Quito (EFE via COMTEX) – Environmental, human-rights and Indians groups filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court Tuesday to stop Repsol-YPF from building a new oil pipeline.
At least 100 protesters, meanwhile, peacefully took over Energy Minister Pablo Teran’s office, to force him to listen to their compliant.
Esperanza Martinez, spokeswoman for the Environmental Action group, told EFE that the lawsuit seeks “to stop the execution of the project and the annulment of the contract.”
Quito residents said that they were concerned about the possible risk posed by the planned Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline to people, plants, wildlife and the environment, as it would run through vast biodiversity zones and urban areas such as Lago Agrio, Esmeraldas and the Quito Metrolpolitan District.
They also said that, in Quito, the pipeline could harm the drinking water storage plant that supplies 40 percent of the capital’s consumption needs.
The Ecuadorian government wants the pipeline to carry crude from the Amazon region to the coast and at the beginning of the year awarded the building contract to a Repsol YPF-led consortium.
