Hardly a term used in anti-oil circles two weeks ago, a campaign against fracking has made its way to Meta from Huila as it receives attention from Colombia’s green party as well.
For the next Colombia Round, the Colombian Society of Geology says the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) should auction blocks with pre-approved environmental licenses, in order to lessen the potential impact of a process that has become one of the greater obstacles towards exploration and production in the country.
Vice Minister of Energy Orlando Cabrales took the government’s opinion on fracking to the press in a column, defending the practice as necessary to maintain production and in turn development.
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.
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