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China's Oil Spill in the Yellow Sea


            With the devastation of BP's recent oil spill still heavy on our minds, China released news of a similar environmental tragedy on July 16th after a pipeline owned by China National Petroleum Corporation exploded in the Yellow Sea, immediately sparking a 15-hour fire consisting of 100-foot flames (Uncoverage). China's crisis is one of a lesser degree than the crisis in the Gulf, according to the Associated Press, who reported that the spill had only spread over 165 square miles, just a small area compared to the 2,700 square miles covered by BP's oil spill (Adams). MSNBC.com further reported that China's spill released approximately 400,000 gallons of oil as compared to the 94 million to 184 million gallons now polluting the Gulf, although The Huffington Post believes the damage is dramatically underestimated. They estimate that the storage tank had a capacity of 27.7 million gallons and had just refilled. According to them, more oil has been collected in the cleanup process than was reported to have been leaked. .
             The explosion occurred after workers continually injected an agent to strip sulfur from oil after an oil storage tank was replenished by a tanker. Afterwards, workers released oil from other tanks in the area to prevent another explosion (The Huffington Post). .
             Cleanup efforts were much more immediate than those that followed the Gulf incident. 40 oil-skimming vessels and 800 boats reported for duty within a few days, releasing oil-eating bacteria to begin the cleanup process (Adams). Nearly 9 miles of oil barriers were utilized to contain the oil and keep it from spreading to international waters. Straw mats were also placed along the beach to help soak up the oil. Thousands of officials, oil company workers, and volunteers flooded the beaches with nothing more than rubber gloves and chopsticks (MSNBC.com). Steiner, who has experience in this area after working on the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989, applauded the efforts, "Very low-tech.


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