jueves, 16 de enero de 2014
viernes, 10 de enero de 2014
jueves, 2 de enero de 2014
miércoles, 1 de enero de 2014
Mexican communities on guard against oil thirst(1)
The Terra 123 oil and gas well in the
southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco was in flames since late October, just
1.5 km from a community of 1,500 Oxiacaque indigenous villagers, who were never
evacuated.
The gas leak, which Pemex only managed to get under control on
Dec. 21, caused irreversible damage, said Hugo Ireta, an activist with the
Santo Tomás Ecological Association, dedicated to working with local populations
in Tabasco that have suffered environmental, health and economic impacts of the
state-run oil company’s operations.
The reform of articles 25, 27 and 28 of the constitution,
approved by Congress in December, paved the way for private national and foreign
investment in the oil industry.
The government will now be able to grant
private companies permits for prospecting and drilling, a mechanism used in
several countries of Latin America, such as Argentina, Ecuador and Peru, where
conflicts with local communities are frequent.
“If it has been difficult with Pemex, with the
private companies it’s going to be sheer anarchy; the companies are going to be
in paradise. Nigeria has serious problems, and the same thing is going to
happen to us,” Ireta said, alluding to the armed groups that siphon oil from
pipelines to sell on the black market in that West African country.
The Association and local populations affected
in Tabasco will file legal charges against Pemex for damage to property in
2014.
An analysis of samples taken in May, August
and September for the future lawsuit found lead, cadmium and aluminium in the
water at the Chilapa drinking water plant, which operates in the Tabasco
municipality of Centla and serves 21 communities.
Residents of the villages of Cunduacán and
Huimanguillo brought a collective lawsuit against Pemex in June.
There is oil activity in 13 of the 17 Tabasco
municipalities, where daily output amounts to 500,000 barrels per day.
The number of oil spills has been on the rise
since 2008. Between 2000 and 2012 more than 26,000 barrels of oil were spilled
in Veracruz, and more than 28,000 in Tabasco, according to the government’s
National Hydrocarbons Commission.
Hidalgo in the east and Puebla in the
southeast, as well as the roads leading to Mexico City, are also vulnerable to
damage caused by the oil industry.
The industry releases into the environment
heavy metals, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic
compounds, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, salts, ammonium, cadmium and acids.
“The communities have fought for reparations and Pemex says
there has been no damage, even though the impact has been documented,” Ireta
said. “The environmental problems generate social problems, and the authorities
aren’t responding to society’s demand for a healthy environment.”
See Oil, page 2
Mexican communities on guard against oil thirst(2)
Oil, page 2
Now that Mexico has opened up its oil industry to private
foreign capital, there is a risk that these kinds of problems will mushroom,
while pressure on water, large amounts of which are needed to extract shale gas
will mount.
“The government does not have the technical or
human capacity to stand up to transnational corporations,” said Waldo Carrillo,
a veterinarian who raises livestock and hunts white-tail deer on his ranch in
Piedras Negras, in the northern state of Coahuila. “The populace has no idea
about what shale gas is or the impacts of extracting it.”
In that area lies the Cuenca de Burgos, a gas
deposit that also extends to the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, and which
includes shale gas.
“What we want is to inform society from
another perspective. We want to warn people of the risks,” said Carrillo, one
of the founders of the environmental organization Amigos del Río San Rodrigo,
which is fighting to preserve the ecosystem of the San Rodrigo river.
“The government talks about jobs, investment
and growth, but it isn’t seeing things from that other side. It basically has
an optimistic discourse,” he said.
The state-run Mexican Petroleum Institute
acknowledges that the public has a negative image of shale gas, which it
attributes to “limited or poorly handled information.”
Since 2011, PEMEX has drilled at least six
wells for shale gas in the northern states of Nuevo León and Coahuila. And it
is preparing for further exploration in the southeastern state of Veracruz. It
also plans to drill 20 wells by 2016, with an investment of over two billion
dollars. Foreign oil companies have their eyes on the new wells.
Enormous quantities of water and a broad range
of chemicals are required in the hydraulic fracturing or fracking process used
to extract shale gas.
In Coahuila, water is not abundant. In 2010
the state suffered an intense drought. The groundwater recharge volume is 1.6
billion cubic meters per year, but groundwater consumption is 1.9 billion cubic
meters per year, according to the state government.
In nine of the 28 aquifers in Coahuila
extraction exceeds recharge, the National Water Commission reported.
“People need more information,” said Carrillo,
whose organization is preparing an intense awareness-raising campaign on shale
gas and fracking for 2014.
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
Entradas
