Typhoon Gaemi Heads for Taiwan With Category 4 Strength
New York TimesJul 28
Philippines Races to Contain Oil Spill After Tanker Capsizes
Above: Coast guard personnel deploy a boom to contain the oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress on March 08, 2023, in Pola, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. Image copyright: Ezra Acayan/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Authorities in the Philippines are working to remove 1.4M liters of industrial oil from a capsized oil tanker in Manila Bay as fuel from the ship's engine has already begun to spill out. The Coast Guard has set a goal of offloading the oil and containing the spill within seven days.
The 213-foot-long MT Terra Nova was sunk by monsoon conditions worsened by Typhoon Gaemi while sailing to the Philippine city of Iloilo. Sixteen out of 17 sailors were rescued, and the ship was found to be meeting the conditions for sailing in inclement weather.
The Spin
Left narrative
Oil spills are a disaster in themselves, and have devastated communities in the Philippines in the past. What's worse, inclement weather caused by climate change poses a risk of spreading the contamination into freshwater sources, compounding the havoc they can wreak on humans and wildlife. The Philippines must buck the influence of the oil and gas industry and its dubious practices by ensuring that polluters pay.
Right narrative
There is climate idealism, and then there is the hard economic reality on the ground. In the face of rising prices and tightening supply, the Philippines risks being choked by energy prices, and may even ink oil deals with its great geopolitical rival, China, in order to shore up supply. The Philippines cannot afford to draw back from its oil and gas industry in the face of these pressures on everyday people.