Sticky Oil News

The oil spill off France from a chartered tanker has so far cost TotalFina more than $123 million, according to Chairman Thierry Desmarest. Desmarest announced Jan. 21 that the company will pay $31 million to store and treat polluted sand on top of almost $78 million already earmarked for the spill. "Today we make a new commitment - to take charge of the storage and treatment of waste, composed of sand, seaweed, various material, and fuel, which already weighs 100,000 tons," he said. Greenpeace slammed TotalFina last month for failing to provide storage for the sticky oil which volunteers and soldiers have been shoveling from France's west coast since the slick lapped ashore in late December.

Volunteers who mopped up the oil spill France's Atlantic coast from the sunken tanker Erika have taken the state to court for not warning of potential health risks, a spokesperson for the group said. The Association of Erika Volunteers (ABE) filed lawsuits at five regional tribunals along France's western coast on March 10, each targeting the local prefect. France's National Institute for Risks in the Environment (INERIS) announced last Wednesday that the sticky oil - still washing ashore - could cause cancer. The report said people wearing protective clothing faced no danger, but those treating birds, who often did not wear gloves and worked in confined areas, could face problems.