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  Yahoo News 4 Sep 06
Philippines considers oil-eating microbes to tackle oil spill

NUEVA VALENCIA, Philippines (AFP) - The Philippine government is considering using oil-eating microbes to speed the cleanup of the country's worst ever oil spill, the Environment and Natural Resources Department said.

The process, called bio-remediation, involves using a machine that reproduces millions of oil-zapping bacteria, the president of the Natural Resource Development Corp. Rey Alcozeba said in a statement.

The same process was used to clean up an oil spill in the US Gulf state of Louisiana "in a matter of months," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes said.

The August 11 sinking of the Solar I tanker off the central Philippines has contaminated more than 300 kilometers (190 miles) of coastline on the island of Guimaras, destroyed a marine sanctuary, pummelled the tourism industry in the area and threatens key fishing grounds.

The coastguard has said the Guimaras cleanup could take at least eight months using conventional methods.

"If left to itself it would take years for the oil to break down," Alcozeba said. "Bio-remediation was used in Venezuela to clean an oil spill last year," he added.

He said the microbes pose no hazard to marine organisms because they feed only on the oil substance and quickly die once they run out of food.

A Japanese survey vessel is conducting underwater probes of the tanker, which rests on the seabed at a depth of 640 meters (2,100 feet) with an estimated 1.8 million liters (475,500 gallons) on its hold, to determine how best to deal with the threat of a bigger spill.
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