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Almost a ton of oil is collected on beaches in Rio Grande do Norte

Almost a ton of rocky fragments of oil has already been collected off the coast of large northern river . The spots, which began to appear on September 15, and which affected nine municipalities, were observed by the state’s Institute for Sustainable Development and Environment (Idema).

At least 924.7 kg of waste have already been collected until this Friday (23), according to the Institute. Although the origin is still unknown, it is possible that this substance is linked to the oil spill that hit the northeast in 2019. At the time, more than 34 tons of oil were collected in the Potiguar state alone.

Idema’s Sub-coordinator of Planning and Environmental Education, Iracy Wanderley, explains in an interview with CNN what actions are being taken to circumvent the situation and discover the origin of the new material.

“This oil is highly polluting, contaminating and can cause serious damage to human and environmental health”, he warns. “The support and monitoring group – composed of Ibama, Idema, Civil Defense, the Navy and the Secretary of our state – has already collected samples of this oil and is awaiting laboratory analysis to verify if the DNA of this oil is, in fact, the same that arrived at the our coast in 2019”, explains Iracy.

The Navy confirmed to CNN that the samples were collected, but that he does not know when the results of the analyzes will be completed.

In a previous statement, the Brazilian government had already confirmed that the oil residues found on beaches in Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia and Paraíba, in August of this year, are not related to the 2019 spill.

“From the analysis of oil residue samples carried out so far, there is an indication that there was a new event, whose most likely hypothesis points to an incident involving crude oil, resulting from the disposal of oily water thrown into the sea, after washing of oil. tanker tanker, on the high seas. The biomarkers, or indicators of origin, suggest that it is oil produced in the Gulf of Mexico,” the government said in a September 10 note, referring to the four states mentioned above.

“The main guidance we give the population is that, under no circumstances, if you find this oil in any part of our coast, do not touch the oil and immediately notify the Civil Defense of the municipality through the 190”, concludes Iracy Wanderley.

Also concerned with the current situation, the city hall of Natal, capital of the state, reported that it met with environmental, safety and health agencies to seek solutions to deal with the material of unknown origin.

Waste collected according to information from the municipalities, according to the Municipal Civil Defense and Protection Coordinations (23/09/2022):

  • Formosa Bay – 164kg;
  • Canguaretama – 45kg;
  • Tibau do Sul – 32kg;
  • Nísia Floresta – 500kg;
  • Parnamirim – 26kg;
  • Christmas – 40kg;
  • Extremoz – 46kg;
  • Ceará-mirim – (amount not yet accounted for);
  • River of Fire – 71.7kg;
  • Bulls – No registration so far;
  • Maxaranguape – No registration so far.

NOTE: All Municipalities are carrying out collections during the day, and some numbers may increase

* Under supervision of Giulia Alecrim

Source: CNN Brasil

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