‘Mindoro oil spill cleanup 65% complete’

A power firm said it has contained and cleaned up around 65 percent of the areas affected by an oil spill from its storage tank in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.

DMCI Power Corp. clarified yesterday that only 2.5 and not 10 hectares of rice fields aside from a hectare of grassland were affected.

The company said it installed skimmers, booms and absorbent pillows and hired over 300 local workers, mostly residents and affected farmers, to help in round-the-clock cleanup operations.

DMCI Power said over a hundred drums of oily water and 729 sacks of oil-contaminated materials were removed and treated by a company accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

DMCI Power said it expects to complete the cleanup in the next two weeks at the latest, depending on the weather in the area.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Management Bureau is looking into DMCI Power’s possible violations of environmental standards.

The DENR said the company should address the pollution caused by the oil spill.