Reply
Wed 1 Sep, 2004 09:19 am
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Coastguards from Scandinavia and the Baltic have delighted seagulls by using popcorn to simulate an oil slick as they carried out an oil-spill emergency drill.
The area is permanently on high alert for spills because of intense tanker traffic -- which the World Wide Fund for Nature estimates could double in the next 10 years in the Baltic alone.
"Popcorn is good...as we don't want to cause any more pollution and nature will take care of what we don't pick up," Swedish Coastguards spokesman Karl Gustav von Konow told Reuters on Wednesday. "It also spreads like oil on the water's surface."
Ten cubic metres of popcorn were used -- of the unsalted and unbuttered variety. The seagulls did not seem to mind, flocking around the oil tanker, nine coastguard vessels and two tugboats taking part in the drill near the Brofjorden refinery on the west coast of Sweden.
This will prevent those dreaded popcorn spills which are all too common.
Yeah, that can be really annoying in the cinema, but it's even worse when it's your own carpet! I shal feel so much safer when I sit down to watch a movie next time knowing that the Swedish Coastguard is waiting and ready!
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace