ViceZilla’s Views

As the world celebrated Earth Day on Sunday, Vietnam was still wondering where the oil was coming from, that for the past three months has been washing up on their shores.

Since late January, volunteers and the military have scraped up over 1,600 tons of congealed oil from it’s shores, with no ideas where it could be coming from. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has said the country’s National Search and Rescue Committee has ruled out that the leaking oil could be coming from it’s own offshore oil wells. However the committee has suggested that one possibility for the source of the oil may be a leaking Chinese oil rig south of Hainan Island that was damaged in a typhoon last year.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation, which owns the oil rig, refused to comment when contacted by AFP in Beijing. Now we all know of China’s environmental record, as well as it’s irresponsible custodianship of the ocean and it’s inhabitants. So it’s no wonder that when contacted to comment on the accusation of one of it’s oil rigs possibly leaking, they ignore it.

I’m no Petrochemical Transfer Engineer, but I’m thinking that if there were a mechanical problem on an oil rig, there would be a blinking light, buzzer, or something on a panel to alert somebody there is a problem. Now far be it for me to accuse the Chinese Government of neglect, but if the mysterious oil leak is coming from one of their offshore oil rigs, don’t you think they might want to find and fix the problem? It’s not going to fix itself! Read More Here

Tags: The China Effect //