Oil spill did not pose serious threat

On Thursday, an oil spill stretched on eight miles of the George Price Highway from Jaguar Paw to La Democracia. The Department of the Environment today provided further details, confirming that a vehicle transporting diesel was responsible for the spill. The highway remains covered with the fuel, and according to DOE, while the spill is not detrimental to the environment, it creates a road safety concern.

Martin Alegria, Chief Environmental Officer, D.O.E.

Martin Alegria

“We discovered it was an ordinary diesel tank; those storage tanks two hundred gallons or so—due to carelessness; that’s already determined by the driver of the trailer that was carrying this. From the gas station in Belmopan to the Quarry Site around the Coastal and on the way had to do some errands and ran into Jaguar Paw, but because of the rough roads and the carelessness, it began to spill and again didn’t realize what was happening until he was approached by authorities. So it is diesel that was. We spoke to the owner of the business regarding the situation. It is not as big in terms of what we thought it was a hazardous material, hazardous waste, but it is a road safety issue due to carelessness. From the verbal report of my officers and from himself when we spoke this morning. Form this time, the owner/manager knew what was happening; he was very much involved in trying to resolve the situation regarding trying to bring sand at his expense, his workers shoveling along the highway. But we were advised by Works, due to the weather that was yesterday which was rainy and so on that perhaps overnight that would have washed away because the sand might complicate matters too with slipperiness. But they were working with us and trying to resolve when they found out that they were the ones that were being investigated and that they were the ones that lost two hundred gallons of diesel already.”

Duane Moody

“So it definitely wasn’t B.N.E. nor was it crude oil?”

Martin Alegria

“Umm, I understand once it wasn’t crude oil, the only source of crude oil is those company.”

Based on a final report on the leak, the department will chart a way forward.