Oil-contaminated Beaches Create New Environmental Crisis in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Thick, slimy remains of oil, driven onto the coast by the waves, threaten some of the most breathtaking beaches in northeastern Brazil.

Officials have collected some 100 tons of oil from more than 100 beaches in nine states since the first warning signs of the disaster broke out in early September.

The oil’s source is a mystery. What is currently known is that it is not oil produced in Brazil nor sold in the country, according to an analysis conducted by Petrobras.

Environmentalists suspended the release of turtles into the sea after several of them died. The environmental damage has not yet been evaluated.

President Jair Bolsonaro detailed on Monday the several scenarios on the source of the leak: “It could be something criminal, it could be an accidental leak, it could be a ship that also sank. We have a country on the radar that could be the oil source,” he said, with no further details.

Petrobras technicians point to Venezuela as the most likely source, according to Folha de S.Paulo. Another assumption that researchers consider is that the oil was illegally dumped at sea by a ship.

The president pointed out that “it does not seem to come from an offshore platform” of oil, one of the many that exist in the Atlantic in the area.

The Brazilian oil giant officially announced that the results of molecular analyses of the organic found on the beaches are not compatible with the oil varieties that it produces and sells.

The solid and huge oil slicks that surfaced on 130 beaches stretching from the state of Maranhão to the state of Bahia took weeks to become national news. Officials in Sergipe, the worst-affected state, declared an emergency situation.

Half of the beaches on which the oil appeared were naturally cleaned while Petrobras employees carried out waste collection tasks on another dozen beaches. On most of them, the stains cover a small proportion of the sand.

Source: El País