Destroyed Tanker In Red Sea Risks Huge Oil Spill

By Douglas McIntyre  •  August 29, 2024
Alexander Bobrov Pexels

An oil tanker carrying as much as one million barrels of oil was attacked by Houthi rebels three days ago. According to more than one source, after several volleys of rockets, it began to leak crude oil. The ship’s “Sounion” damage could become one of the largest spills in decades. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez, which broke up near Alaska in 1989, carried 240,000 barrels of crude.

The cost of insuring these ships as they pass through the Red Sea on their way to the Suez Canal is just one fallout of the crisis. Ships are regularly diverted now to go around the southern tip of Africa to reach Asia. This adds thousands of dollars in fuel for each ship, representing additional ocean pollution. It also strangles part of the global supply chain.

The attack is also a reminder that not all climate change causes are due to years, or even hundreds of years, of human activity. Environment disasters, with wide-ranging consequences, can happen in a day. The damage from the Exxon Valdze occurred in a day but affected the environment in the region for years

The “Sounion” incident is minor compared to other fast-moving man-made assaults on the environment. The most recent are the greenhouse gas emissions from the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. In June, Reuters reported that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has directly caused or paved the way to the emission of 175 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.”

The effects of war may be the largest short-term danger that drives global warming.

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