1,500 Barrels of Oil Spilled in Pemex Leak
26 Jan 2012 - 11:39 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
Mexico, VERACRUZ (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Approximately 1,500 barrels of oil spilled from a leak in a Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) pipeline in Mexico’s Veracruz state, affecting an area of about 30,000 square kilometers of land and nine kilometers of the Coatzacoalcos River and leaving the populations in the area without drinking water.
Officials announced that 97 percent of the oil had been cleaned up as of January 18.
Approximately 700 barrels of oil had been recovered as of January 11.
The spill, which started on December 31, reportedly was the result of an illegal connection, although an investigation is being carried out.
Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection Hernando Guerrero Casares said Pemex will be fined if the company is found to be responsible for the spill.
Representatives of Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection, Manuel Molina and José Eduardo Silva Bolio, said the leak could be a result of deliberate sabotage against Pemex, possibly aimed at destabilizing the company.
Silva Bolio of the federal attorney’s office said there have been similar acts like this in southern Veracruz state.
The ministry and attorney’s office, as well as the governor of Veracruz, all demanded that Pemex increase monitoring and maintenance on pipelines and carry out a comprehensive review of facilities, El Universal reported.
A representative of the government of Coatzacoalcos said the city would sue Pemex for not properly containing the spill and demanded that Pemex clean up the spill and pay for environmental damages and related losses.
Director of the State Water Commission Pedro Montalvo Gómez demanded that Pemex clean the affected areas and repair environmental damages, and urged that the company be fined.
Beatriz Olivera, campaign coordinator for energy and climate change for environmental NGO Greenpeace Mexico, said Pemex had neglected the leak, not taking sufficient steps to minimize damage from the beginning.
She also raised questions about how well the company could deal with deep water leaks if it was so slow to respond here.
More than 7,000 kilometers of Pemex pipeline pass through Veracruz state. Pemex has been responsible for a number of spills in the region in the past, and the company is responsible for the largest portion of environmental disasters in the country, with 1,190 cases reported between 2000 and 2010, plus 129 spills that were not measured, according to Greenpeace.
Another Pemex spill in the region in January affected citrus crops in the north of the state.
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