Guarumos, Ecuador – Early this morning, dozens of women – many accompanied by their children – arrived in the Mindo Nambillo Cloud Forest Reserve and began peacefully blockading construction machinery belonging to the company Techint, a member of the OCP Consortium in charge of building Ecuador’s new heavy crude pipeline. The protest aims to stop the clearing of the pipeline route which began last week through this protected area.
As of 4 pm EST, an estimated 40 people were reportedly participating in the blockade; many of them from local communities affected by the pipeline. “The blockade has virtually stopped the crews from destroying this globally significant cloud forest reserve,” according to environmental group Acción Ecológica who says that local activists and residents will be maintaining a resistance camp in Los Guarumos region on the Non-Tandapaya Road, approximately 2 hour drive from Quito.
Opposition to the construction of Ecuador’s new Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP) has captured international headlines especially in Germany, where activists have been pressuring Germany’s largest public bank, Westdeustche Landesbank (WestLB) to pull out of the $900 million financing package it is arranging for the project.
The pipeline consortium includes Alberta Energy, Repsol-YPF, AGIP, Perez-Companc, Kerr-McGee and the Los Angeles based Occidental Petroleum, already the subject of protest campaigns for their controversial oil projects in Colombia. For many months, environmentalists had sought to change the pipeline route around this internationally recognized eco-tourism destination to no avail. Groups are opposed to the construction of the pipeline given that the route directly impacts 11 protected areas and will lead to the doubling of oil production from National Parks and other protected areas in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Groups also cite ongoing environmental and public health problems with pipeline spills in Ecuador. In May, the country’s existing pipeline ruptured due to a landslide, spilling 7,000 barrels of oil. This accident was the 14th major oil spill since 1998. The Mindo area includes steep and unstable slopes where there is a high risk of oil spills.
The Mindo inhabitants want to focus international attention on their stance in defense of endangered species and globally important ecosystems. They urge U.S. energy users to support a more rapid transition to clean energy alternatives given that half of the oil from the OCP pipeline will be destined for West Coast US markets.
