Oil Leak Threatens Great Barrier Reef - Oceana USA
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April 5, 2010

Oil Leak Threatens Great Barrier Reef

This weekend, a Chinese coal tanker ran aground on one of our planet’s most diverse and delicate ecosystems: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

The tanker, badly damaged and in danger of breaking apart, has already spilled 2 metric tons of heavy oil into the shoals off Queensland’s coast in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.  In 2007, the same shipping company, COSCO, was linked to the major spill in the San Francisco Bay.   

This is Australia’s third recent major disaster, following the massive oil spill off Queensland and the Timor Sea oil platform blowout. Oil is extremely toxic to marine life and the damage to habitat can persist for years, even decades after a spill. 

In the wake of the Obama administration’s recent decision to open up a huge swath of U.S. waters to offshore drilling, this should serve as a warning against adding more oil to our oceans.    

Anna Gowan is a policy fellow at Oceana.