Senate bats for franchise to cover oil pipeline operation

MANILA, Philippines -  Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri wrapped up yesterday the Senate environment and natural resources committee’s hearings on the oil pipeline leak in Makati City with a recommendation that the operation of oil pipelines should be covered by congressional franchises.

Zubiri agreed with the Department of Energy (DOE) recommendation since it is the lead agency that will determine the fines and penalties for the erring parties in this case. 

Zubiri said he was also surprised over a report that there remains 1.8 million liters of petroleum products in the pipeline despite pronouncements that the pipeline – especially in Barangay Bangkal – is safe.

“What is important is that it does not happen again, so I asked them: What would be the cost of replacing the pipes or inspecting the pipes within a 117-kilometer radius (of the leak),” Zubiri said after the hearing.

During the Senate inquiry, Anthony Cole of environmental remediation firm CH2M Hill said they have been tapped by oil pipeline operator First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) to plug up the leak. They installed a well and a vacuum to draw the fuel from of the basement of West Tower Condominium, which was flooded by petroleum products and water.

“If we don’t do that, we’ve done some calculations that the product will come in about a liter a minute. As you remove more of the product, it will be less and less over time. To enhance it, we give it a vacuum,” Cole said.

According to Cole, soil vapor extraction wells were put into the soil with a giant vacuum cleaner to suck air out of the soil to prevent vapors from seeping out.

During the hearing, Manuel Chua Unsu, vice president of the West Tower Condominium Corp., said that despite FPIC’s remediation efforts, the air coming out of the condominium’s basement is still “contaminated. Presurrizing the whole basement sent the fumes to various directions.”

FPIC officer-in-charge Anthony Mabasa said the firm is doing its best to speed up the remediation process, which experts have estimated will take three to five years. 

“The target for us is to make sure that products do not get into the West Tower (condominium) anymore even as we continue the remediation efforts outside,” he said.