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The New Oil Pipeline: A Long Battle

Faced by what is perhaps Ecuador’s severest economic crisis in this generation, the government of Ecuador has come up with a plan to double its export of oil. Construction of a new main oil pipeline, the OCP (Oleoducto de Crudo Pesado, or Heavy Crude Pipeline), will make it possible to open up vast new areas of the Amazon to oil exploitation. This will greatly compound the damage already done to Ecuador’s environment.

The new $1.1 billion pipeline project will follow the present "TransEcuadorian Pipeline" (SOTE-Sistema Oleoducto TransEcuatoriana) to the Andes. It will then diverge along a route through some of the most fragile ecosystems in Ecuador, before reaching Esmeraldas by the sea.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy asserts that it has selected a route for the pipeline that "satisfies the objective of minimizing impact on the environment." But this has been vigorously challenged by environmental activists throughout Ecuador. The pipeline not only endangers the indigenous communities under whose land the oil lies, but also other delicate environments along the route through the Andes.

Construction of the OCP was held up almost ten years by opposition from environmentalists, but it was finally pushed through, after very little due consultation with the people of Ecuador, in the summer of 2001. A 1,500-page environmental impact statement was released a mere three weeks before the public review process was closed, leaving insufficient time for the project to be evaluated. Environmentalists criticized the study as careless and ambiguous in its proposals for measures to mitigate possible damage.

Not only does this pipeline threaten fragile areas and local communities, it further increases our reliance on oil - the main fossil fuel responsible for climate change. We must call on the involved financial institutions to stop bankrolling destruction of the Amazon and environmental injustice and urge them to invest in renewable energy alternatives, not Amazon crude! Amazon Watch

Activists in Quito filed a lawsuit to block approval of the pipeline on the grounds that affected communities had not been adequately consulted. But in May 2001, President Noboa declared, "I’m not going to allow four mayors and a couple of jerks to screw the country. I’ll give them war." A few weeks later, the pipeline project was approved.

The new pipeline passes through eleven natural reserves and "protected" areas, including the Mindo Nambillo Cloud Forest Reserve, one of the most popular bird-watching sites in the western hemisphere. Mindo is a small Andean town not far from Quito, on the slope of Mt. Pichincha. Many ornithologists consider Mindo the "bird capital of the world." Construction of the pipeline will disrupt bird life in the reserve, threaten endangered species, and interrupt wildlife corridors. It will also damage a thriving eco-tourism industry that, according to Greenpeace International, is predicted to earn over $600 million in the next 20 years.

Activists have also pointed out that the pipeline will endanger the water supply of Quito, Ecuador’s capital. The pipeline is routed to pass through several outlying sections of the city, where ruptures could pose a hazard to densely populated neighborhoods.

A further serious environmental threat posed by the pipeline comes from spillage. Much of the soil over which the pipeline will pass is unstable, subject to earthquakes, landslides or shifting. The pipeline route also crosses more than 60 earthquake faults, and passes near six volcanoes, one of which has erupted recently.

As the OCP project was approved in June 2001, a mudslide came down on the existing pipeline, causing a week-long closure. Seven thousand barrels of oil were spilled into the forest. This was not a rare occurrence – in fact there have been fourteen spills since 1998. In a three-year period, over 145,000 barrels of oil were spilled into the environment following pipeline ruptures.

Resistance to the OCP did not stop with the beginning of its construction. In late 2001 and early 2002 environmentalists and residents of the Mindo area staged a human blockade of the construction area, obstructing bulldozers and climbing trees. Sit-ins and demonstrations were held in Quito as well. Further afield, activists led a campaign to educate the principal funders of the project, Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestBL) as to the environmental hazards involved. However, by February of 2002, WestBL was still funding the project. Police were threatening to clear the sit-ins, and the pipeline was forging ahead. Completion is slated for late 2003.

The Ecuadorian government’s drive to drastically increase oil drilling thus continues in the face of widespread opposition in all affected areas.

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