Authorities are considering registering two additional properties as nature reserves, one of which specifically to counteract the possibility of more seismic exploration and exploratory drilling, citing the impact on water resources.
Two reports of oil spill have reached local press over the last couple of days, one involving a Perenco owned pipeline in Casanare and the other involving Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) in Meta.
Oil producer Petromont socialized a exploratory drilling project in the Llanos 10 block, where it presented the project to members of 11 villages affected by the drilling in Arauca and Casanare. Environmental authorities were on hand as observers.
Colombia’s Council of State has ruled that a municipal public referendum involving Colombian subsoil exceeds the power of that entity, after Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) challenged a decision by a Casanare tribunal to accept a referendum from the Monterrey municipality.
Organizers booked the February 20th march for the water as a milestone for the anti-oil movement and turning of the tide towards stronger environmental regulation. The march occurred without incident in Casanare and Meta, but fell short of the loft expectations.
The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) Luz Helena Sarmiento said that environmental issues must be evenly weighed with policies that bring development and economic benefits for Colombia’s poor, but that it cannot do so at any cost.
Casanare’s environmental management agency Corporinoquia is planning the prior consultation phase to declare a number of micro-basins as protected natural resources due to their role in the supply of water for local communities.
The mining and energy boom has brought economic benefits says Senator Jose Name, who also charges that the industry has destabilized the Colombian peso, wrecked local agriculture and carries grave social and environmental risks.
The National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has issued a decree that simplifies the requirements needed to gather specimens needed for environmental permitting and licenses, a step in the process whose catch-22 has dogged the environmental process for hydrocarbon companies.
The upcoming march on February 20th to protest extractive industry activities near water sources will “derail the Santos’ destructive engine” says the president of Meta’s energy, mining and environmental committee, Timoteo Romero Morales.
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