Coca River oil spill
Pablo Fajardo, an attorney who sued oil giant Texaco (now a unit of Chevron) of behalf of communities damaged by drilling operations, told Efe that residents spotted oil in the water.
Globs oil are visible in "videos from the Panduyacu community, which is on the banks of the Coca River and is one of the closest" settlements to the site of the break in the OCP pipeline, he said.
Comment: As you'll see in the videos below, much more oil was spilt than 'globs'. And this comes just two years after a similar spill.
The lawyer called for an investigation of the breach, questioning OCP's account that the pipeline was damaged by a rockslide due to erosion.
"There are people who say there was company machinery working in the area," Fajardo said, criticizing OCP and state oil company Petroecuador for recurring episodes of pollution in the Amazon region.
Noting that Ecuador's constitution establishes rights for nature, he said prosecutors should bring charges for "an offense against the water."
OCP said Friday that the spill had been contained and that the affected section of the pipeline was not directly exposed to any rivers.
Comment: In the past this lie that 'no rivers were directly exposed' may have worked but thanks to camera-phones we can see in the videos the oil spill engulfing the river and being sprayed over the surrounding vegetation. With that in mind, it's hard to believe the claim that the 'spill has been contained'.
The environment ministry said that an investigation and cleanup efforts were under way.
President Guillermo Lasso's office said that the accident did not affect oil exports, which are a key source hard currency for Ecuador.
The country produces roughly 530,000 barrels per day of heavy crude.
Comment: Oil is critical to both the local and international economy, but its use should come with culpability. One of the few countries taking environmental responsibility seriously, and pragmatically - because our civilization will collapse without fuels like oil and nuclear power - is Russia that recently enacted legislation that will block the profits of companies that destroy the environment, fining one mining giant $2 billion for negligence that caused a fuel spill.
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