Milan, Italy (GenevaLunch) – Urgent cleanup work is underway on the Po, Italy’s longest river and a major tributary that is important to industry and agriculture, after a massive amount of fuel and heating oil spilled into it, near Milan. Police are saying a “criminal act” lies behind the spill, with eight storage tanks tampered with at a closed storage facility that belongs to Lombarda Petroli SpA.
The fuel initially went into the Lambro River. Estimates of the amount of fuel spilled vary wildly, with the lowest talking about hundreds of thousands of litres, but a state of emergency has been declared in Lombardy as concerns grow over the potential impact on natural reserves, wildlife and crops.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg/BW, Corriere della Sera (Ita), National Geographic feature on the Po
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News story, GenevaLunch, 25 February 2010.
Filed under: Society
Tags: animals, criminal act, crops, Italy, Lombardy, Milan, oil spill, Po River, reserves, Rice, sabotage, wildlife