Are you really that obnoxious or do you have a point somewhere that you are preparing to add to this conversation?

It goes to show accidents happen and represent serious dangers to the communities it (pipeline) go through.

The bigger it is, the more likely something could happen.

That is why I strongly urge people to vote against Keystone pipeline lest we deal with spills like this and worse.

[Bullitt08]

08:10 PM on 02/11/2012

Ah, the inherent problem with Socialism.

You can't expect the government to police itself.

[nathanoj]

03:53 PM on 02/12/2012

... and you can't expect the capitalists to police themselves either.

[Bullitt08]

05:26 PM on 02/12/2012

Exactly the point! Government has to polcie business. Not be the business.

[anairame]

07:38 PM on 02/11/2012

Dear Huffington Post,

if you are not willing to go all the way with the news you post, then don't post them at all. When you quote Ramiro Ramirez stating that a "good percentage of the crude" has been removed, and then leave it like that; your credibility falls of the cliff.

It's been a week since this happened and no actions have been taken. The oil advances over 40km per day and the government is more worried about the news not getting out than taking action; and, unless a "good percentage" is equal to 1-2% of the spillage, then NO. A "good percentage of the crude" has NOT been removed.

Sincerely, '

a very disappointed reader.

[Gas-Bag]

10:18 PM on 02/11/2012

Not that I don't believe you , but you really should accompany your accusation with a source.

[anairame]

11:37 PM on 02/11/2012

I guess you're right. All my sources are in Spanish thou. Either way, here you go:

http://www.lasaeta.net/index.php/locales/2929-desastre-ecologico-petroleo-avanza-40-km-cada-24-horas-por-el-rio

http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2012/02/10/el-estado-venezolano-de-monagas-en-emergencia-por-un-derrame-de-petroleo/

http://noticias.masverdedigital.com/2012/venezuela-declaran-en-emergencia-a-7-parroquias-de-maturin-a-raiz-de-derrame-petrolero/

http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2012/02/11/piden-investigar-derrame-de-petroleo-en-monagas/

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoix8y_la-situacion-en-monagas-a-raiz-del-derrame-petrolero_news

http://www.elestenoticias.com/onsa-denuncia-grave-dano-ambiental-en-monagas

[angusmciver]

11:10 PM on 02/11/2012

Do you have an idea of the size of the spill?

[angusmciver]

07:10 PM on 02/11/2012

'Workers have removed a "good percentage of the crude" from the Guarapiche River in Monagas state'

Workers for Exxon recovered about 1% of the oil from the spill on the Yellowstone River. One %... Good luck Venezuela.

[olitenup]

05:19 PM on 02/11/2012

Oh right...Venezuela is going to clean this up.

Huff Po, do some research on this will you please!

[fds]

02:07 AM on 02/12/2012

Hahaha. Don't expect the lazies at HP to do anything beyond linking others' research and hard work.

[C Sparkman]

08:53 AM on 02/12/2012

OOOOooohh, I thought I was at the Huffington Science Monitor, thanks!

I knew SOMETHING was amis!

[HektorP1992]

03:36 PM on 02/11/2012

There's a total blackout of information about this disaster in my Home Country, Venezuela. The incompetence and the foolishness of the goverment of not doing the usual maintenance of the oil refinery plants, the hiring of personnel of dubious skills and the rampant corruption of the goverment officials, including of a total media blackout in the venezuelan press, make this spill, one of the worst ecological disasters in history. There are thousands of people exposed to this, and the goverment won't do nothing to stop this. Please people of the World, Help us to uncover this blackout and pass this information to every media that you can.

[John Lonergan]

07:04 AM on 02/12/2012

Thank you, Hektor; but this is the first I've heard of it, as well. We know all about the unethical government of Chavez, but the "news" we get here in the U.S. isn't much better. The oil companies are major financial supporters of our mainstream media and I doubt they will try to research this and inform the American people of the unfortunate situation in Venezuela. At this time, our media advocating the building of the Keystone pipeline and this particular disaster is something I'm sure they don't want to publicize.

[C Sparkman]

08:57 AM on 02/12/2012

Thank you, John; but this particular disaster is unethical. But in the news people, the unfortunate situation in Venezeuela, is omething I'm sure, we all know, I doubt they will try and research.

[C Sparkman]

09:00 AM on 02/12/2012

John, what color is your prius? If you are the supervisor, how can you supervise yourself?