For nearly a complete day, from Sunday to Monday last week, the numerous regulars and spontaneous visitors to the exquisite La Tejita beach, situated in the Granadilla municipality in the southern part of Tenerife, were disappointed to find their beach experience completely marred by a fuel spill, leading to a significant deployment of public resources. The Town Council of the area took to their social media platforms on the same Sunday upon detecting a “potential fuel leakage”, resulting in the urgent dispatch of Maritime Rescue teams, Local Police, Civil Protection, and the Tamadaya Civil Protection team to the cove, which is well-known and controversial in the Canary Islands (due to the partially built hotel that is now back under construction and bears its name). As a precautionary measure, the beach was closed to visitors.
The situation appeared to be quite serious, especially considering a similar incident that caused a stir back in January 2018. Despite thorough inspections, the source of the spill remains unconfirmed at present. Even the initial suspect, Cepsa, a company with a pipeline in the vicinity that extends to Tenerife Sur airport (located nearby) for kerosene supply to docking ships, confirmed on Wednesday to Canarias Now that their divers found no leaks in the pipeline network.
The closure of La Tejita on the previous Sunday and part of Monday also affected the nearby bathing spot known as El Chinchorro. After necessary inspections deemed the waters safe for swimming once again, the beaches were reopened to the public on Monday. However, certain groups took notice of the incident. Salvar La Tejita, an environmental group that has long been fighting against the construction of the mentioned hotel, raised concerns on their platforms claiming a “kerosene spill” had occurred, pointing out the increased frequency of ships supplying the airport through the La Tejita underwater pipeline in recent months. They reinforced their claims with photo and video evidence of the inspection work conducted on the spill.
Canarias Now reached out to Aena on Wednesday, the entity that initially linked the incident to the Cepsa pipeline. However, Aena stated that they had provided their equipment to the relevant authorities from the outset of discovering the spill. Following inspections conducted by divers on Sunday and Monday, Aena has confirmed the absence of leaks in the maritime terminal facilities operated by Cepsa Aviación. As a result, the exact cause of the light hydrocarbon presence near La Tejita beach remains unidentified.
Unless there has been an unnoticed discharge from the increasingly frequent ships in this iconic and stunning bay, the origins of the commotion, the vast mobilization, and the closure of two beaches remain shrouded in mystery, heightening environmental concerns.
These recent events echo those of January 18, 2018, when a similar kerosene leak forced the temporary closure of La Tejita. The spill was visible from an aerial perspective or from the nearby Montaña Roja, a hill close to the refueling point at Tenerife South airport. The Regional Government’s Department of Territorial Policy had activated the Specific Contingency Plan for Accidental Marine Pollution of the Canary Islands (Pecmar) on that occasion, as the spill had reached the protected natural area of Montaña Roja, a measure not taken during the recent incident.
In the previous case, Cepsa divers successfully located and sealed the leak in their pipeline. The company attributed the incident to “a defective closing element in the hose connecting to the installation (blind disc)”, resulting in a minor kerosene leak that manifested in the sea as iridescence. Maritime Rescue handled the product dispersion efficiently (considered easier than other hydrocarbon products, as per sources), and by the following day, an aerial inspection confirmed a significant improvement in the situation.
The former Deputy Minister of the Environment, Blanca Pérez (CC), who now holds a similar position in the Tenerife Cabildo, clarified that the issue arose in the valve nearest to the sea among the 10 that the pipeline possesses. Simultaneously, she specified that “approximately a thousand litres of fuel” were discharged into the ocean, as reported by Cepsa.
Despite the situation not escalating, the former Granadilla Security Councilor, Jacobo Pérez (CC), mentioned that such incidents were not uncommon, stating that “the Civil Guard has confirmed two additional spills”, which he deemed “serious given that it is one of Tenerife’s finest beaches and a protected natural area”. However, he acknowledged that the authorities responded promptly to tackle the contamination.
In the same year, Greenpeace activists aboard the Esperanza ship protested against the marine pollution in Tenerife by symbolically closing La Tejita, the neighbouring beach of El Médano, and another beach in the Tenerife municipality of Candelaria. Their aim was to draw attention to this issue (the EU has even penalized the Canary Islands for this matter) and raise public awareness.
Presently, with Cepsa’s explanations at hand, the exact causes of the most recent spill remain unclear. However, there is a prevailing concern among environmental organisations that a similar incident could occur again.
