Ecuador’s high court gave a green light to build an oil pipeline north of Quito. The decision was cheered by economic boosters and booed by environmental and indigenous groups. The pipeline, which will double the capacity of Ecuador’s crude oil, the country’s largest export, crosses the Mindo-Nambillo ecological reserve. The reserve is comprised of 19,200 hectares and incorporates three distictive ecosystems: Andean forest, subtropical forest, and cloud fores. It is also home to 450 species of birds and 370 species of wild orchids.
Last May, the nation’s Environment Ministry said an environmental impact study, conducted by the seven-company consortium building the pipeline, “suffers deficiencies in its analysis in several zones, and as a result should be improved.” Apparently the study focused on the Mindo area and did not include details about forests in southern Ecuador.
Despite these concerns, Environmental Minister Lourdes Luque did not think construction of the $1.1 billion dollar pipeline should be delayed, and the government approved the project to help Ecuador’s sagging economy. The consortium building the pipeline, which includes Albert Energy, Agip Petroleum, Kerr McGee, Occidental Petroleum, Repsol-YPF, Perez Company and the Argentine construction company Techint, should complete construction in 2003.
