Spanish government wants to elude responsibility in Prestige eco-catastrophe

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Local people clean up crude oil spilled from the striken 'Prestige' oil tanker on the beach at Malpica, Galacia, Spain.

Greenpeace thinks that the only real solution to reduce the impact of the catastrophe is to transfer the fuel to a cistern ship.

Greenpeace must express its surprise and worry in view of the latest news which state that the ship Prestige is in Portuguese waters. The lack of Government action to perform the transfer of the fuel to a cistern ship in Spanish waters shows the lack of interest to avoid the ecological catastrophe that would take place if all 77,000 tons of fuel oil end up in the ocean.

The information that the Prestige is in Portuguese waters comes from the Delegation of the Government but at the same time they are giving the coordinates (42 º 26 ' 09 N 11 º 24 ' 00 W) of the ship which place it in Pontevedra's waters (Spain). This is another example of the little coordination and the lack of precision in the information offered by the Government since the environmental catastrophe began.

"It is hard to understand this attitude from the Government. They do not want to assume their responsibilities and are trying to deviate the attention. This situation is simply unacceptable ," says Sebastián Losada, Greenpeace Spain Oceans Campaigner

For Greenpeace any solution that does not include the transfer of fuel to another craft, whether it is the sinking of the ship or the incineration of this fuel would not prevent nor minimize the ecological catastrophe, since the toxic compounds would fall on the sea bed or they would be liberated to the atmosphere