The United States has spent millions to contain Iraq's eco-terrorism in the Persian Gulf and stands ready to offer the Saudi and Kuwaiti governments more help if needed, EPA Administrator William Reilly said after visiting Kuwait's burning oilfields and oil-soaked beaches Tuesday.
"This has been an unforgettable experience," Reilly told reporters at the U.S. Embassy. "I've seen firsthand the consequence of unprecedented environmental vandalism."Reilly said he was encouraged by the the efforts made so far in the gulf cleanup.
The biggest success has been the reclamation of 1 million barrels of crude released into the gulf by Iraqi troops in February and which have now been successfully lapped up with boomers and skimmers, sparing the gulf's shorefront desalination plants.
Roughly half the oil that spilled has evaporated, Reilly said, and an additional 2 million barrels of oil has been deposited in pools.
"That's the largest amount ever recovered in an oil spill," he said. "Nevertheless, a very large amount remains underwater, on the beaches and in the salt marshes."
Reilly said he was pleased with the efforts Kuwaiti and Saudi scientists and environmentalists have made in heading off a larger catastrophe.
The EPA official said the United States has offered monitoring and laboratory equipment, as well as technical support to Kuwaiti and Saudi officials. "We will respond to their needs," he said.
A team of six scientists and technicians from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration traveling with Reilly will stay behind on "a semi-permanent basis" to monitor and address the environmental fallout.
Other U.S. agencies, including NASA, the Defense Department and the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Centers for Disease Control, are already conducting studies of the environmental fallout in the gulf, he said.