Quito, Ecuador — Internationally celebrated environmentalist, author, and forest defender Julia Butterfly Hill arrives in Quito today to express solidarity with communities resisting the construction of the new OCP oil pipeline through Ecuador’s fragile tropical forests. The controversial pipeline, now under construction in the prized Mindo Cloudforest Reserve, has met fierce opposition along its 300-mile route. Ms. Hill, who is best known for her two-year tree sit 200 feet atop a 2000-year old threatened California old growth redwood tree, will also witness first hand the toxic legacy left by 30 years of reckless oil extraction in the Amazon headwaters. During her tour (July 9-17), she will visit fragile ecosystems, national parks, and indigenous lands threatened by the new oil boom aimed at doubling oil production in the region.
Julia Butterfly released the following statement today about her visit to Ecuador:
“From the Arctic to the Amazon, our dependency upon fossil fuels is detrimental to the people, the planet and our future generations. I call upon the OCP consortium, the German bank WestLB, the IMF, and the World Bank to immediately withdraw their support of this project. We have the technology and the tools to do things in such a better way. Now more than ever it is incumbent for us to do so. When we see these Ecuadorian citizens willing to put their bodies where their beliefs are, risking serious danger and hardships, we know that all other systems are failing—governments, corporations and consumers—all of us are failing in our responsibility to the planet, the people and the future.”
“I come to Ecuador to stand in solidarity with people who stand against the absolute greed that imminently threatens the destruction of these priceless and diverse ecosystems. The annihilation of these critical forests and all their inhabitants for the laying of the oil pipeline and extraction of oil, is morally, socially, culturally, and ecologically wrong. I and many others throughout the world are deeply committed to helping the Ecuadorian people stop this crime against humanity and the Earth.”
Ms. Hill will begin her tour of the environmental and social impacts of the OCP pipeline in the Amazonian provinces of Orellana and Succumbios, the country’s largest oil producing region. She will then visit several of the more than 300 toxic oil waste pits left by Texaco after thirty years of oil exploitation in the region. She will meet with indigenous and campesino communities that continue to suffer the environmental and health impacts of this massive disaster.
A focus of Ms. Hill’s tour will be a visit to the Mindo Nambillo Cloudforest Reserve, an unparalleled epicenter of biodiversity and home to more than 450 species of birds—46 threatened by extinction. The Mindo community, opposed to the pipeline’s passage through this rare ecosystem and inspired by forest defense tactics used in North America, staged a three month tree sit to physically halt construction. This action is the first of its kind in South America.
Meanwhile, German Bank WestLB, continues to come under fire for syndicating a $900 million loan to the OCP in violation of its own lending policies. The loan, which does not meet minimum World Bank environmental guidelines has sparked public outrage in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia (NWR), which holds a 43 percent stake in WestLB. In recent months, several German government delegations have visited Ecuador to investigate the issue.
According to government sources, the majority of Amazon crude that will flow through the OCP pipeline is destined for markets on the West Coast of the United States. The OCP Consortium includes: Alberta Energy (Canada), Occidental Petroleum (OXY- USA), AGIP (Italy), Repsol-YPF (Spain), Perez Compac (Argetina), and Techint (Argentina). The US Bank, JP Morgan Chase is the financial advisor for the project.
