TL: Gulf War Damage to the Natural Environment SO: William M. Arkin, Greenpeace International (GP) DT: May 29, 1992 Keywords: wars gulf effects kuwait iraq oil spills gp greenpeace reports / Summary Environmental damage resulting from the Gulf War constitutes one of the largest, if not the largest, man-made disasters in history. The oil well fires were greater in number than all of the well fires in previous history. The oil spills ultimately were more than two to three times the size of the world's previously largest oil spill. The fires and spills resulted in historically unequaled emissions of hydrocarbons. Despite the ultimately rapid effort to extinguish the oil fires, the scale of environmental destruction resulted in significant long-term damage. Destroyed oil wellheads have created huge basins of escaped oil in Kuwait. The spills polluted 400-600 miles of Saudi coastline. Both fires and spills left uncertain health and ecological effects. In addition, military action left behind unprecedented amounts of mines and unexploded ordnance. Environmental damage in the Gulf War was both intentional and unintentional. The vast majority of the fires and spills were the result of deliberate Iraqi sabotage of Kuwait's oil industry. There has been some discussion of an Iraqi military rationale for such destruction -- to impede an amphibious invasion for instance, or to complicate coalition air operations -- but little has been said about Iraqi intentions. In addition, allied military action seems to have contributed to some of the oil spills, albeit in minor quantities. There is little evidence that coalition attacks on the oil or petrochemical infrastructure balanced their military importance against whatever environmental damage might occur. Finally, "advances" in military technology resulted in an unprecedented unexploded ordnance problem. ---------------------------------------------------------------- * Director of Military Research, Greenpeace International. Prepared and updated for the Meeting of Experts on the Protection of the Environment In Time of Armed Conflict, In(I9ational Committee of the Red Cross, 27-29 April 1992, Geneva. Oil Fires Even before the assumption of allied military action in January 1991, Iraq demonstrated its intention to damage Kuwait's oil and gas industry. In December 1990, Iraqi petroleum engineers detonated six oil wells and ignited basins of oil, practicing methods and procedures for the subsequent larger scale destruction. Iraq then packed wellheads with plastic explosives, linking them together with electrical and mechanical detonators. On or about 21 January, soon after the start of the air war, 60 wells in and around Al Wafrah in southern Kuwait were exploded. At about the same time, refineries and storage tanks at Mina ash Shu'aybah and Mina Abd Allah, on the coast south of Kuwait City, were also set ablaze. On or about 15-17 February, Iraq started to detonate the remaining wellheads, the majority centered in the Al Burgan oil field south of the Kuwait International Airport. In all, Iraq damaged 732 wells, destroyed 20 oil and gas gathering stations, damaged four refineries, and did damage to downstream oil facilities such as gathering manifolds, the two main tank farms, pipelines, and offloading facilities. Two of four natural gas booster stations were also damaged. Of the 732 sabotaged wells, 650 were set aflame, and 82 were damaged sufficiently to cause them to gush oil uncontrollably. Given the immediate and acute health effects from the smoke plume, the response priority after the ceasefire was extinguishing the oil fires. Fires, as well as large amounts of oil exposed to the natural environment, created noxious gases, as well as massive amounts of inhalable particles. At the height of the fire, the amount of soot emitted was estimated at 5000 tons per day, the equivalent of 46 million heavy-duty diesel trucks, roughly nine times the number in the United States, driving at 30 miles per hour. The effort to counter the fire was slow in starting but eventually took hold, and the last well fire was extinguished on 6 November 1991. It is unclear how the oil fires have caused long-term damage to Kuwait's underground oil reservoir. Oil Spills Around 19 January, Iraq opened valves at the Sea Island offshore oil transhipment terminal, pumping oil directly into the Gulf. This was the first of a number of actions taken to intentionally discharge oil into the Gulf, actions which eventually resulted in a spill of 7-9 million barrels. The spilled oil came from a number of sources. The offshore terminal at Mina al-Bakr reportedly leaked a considerable amount of oil into the northern Gulf. Soon after the start of allied military action, three moored Iraqi tankers at Ash Shuaiba and Mina Abdulla south of Kuwait City began discharging oil. On or about 22 January, the Saudi oil storage facility and refinery at Al Khafji, just south of the Kuwaiti border, was bombed by Iraqi artillery, and it began to leak oil into the Gulf. Later, Iraqi tankers anchored northeast of Bubiyan Island also began expelling oil. While Iraq was responsible for the vast majority of the oil spilled into the Gulf, US military action also resulted in some of the oil leaks. On the night of 18 January, US Navy aircraft bombed the Mina al-Bakr and Khawr Al-Amaya oil terminals at the tip of