| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Mexico Boosts Monitoring Efforts Due to Gulf Oil Spill
 Agence France-Presse
go to original
June 05, 2010
| "We already are seeing this year a smaller number of Atlantic Ridley turtles arriving on our beaches."
- Environment Minister Juan Rafael Elvira | |
Mexico City – Mexico announced this week it will step up monitor of potential effects of the massive oil spill off the US coast of Louisiana, and already is seeing a drop in activity by one type of turtle.
"We already are seeing this year a smaller number of Atlantic Ridley (turtles) arriving on our beaches," said Environment Minister Juan Rafael Elvira.
Still "we do not know if there is a link to this situation" with the spill related to the collapse of a BP-operated oil platform in US waters in the Gulf, he said.
Operations to monitor Mexico's Gulf coast that had been set up in Tamaulipas and Veracruz states, now have been expanded to Tabasco, Campeche and Yucatan as well, the official added.
Eleven rig workers aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling platform were killed when it exploded on April 20, sinking two days later into the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, according to government estimates, at least 20 million gallons have leaked into the waters.
Despite BP's efforts to cap the flow, thick crude continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico's fragile wetlands and once-pristine tourist beaches, killing wildlife and their habitats and destroying the local fishing and tourism-based economy.
The environmental disaster - the worst in US history - has badly damaged BP's reputation, with its shares sliding 2.13 percent Wednesday a day after plunging 13 percent, wiping 17.6 billion dollars off its market value.
|
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us