5-step 'remediation' process will likely extend oil pipeline’s closure to next year
December 07, 2010
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
November 25, 2010, 8:12pm
MANILA, Philippines – The five-step ‘remediation process’ leading to the environmental clean-up of the oil leak at West Tower condominium and the environs of Bangkal in Makati may stretch the closure of the Batangas-Manila oil pipeline to next year.
Based on the step-by-step process presented by CH2MHill, an international decontamination and environmental firm specializing in undertaking remediation plans that was tapped by the First Philippine Industrial Corporation, it was noted that the second of the first two steps alone, which is data gathering, may already take two to three weeks.
CH2MHill project manager Edmund Piquero Jr. though intimated that the pipeline may not necessarily be closed while the ‘remediation processes’ are being undertaken.
Based on the company’s experience, it was noted that a similar case in Malaysia, but for which the affected residents and areas have been of greater scale, the entire length of the remediation process up to the clean-up phase took seven months.
Piquero albeit qualified it is a case-to-case basis since there are also procedures that must be observed and they can be different across jurisdictions, such as how fast the concerned government agencies be able to work on applications for such undertakings.
At this point, any attempt even on the part of the government agencies to re-commence the pipeline’s operation is hurdled by the Writ of Kalikasan, with environmental protection order, issued by the Supreme Court.
It has been reckoned that the pipeline still remains as the safest way to transfer oil products to the metropolis, as compared to having the Metro Manila thoroughfares swamped with tank trucks delivering supply on a daily basis. Apart from potential fire hazard, such arrangement also triggers monstrous traffic to the consternation of the commuting public.
With the extended closure of the oil pipeline, the two companies depending on the facility for the transfer of their products to their depots in Pandacan will continue to be encumbered with product run-out at their pumps, even during the high-demand period of Christmas holidays.
The dire strait of the two affected oil firms though have been creating opportunities for their market rivals, who by the end of the year, may be laughing their way to the banks on enhanced profits due to the shift of sales volumes.