The Cost of War

In the midst of many catastrophies on both sides of the Isreal-Lebannon conflict is an environmental one. Three weeks ago Isreal bombed refineries on the Lebanon coast and created a toxic spill that will rival the Exxon-Valdez spill. Because of the constant fighting very little is known about the exact extend and the immediate toll on wildife. The American Prospect's Christopher Moraff writes the following.

For the past four weeks a mass of black sludge composed of between 15,000 and 35,000 tons of medium/heavy grade oil has been creeping unhampered up the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon. International environmental groups are calling the mid-July destruction of Beirut’s Jiyyeh Power Plant -- and the massive oil spill that resulted -- one of the worst environmental crises in the region’s history.

On July 13, Israeli bombs destroyed the plant -- 20 miles south of Beirut -- setting fire to five fuel tanks and sending thousands of gallons of oil into the Eastern Mediterranean. The Lebanese Ministry of Environment estimates the total spill could rival the Exxon Valdez catastrophe of 1989. In addition to the oil, the burning tanks sent black clouds of toxic smoke into the sky over Beirut that were visible from as far as 30 miles away.

By the start of August, the oil spill had already polluted more than 90 miles of the Lebanese coastline -- destroying Beirut’s once pristine beaches in the process. On August 2, satellite images revealed that the slick had reached the Syrian coastline and is spreading north. “We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon,” the country’s environment minister, Yacoub al-Sarraf, told Al-Jazeera.

Read the whole thing.