Spanish government underestimating damage from Prestige oil tanker: opposition

MADRID, Aug 26 (AFP) - Spain's opposition socialists on Tuesday slammed the government for underestimating damage to the environment by the country's worst-ever oil spill last November, the sinking of the Prestige tanker.

The Socialists questioned Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's assessment Monday that oil leaks from the tanker, which broke up and sank off the northern Spanish coast on November 19, have been all but plugged. They believe more pollution was caused than Madrid admits.

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"If Mariano Rajoy is now saying there remain only 13,800 tonnes (of fuel) in the hold that means the pollution at sea and on the beaches is far greater than the executive has admitted," said Cristina Narbona, the party's spokeswoman for the environment.

The party said if Rajoy was correct in his calculation that only 13,800 tonnes remained in the wreck then "at least 64,000 tonnes of fuel" must have escaped from the vessel, which was believed to be carrying 77,000 tonnes in all.

Earlier estimates suggested 37,000 tonnes remained in the wreckage of the Prestige at the bottom of the Atlantic.

"They have been trying to minimise in the people's eyes the repercussions of the catastrophe, while claiming the beaches would be cleaned up by June 1," Narbona said in a statement.

In reality, "oil continues to be scraped up in Galicia as well as along the Cantabrian coast."

Environmentalists say the sinking of the vessel -- which all but wrecked the local fishing industry and had a disastrous effect on local economies heavily dependent on tourism -- has polluted more than 1,000 beaches all across the Spanish north coast and into French waters.

Rajoy insisted Monday that operations to plug the leaks had been a success, with daily leaks having dropped to around 20 litres a day from an initial 700.

Spanish oil giant Repsol-YPF has been leading the clean-up operation, first sending down a mini-submarine then four robots to close up the tears and cracks in the hulking wreck of the Prestige.

Next month the company will conduct tests to determine whether remaining oil can be extracted by gravity with the help of balloons, an operation wtih a price tag of 60 million euros (65 million dollars), or whether the wreck would be better encased in concrete, at a cost of some 100 million euros.

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