BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

13/04/2007

Latvia spends 355,700 euros on Belarusian oil pollution

BNS

Latvia has spent almost 250,000 lats (355,700 euro) to tackle the diesel fuel spill from a damaged pipeline in Belarus in late March.

Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis detailed the damage bill on April 11, but said the costs could run higher. He praised the work of rescue services who dealt with the spill on the Daugava river.

Booms remain in place in certain parts of the river to contain residual pollution. Several government ministries are continuing to investigate the costs of the clean-up, and the Fish Stocks Agency is expected to provide an estimate of damage to fish stocks shortly.

The pollution flowed from the Unecha-Ventspils oil pipline in Belarus on March 23. It spread into the Ulla river and flowed downstream into the Daugava, reaching Latvia on March 26.

Belarusian authorities insist that 120 tons of diesel fuel leaked into the river system as a result of the incident.

Source:

http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17678/