Memorial hall to honor `miracle of Taean` oil clean-up slated

A memorial hall will be built near Mallipo Beach in Taean County, South Chungcheong Province, to remember the massive oil spill in waters off the coast of Taean and the spectacular clean-up effort.

In December 2007, the oil tanker Hebei Spirit collided with a crane barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries to cause 12,547 kiloliters of crude oil to spill in waters 10 kilometers northwest of Taean. The incident was named the Samsung-Hebei Spirit oil spill to name the parties to blame for the incident.

The Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministry said Thursday that it will build a memorial hall to be tentatively named “Memorial Hall to Overcome Oil Spill Damage” as long requested by the province. With an aim to create the basic construction plan before year`s end, the government concluded a research service contract for the hall`s function and role, organization, facility operation, exhibition items and PR strategies.

One billion won (881,834 U.S dollars) in construction planning costs will go into next year’s budget based on the results of the contract. A combined 10.6 billion (9.35 million dollars) will be spent in 2014 and 11.1 billion won (9.79 million dollars) in 2015 for the purchase of the construction site and completion of building for the opening of the memorial hall in 2016.

To be built on a plot of land covering 20,000 square meters, the hall will be a two-story building with a basement 4,588 square meters in area. Slated for exhibition are 10,205 oil spill-related materials that the National Science Museum had kept from April 2008 to December that year.

A combined 1.23 million volunteers helped to pump out oil and clean the mess on the coast. Volunteer efforts in pulling off the "miracle of Taean" will be remembered through programs including disaster prevention and marine environment experience and tours for visitors to understand the severity of damage to and preserving a marine environment.

The Chungnam Development Institute predicted 500,000 to 600,000 people will visit the hall every year.

South Chungcheong Province had launched a construction plan in 2008 and completed feasibility studies. The plan was included in the government’s West Coast comprehensive development plan but faced financial deadlock due to negative views from budgetary authorities. The province again urged the project`s implementation at the National Assembly last year, but the hall was not included in the budget.

Four years have passed since the oil spill but compensation remains stagnant. The International Oil Compensation Funds was 90 percent through with its audit for completion in August. Compensation claims filed by residents reached 2.6 trillion won (2.3 billion dollars), but the compensation funds estimate the value at just 280 billion won (247 million dollars), which is likely to raise conflict.

A source at the Land Ministry’s Hebei Spirit damage support team said, “We will offer financial support to residents who failed to receive compensation from the (international oil) funds and will encourage residents and Samsung Heavy Industries to agree on injections of regional development funds.”

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