Former budding politician Phillip Alexander has penned a letter to US President Donald Trump, asking him to intervene in the Venezuelan oil tanker, FSO Nabarima, matter, as the vessel is said to be sinking under the weight of 1.3million of barrels of crude oil.
On Wednesday, Head of the Fisherman and Friends of the Sea Gary Aboud posted a video pleading with the Government to intervene as any spillage could negatively affect T&T waters.
Alexander wrote a letter to Trump calling for his assistance.
See the letter in full below:
“Mr. President, I write you as a concerned citizen of the Caribbean threatened by a looming environmental disaster the FSO Nabarima, a listing oil tanker that sits off the coasts of both Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago that threatens the wider Caribbean with a potential spill that your experts estimate to be five times the potential damage of the Exxon Valdez, and that spill killed hundreds of thousands of animals and whose environmental effects from 1989 are still being felt today.”
“Mr. President, the reason for my writing is that we in the Caribbean need an urgent rescue to prevent the worst occurring, and while I understand the political uncertainty between many countries and Venezuela under whose flag that ship sails, politics ought not to be allowed to prevent good sense from prevailing as political brinksmanship at this time can only result in financial losses impossible to quantify, an environmental disaster in sensitive ecosystems that would be felt for decades, and deaths to wildlife in the millions.
“Mr. President, from what we are being told the solutions seem to range from the need for simple ballast pump repairs that would allow the ship to be rightsized so it can be moved away from threatening the rest of the Caribbean, to a transfer of the million-plus barrels of cargo from the listing ship, but something has to be done as we are running out of time.”
“Hoping this letter moves you to respond, and hoping further that you take some form of action that leads to a resolution as the consequences ahead of us could be catastrophic, to say the least.
Thank you for your time and for your assistance in advance.”
No word yet on if Trump has seen the letter or if he will respond.
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