The first unconventional project to use fracking techniques has only recently been approved by the National Hydrocarbons Agency, but anti-oil advocates already have a lineup of activities to spread their message.
A number of oil spills reportedly coming from ships leaving the Coveñas port as well as nearby pipelines has local and congressional officials calling for greater action.
Ecopetrol joins the UN’s “CEO Water Mandate” to examine water usage and reacts to fish deaths near the Barrancabermeja refinery, while Parex promotes tree planting. These and other stories in our environmental round up.
Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) says that the potential for disastrous effects from the “El Niño” phenomenon appear less likely as the weather system weakens, but calls on authorities to not let down their guard.
As unconventional production moves forward in a number of production blocks around the country, Colombia’s environmental movement has taken notice, with the first skeptics looking at fracking practices in the VSM 16 block in Huila.
The State Council has supported an injunction filed by Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), and ruled that regional and local entities cannot establish areas that limit oil or mining activities, as they are an issue of the central government.
After more than a month of protests, blockades and clashes the mayor of Puerto Asís has called on the Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo to attend to the indigenous communities concerns to end the deadlock.
The national government says that the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) will open an office in Yopal, Casanare in 2015 to tighten community relations and ensure compliance from operators in nearby fields. Environmental concerns were cited as the motivation for the new strategy.
Some 56 villages in the Putumayo corridor from Puerto Vega-Teteyé have been protesting a plan to expand drilling in the area, arguing that they do not want oil infrastructure that will become a target of the Farc near their communities.
A report issued last week by Colombia’s General Controller placing the responsibility for a drought earlier this year on the shoulders of the oil industry in Casanare has brought the issue back to the front pages, as critics call for greater restrictions on seismic exploration while oil authorities push back.
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