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Soiled Sands in Thailand
Photograph by Athit Perawongmetha, Reuters
Members of Thailand's military dressed in white hazmat suits shovel oil-soaked sand from Ao Prao Beach on Thailand's Samet Island (map) on Monday after crude oil from a leak out at sea washed ashore.
The oil spill happened on July 27 about 12 miles (20 kilometers) off the coast of Thailand's Rayong province, located southeast of the capital city of Bangkok. The source was a pipeline operated by PTT Global Chemical, a subsidiary of the state-owned oil and gas company. The company estimates that about 13,000 gallons (50,000 liters) of heavy crude oil escaped into the Gulf of Thailand. (See related quiz: "What You Don't Know About Oil Spills.")
Doug Helton, incident operations coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the cleanup workers in Thailand are likely taking a "triage approach" to cleaning up the spill.
"The first step in any spill is controlling the source of the oil," Helton explained. "The next step is to pick up all of the loose, mobile oil that might still be moving around. And the last stage will be the cleanup of the shore itself."
—Ker Than
This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.
Published July 30, 2013
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Vulnerable Reefs and Forests
Photograph by Jan Wlodarczyk, Alamy
Fish swim in the waters of a beach on Thailand's Samet Island in this photograph taken before the popular tourist destination was affected by an oil spill that occurred over the weekend.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia called on PTT Global Chemical to conduct a followup study on the spill's impact on marine life, according to United Press International.
Coral reefs and mangrove forests are common along Thailand's shorelines and could be particularly vulnerable to oil spills, said NOAA's Helton, who has helped coordinate the cleanup response of oil spills such as the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010. (See related pictures: "Ten New Studies Show Gulf Spill Impact.")
"Mangroves grow right in the intertidal zone and use their roots for respiration," he explained, "so if you coat their roots with oil, that can affect the viability of the plants."Published July 30, 2013
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Black Tides
Photograph from European Pressphoto Agency
Black waves of crude oil-contaminated seawater wash ashore on a beach on Samet Island, one of Thailand's most popular tourist destinations, on Monday.
PTT Global Chemical Plc, the company in charge of the 16-inch pipeline that leaked the oil, said it detected the spill when crude oil from a tanker moored offshore was being transferred to the pipeline for delivery to a PTT refinery.
"The top priorities right now are to get rid of the oil on the sand and the seawater, and to make sure the spill doesn't spread to other shores," Rayong Deputy Gov. Supeepat Chongpanish told the Associated Press.
"This is a very beautiful, white, sandy beach, so we want to make the spill go away as soon as possible," he said of the Prao Bay shore.
An official with the government's Marine and Coastal Resource Conservation Center was quoted saying that this week's spill is the biggest in Rayong province's history and the first to affect Samet Island.
Published July 30, 2013
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A Blow for Tourism
Photograph by Athit Perawongmetha, Reuters
Members of the Thai military haul buckets of oil-coated sand and garbage bags stuffed with cleanup waste at a beach on Samet Island.
The beach has been closed by Thailand's tourism authorities, and tourists have been warned to stay away as 300 or so workers attempt to remove the oil from the sand and water.
"We have advised our guests against going near the beach and some of them have asked for early check-outs," Kevin Wikul, the assistant front desk officer at a resort in Prao Bay, told the Associated Press.
The contaminated sand will likely just be removed from the beach, NOAA's Helton said. "It can be reclaimed, but typically it's very complicated to get the sand cleaned in a time frame that the tourist officials would want." (See related pictures: "X PRIZE Contest Seeks a Better Oil Spill Cleanup Solution" and story: "Illinois Team Wins Oil Spill Cleanup X CHALLENGE.")Published July 30, 2013
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A Raft of Waste
Photograph by Athit Perawongmetha, Reuters
Garbage bags filled with waste from the cleanup effort are gathered into a pile on Ao Prao Beach on Thailand's Samet Island, which was contaminated by crude oil from an offshore spill that happened over the weekend.
NOAA's Helton said the disposal of the cleanup waste will depend on its makeup. If it consists mostly of oil, beach sand, and seawater, it may be possible to reclaim some of the oil.
"Or if there's a lot of woody debris and other things mixed in, it could be burned in a controlled way ... or taken to a landfill or someplace where they can use the sand and oil for making asphalt and other things," Helton explained.Published July 30, 2013
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Cleanup Continues
Photograph from European Pressphoto Agency
A cleanup participant stands atop an oil absorbing sheet to soak up crude oil that washed ashore on Thailand's Samet Island Monday.
About the size of a newspaper, the sheets are designed to absorb oil but not water, NOAA's Helton explained.
Workers are also using booms made of the oil-absorbent material to prevent contaminated water from reaching shore.
The booms "absorb the oil but also help keep it from spreading," Helton said.
PTT Global Chemical has apologized for the oil spill and said the cleanup will likely be completed within three days.
NOAA's Helton said workers might be able to clean up much of the "gross contamination" in that time frame, but restoring the beach to its pre-spill condition could take much longer.
"The last 10 percent [of a cleanup] takes as much time as the first 90 percent," Helton said.
Published July 30, 2013
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Next: Arkansas Oil Spill Darkens Backyards
Photograph by Jacob Slaton, Reuters
Published July 30, 2013
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