Another Brazilian Tanker Leaks, Fouling 12 Beaches

Brazil’s state oil giant Petrobras, criticized for a string of spills this year, reported another leak when a tanker oozed 22,700 gallons of crude oil onto beaches in a popular resort area, officials said Sunday.

A tanker leased by Petrobras crashed into a concrete pier and split open its hull while docking at a terminal in Sao Sebastiao Bay in northern Sao Paulo state.

The oil washed up on 12 local beaches--six on the mainland and six on the nearby island of Ilhabela, a magnet for the region’s tourism. Petrobras has deployed most of its emergency workers there in a containment and cleanup operation.

“There’s a team working on it. Petrobras has around 300 people there [in Ilhabela] trying to contain it and clean it up,” said Eli Cereza, spokeswoman at Sao Paulo state’s environment secretariat. The secretariat at first expected the slick to disperse at sea.

“It’s also approaching a mangrove area but with a much smaller amount than happened in Rio,” she said, referring to Petrobras’ high-profile disaster in January.

On that occasion, a pipeline ruptured and dumped more than 343,000 gallons into Rio de Janeiro’s scenic Guanabara Bay, killing birds, fish and plants.

The slick was stopped before it could reach the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, and Petrobras was forced to pay a fine of $30 million.

This latest spill, which occurred Saturday, caused a slick measuring about 492 feet after oil leaked into the bay for 20 minutes before the hole could be sealed.