EPA develops plan to tackle oil spillage

The Environmental Protection Agency says it has developed a contingency plan to deal with any oil spillage along the country's coastline.

In an interview with Radio Ghana, the Executive Director of EPA, Daniel Amlalo said the plan identifies the risk oil transportation poses to the environment.

In 2011, KOSMOS energy spilled 699 barrels of mud which contained poisonous heavy metals that could affect the country's ecosystem.

Mr. Amlalo said this emphasises the need for individual companies to also have their own contingency plans to deal with such situations.

He said the EPA since 1985 has been looking at “the risk that oil transportation along our coast could pose to our environment as well the possibility of Ghana finding oil at that; so we prepared an oil spill contingency plan, and that identified all the risk factors and what should be done”.

He said the authority has adequately trained people to deal respond at any time; “apart from that all the individual oil companies have emergency respond plans and equipment to respond to the oil spill”.

He said with a National Level Spill Plan in place, oil companies can within a short time invite international companies to respond to the emergency if they cannot respond to the small spill and undertake immediate cleaning.