the Al Faw peninsula. On or about 22 January, US Navy aircraft attacked and damaged an Iraqi oil tanker operating in the northern Gulf (such attacks were subsequently restricted.) The damaged Kuwaiti refineries and oil tanks may have also been bombed by allied aircraft and naval gunfire. Oil continued to leak into the Gulf from a number of sources until late May or early June, adding as much as one-half million barrels beyond the end of the war. Eventually, the oil fouled 400 miles of Saudi coastline, inundating saltmarshes and tidal areas with oil, and killing marine life and diving birds. Mines and Unexploded Ordnance Given the duration of Iraq's occupation and Operation Desert Storm, mines and unexploded ordnance became a particularly destructive new problem. Iraqused by Iraq, and no protections were taken -- as required by international law -- to insert metal parts to aid in mine detection at the end of hostilities. The Gulf War is also characterized by the profusion of dispenser weapons used by the allies, weapons commonly called "cluster bombs" that proliferate large numbers of submunitions. Both air and ground delivered cluster bombs were widely used (e.g., air delivered cluster bombs (CBUs), Multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and 155mm artillery submunitions (DPICM)). As much as 30 percent of the total number of weapons dropped by aircraft in the war were cluster bombs, most carrying about 200 submunitions. A considerable portion of the rocket and artillery projectiles also contained submunitions. Some 25-30 million submunitions were expended in the war, and there are estimated to be over one million live and disabled cluster bomblet left in Iraq and Kuwait. In addition, there is a considerable amount of regular bombs that remain unexploded, as well as large amounts of abandoned Iraqi ordnance. It is estimated that 500 civilians (100 in Kuwait) have been killed and over 2500 have been injured since the end of the war from mines and unexploded ordnance. More than 50 bomb disposal workers alone have also been reported killed since the end of the war. Pollution and Toxic Contamination The oil fires and spills, together with attacks on Iraq and Kuwait's oil and petrochemical infrastructure, as well as the disruption of normal hazardous wastes disposal during the occupation and war, left significant pollution and contamination. Iraq's damage to Kuwait's oil and petrochemical industry was substantial, as was its damage to Kuwait's sewage treatment and drinking water supply systems. Allied attacks on Iraq's oil and petrochemical industry, as well as destruction of Iraqi electricity production, had polluting effects. The effect of bombing Iraqi nuclear and chemical weapons installations is still undocumented and unknown. The considerable fallout from the oil fires smoke plume immediately effected public health, and ultimately damaged significant land and water areas. Because the smoke plume remained between 1500 and 13,000 feet, and was never detected above 19,000 feet, the global spread in the upper atmosphere was minimal. Nevertheless, smoke had a regional climatic effect -- area surface temperatures were below normal by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. There has been a decline in agricultural productivity in the region, as well as increased animal mortalities due to animals eating oil-tainted vegetation. The gushing oil wells left rivers and lakes of spilled oil in Kuwait, with perhaps as much as 95 million barrels spilled on land. Oil spillage also occurred from trenches in Kuwait prepared by the Iraqi Army. Oil continues to release toxic substances and heavy metals, contain pockets of accumulated gas, and poses a considerable health threat to humans and wildlife (e.g., birds). Iraqi military fortifications, particularly on the southern border, in the coastal area south of Kuwait City, and on Bubiyan and Faylaka islands, have done irreparable damage to the desert. Military operations in the desert, together with the pooling of oil, and the fallout of the fires, has completely disrupted desert ecology and wildlife. Military forces left large quantities of solid and hazardous waste, all of which has been buried in the desert. Sources: US Environmental Protection Agency, Kuwait Oil Fires: Interagency Interim Report, 3 April 1991; UN Environment Programme, Report on Environmental Consequences of the Conflict Between Iraq and Kuwait, n.d. (April 1991); UN, Kuwait: Report to the Secretary-General on the Scope and Nature of Damage Inflicted on the Kuwaiti Infrastructure During the Iraqi Occupation, 27 April 1991; William M. Arkin, et.al., On Impact: Modern Warfare and the Environment: A Case Study of the Gulf War (Greenpeace, May 1991); US Environmental Protection Agency, Report to Congress: United States Gulf Environmental Technical Assistance, from January 27-July 31, 1991; UN Environment Programme, Report on the UN Inter-Agency Plan of Action for the ROPME Region Phase I: Initial Surveys and Preliminary Assessment, 12 October 1991; Greenpeace, The Environmental Legacy of the Gulf War, February 1992; US Congress [Congressional Research Service], Senate Gulf Pollution Task Force, The Environmental Aftermath of the Gulf War, Report, 4 March 1992; US Department of Defense, Conduct of the Persian Gulf War: Final Report to Congress, April 1992. ----