UPDATE - Bubbles stop diesel spilling into UK canal
Date: 28-Sep-01
Country: UK
Shell estimates the spill, made during loading at the Ellesmere Port refinery in Cheshire this week, at 150 tonnes. Its cause is under investigation.
"There was a spillage from a third-party ship, but it was contained in a berth area by a bubble barrier," the spokesman said.
A pipe aerated water in the dock, with the spill unable to pass through the bubbles, he said. The oil was still being cleaned yesterday with an absorbent boom and other equipment, with all material expected to be recovered.
Campaigning group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, which is targeting Shell as a client of the Huntingdon animal laboratory, criticised Shell for the potential environmental damage.
But a spokesman for the UK's Environment Agency said the oil did not get into the canal and that the agency was satisfied with the clean-up.
"It hasn't had any canal-wide effects. The barrier has done its job," he said.