could damage the Island's fragile eco-system.

Shadow Environment Minister the Rev. Trevor Woolridge is concerned that beaches and marine life should not be put in jeopardy by the test.

But Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons believes the test will provide Government with the skills to deal with spills of "catastrophic proportions.'' Sen. Simons claimed Bermuda has a strong stake in the development of oil spill clean-up techniques, in Senate yesterday.

A request to conduct the experiment was made by the US Commerce Department which sets out the guidelines for spills of oil and hazardous materials.

Mr. Simons said: "It is understandable that Bermudians would be apprehensive about burning oil in our waters given our recent history of oil spills.'' In 1976 the cruiseship Statendam spilled 6-10,000 gallons of oil along North Shore and in Hamilton Harbour. In 1979 the Mari Boeing grounded near North Rock, spilling 30,000 gallons of oil.

Four years later supertanker Tifoso spilled 30,000 gallons of oil. In 1984, the Mexican supertanker Aguila Azteca grounded on the outer reefs with more than 100,000 tons of crude oil on board, nearly 31 million gallons. If the ship had broken up it would have been one of the largest spills in history.

He said: "There will be two trial burns each of 10,000 gallons. The oil will be discharged into fire resistant spill booms and ignited.

"Scientific measurements would be conducted on the water chemistry beneath the oil slick and extensive air sampling would be conducted in the plume from the burning oil.'' Wave, wind speed and current data will be measured so that this technique may be used routinely in future clean-ups.

Mr. Simons said: "A similar experiment was conducted in August in the sensitive fishing grounds off Newfoundland, Canada. Those experiments were very successful as 99 percent of the oil was burned off the water surface.

"Let me assure you that if this experiment is allowed to take place that state-of-the-art oil spill clean up vessels from the United States would be on site with secondary booms deployed to clean up any oily residues or just in case any containment booms failed.'' The Minister stated that Bermuda has few alternatives for the removal of oil should a major spill occur.

Bermudians would be given first-hand training in the technique to strengthen response capabilities. He stressed a major spill could wreck the tourism industry.

Rev. Woolridge said: "Bermuda's fragile eco-system cannot be put at risk to burn 20,000 gallons of oil in Bermuda's water.

"Our industry is tourism. Our beaches and marine life must not be put in jeopardy. We need only imagine the irreparable damage that this proposed exercise would do to our coral reefs should there be grave miscalculations,'' he said, adding Bermuda did not have to host the experiment to benefit from it.