Major international environmental groups sent a letter this week to J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank raising serious concerns about a controversial new Ecuadorian oil pipeline, known as the OCP (Oleoducto de Crudo Pesado) and urged the banks to refrain from further financing the project. The letter to the Banks was signed by 17 international organizations including Greenpeace International Greenpeace Canada, Oxfam America, Friends of the Earth, and World Rainforest Movement among others.
Meanwhile in Ecuador, more than 2000 people demonstrated against the pipeline on Friday, at the third and final scheduled public hearing organized by the OCP Ltd. Consortium. Protests continued yesterday when over one hundred activists occupied the offices of Pablo Teran, Ecuador’s Minister of Energy and Mines. The protest coincided with the filing of a legal petition for a constitutional injunction by seven organizations including CONAIE, the national indigenous organization and the Association of Professionals of Petroecuador (the state-owned oil company).
In the letter sent to the three banks, international organizations criticize the Ecuadorian Government for prematurely ending the public review process for the controversial pipeline project – just 27 days after the release of the deficient 1500-page Environmental Impact Study. The groups also point out that the increased oil production and exploration necessary to fill the pipeline will lead to irreversible devastation in areas boasting some of the world’s highest biological and cultural diversity such as the Yasuni National Park, the area believed to contain the largest heavy crude reserve in Ecuador.
The 300-mile pipeline, which is scheduled to break ground in June, would transport heavy crude from the country’s eastern rainforest region to the Pa cific Coast, following ridge tops and steep slopes along the internationally recognized Mindo Nambillo Cloudforest Reserve, South America’s first “Important Bird Area”. The pipeline route is another major point of contention.
Yesterday’s legal action seeks to prevent the construction of OCP and to annul the OCP contract based on the absence of previous consultation with affected communities and failure of the OCP Consortium to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment before the pipeline route was chosen.
Local communities in Mindo, that depend on intact forests for their livelihood, are opposed to the route, pointing out that the SOTE, Ecuador’s other major oil pipeline, has suffered 14 major spills during the last three years. The signatories of the letter warn, “The pipeline represents a threat to the burgeoning eco-tourism industry, which could bring in upwards of $600 million over the next 20 years.”
Opposition is expected to intensify over the next few weeks as the government moves ahead with the licensing process. All three banks are involved in either advising the OCP, Ltd. Consortium or in providing financing to its members. View the letter.
