By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Inquirer Visayas
THE “chocolate mousse” in the Guimaras oil spill is not a delectable dessert.
The globules of oil and water are products of emulsification formed by a mixture of small droplets of oil and water while being tossed by waves.
Water entering the viscous oil blobs further makes the “chocolate mousse” sticky and less free flowing. The blobs sink, giving the false impression that it is gone and the threat to the environment has ended.
Scientists say the clean-up operations of the Aug. 11 oil spill caused by the sinking of the MT Solar I tanker carrying 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel oil off southern Guimaras may have removed the unsightly blanket of black matter on the beaches of some coastal villages, but its effects remain.
Bunker fuel oil is toxic, viscous, corrosive, pollutive and persistent and does not degrade rapidly. In fact, chemical dispersants are not effective against it.
(For the full story, click Guimaras mousse, Sept. 23, 2006.)
