San Miguel de los Bancos – With posters, whistles, drums and chants, hundreds of people from the Northwest Pichincha province of Ecuador expressed their firm opposition in a public meeting today to the passage of the Heavy Crude Pipeline (OCP-Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados) through the region.
The public hearing, organized by the Ministry of Energy and Mines to explain the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the controversial project, brought 2,000 infuriated people to the San Miguel de los Bancos Coliseum.
In attendance were farmers, students, landowners, and local authorities of the area with a reiterated claim – that the OCP cannot cut through the Northwest area of Pichincha due to its rich forests, unique species, and communities that depend on a healthy environment.
While a giant “sphinx of death” puppet with a sign reading “OCP” hovered outside the hearing, the mayors of both Los Bancos and Puerto Quito expressed the opposition of their communities to the so-called Northern Route.
Local municipalities from Mindo, Nono, Checa, Pifo and Yaruquí also showed their opposition. “Mindo is a water producer for more than 50,000 inhabitants from the Northwest and the lungs of Pichincha,” added Luis Patiño, President of Mindo’s City Council, in a public declaration. “This national and global richness cannot be placed in danger unnecessarily.”
In the midst of strong police presence, the meeting had its tense moments. The agitated opposition, without major incidents, forced the employees of OCP Ltd. Consortium to leave the grounds without carrying out the presentation of the project.
“I would have preferred the possibility of a technical presentation of OCP’s study, because we consider that it has grave deficiencies that need to be discussed,” said Roberto León, Director of the Maquipucuna Foundation and member of the Comité Pro Ruta Menor Impacto.
Scientists and ecologists from Ecuador and from around the entire world have been supporting the claims of the inhabitants of the Northwest- that the route proposed by the companies that make up OCP will cause irreparable harm to one of the most important epicenters of the planet rich in biodiversity.
“Today we have clearly seen that the proposed route is not accepted by the people,” pointed out Marta Echevarría of the Comité Pro Ruta Menor Impacto. “In addition, it is a route that doesn’t have solid technical and environmental justification.”
Counsels and authorities also criticized the legalities of the process, since there was no previous consultation when the contract defining the route was signed. Outside the Coliseum, ecologists collected notarized signatures from hundreds of attendants expressing their questions about the route and the lack of a previous consultation demanded by Article 88 in the Ecuadorian Constitution.