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Totalfina tops up cash for oil-hit French coast |
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| FRANCE: January 31, 2000 | ||
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RENNES - Oil group TotalFina said it would add funds for tourism promotion to the millions it has pledged to clean up a December fuel spill off the French coast.
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The French oil giant pledged 30 million francs ($4.5 million) for tourist promotion in western France, as a fresh wave of fuel oil washed onto three islands off Brittany from the Erika, a tanker it had chartered that sank in the Atlantic. The company, under intense pressure from fishermen, environmentalists and politicians since the December 12 disaster, said the money came in addition to some 800 million francs ($120 million) already promised. The announcement came as Brittany's anti-pollution crisis centre in Rennes said more blobs of oil were washing up on islands whose shorelines had just been cleaned. Oil from the ship has killed or trapped an estimated 300,000 seabirds and polluted about 400 km (250 miles) of France's western coastline. Critics charged that TotalFina has not acted willingly or quickly enough to prevent damage to fisheries, oyster beds and tourist beaches. The government had urged the company to pay for tourist promotion. TotalFina said the latest donation would go to a government-backed publicity fund organised to clean up the beaches in time for the summer tourist season. It has already promised around 400 million francs ($60 million) to pump an estimated 15,000 tonnes of oil still trapped in the holds of the sunken tanker, 290 million francs ($44 million) to clear up damage and 120 million French francs ($18 million) for the oil industry compensation fund Fipol.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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