DisastersEmergency cleanup plans for potential Cuban oil spill
With Cuba set to begin offshore drilling, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pressing the United States to immediately begin developing emergency plans to assist Cuba in the event of a major oil spill
With Cuba set to begin offshore drilling, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pressing the United States to immediately begin developing emergency plans to assist Cuba in the event of a major oil spill.
“It seems to me to be profoundly in the interest of the United States to ensure that, if there should be a spill in Cuban waters, all efforts are undertaken by both government and private entities in the United States to assist in responding,” said William Reilly, the administrator of the EPA under President George H. W. Bush and the co-chair of the commission that examined the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Reilly warns that ostracizing Cuba as it readies the launch of its first offshore oil rig could jeopardize environmental safety along the coast of the United States.
The remarks come after a meeting with Cuban officials last week. Cuba is determined to begin offshore drilling and Reilly said officials there are looking to obtain expertise and technology from the United States.
Respol, a Spanish oil company, has plans to dig at least one oil well off the coast of Cuba in November using a Chinese-built rig.
Currently Cuba produces about 50,000 barrels of oil a day and imports nearly 120,000 barrels from Venezuela, so a discovery of significant oil reserves could greatly change Cuba’s economic fortunes.
Reilly visited Cuba as part of a delegation organized by the Environmental Defense Fund and the International Association of Drilling Contractors who worry about the prospects of Cuba beginning to drill without proper access to safety equipment.
Members of the delegation are particularly concerned about how drilling companies working in Cuban waters will obtain safety equipment like capping stacks or blowout preventers from the United States to prevent spills or mitigate their effect.
The U.S. Treasury Department has said that it will allow American companies to operate in Cuba despite the economic embargo, but it will only issue licenses to do so on a case-by-case basis. Industry experts say the licenses need to be broad in their scope.
