The Regional Autonomous Corporations (CARS) defended their role in the awarding of environmental licenses and expressed concern that national authorities like the National Agency of Environmental Licenses (ANLA) have ignored their opinion and approved projects.
The recent decision to reverse an environmental license issued to Hupecol for exploration in the Serranía block due a public outcry has the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) concerned for the lack of coherence in applying its policies, which risks lost investment and legal stability.
After having its environmental license revoked days after it was approved by the National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA), Hupecol said that it is looking at either a lawsuit against the state or an arbitration to resolve the issue and be compensated.
It took only a matter of days before public backlash surrounding the awarding of an environmental license near La Macarena, Meta had boiled to the point where public officials, even the President, were offering explanations and suspending licences. But the revelations and consequences continue to file in.
In a matter of a few days, a blizzard of controversy over an environmental license to proceed with an E&P project near a natural reserve in La Macarena, Meta forced explanations from authorities and an eventual suspension announced by President Juan Manuel Santos.
The Delegate Controller for the Environment insists that the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) only has an environmental license for “internal” transport of industrial coke which does not include shipping it in trucks to the port, and said it must request a new license.
Municipal council members in San Martín, Cesar have turned to national press to express their concerns on one of Colombia’s few fracking projects, led by ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP).
The national government has set the limits of eight páramos, or high mountain tundra, to protect water sources which it says supply more than three million people. The protective order affects a total of 100,000 hectares of land in different parts of the country. This and other environmental stories in our periodic roundup.
The environmental debate surrounding oil production in Colombia turns to again to the impact on water sources, while Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and Parex (TSX:PXT) have announced conservation programs and alliances. These and other environmental stories in our periodic summary.
Hocol reassured the San Juan de Arama Municipality that despite alarms being sounded that it had an imminent plan to extract crude from oil sands, it has no plans to do so and its environmental license does not contemplate it either.
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