Environmental fray over Ecuador pipeline heats up
Date: 15-May-02
Country: ECUADOR
"We've bought the Esperanza farm and as owners of 50 percent of this property we have the right to oppose this construction. We have the right to be on our property," Cesar Fiallo, the spokesman local environment group Action for Life, told Reuters.
The construction of a $1.1 billion heavy-crude pipeline in Ecuador faces intense opposition from environmental groups near the Mindo protected forest and unique bird habitat, some 16 miles (25 km) west of Quito.
Activists were detained by police several weeks ago for blocking construction of the pipeline, which is expected to boost the nation's crude transport capacity from 400,000 to 850,000 bpd once completed in 2003.
Now Action for Life claims to have purchased an 800-hectare swath of land near Mindo, and says it will block construction of the pipeline at any cost to protect area flora and fauna.
Ecuador is counting on the new pipeline to boost crude output and flood government coffers with fresh revenues, ushering the Andean nation of 12 million people into an era of economic growth.
The government said it would not let environmentalists derail the project, sponsored by a consortium of private oil companies known as OCP Ecuador SA, and would expropriate these properties if necessary.
"There are legal mechanisms and even extremist ecologists should obey Ecuadorean law. If there are no negotiations, we will have to go to expropriation," Energy Minister Pablo Teran told reporters.
Ecuador currently has only one oil pipeline, with a maximum capacity of about 400,000 bpd.
OCP Ecuador SA is made up of Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. , Agip Petroleum , Kerr-McGee , Occidental Petroleum Corp. , Spain's Repsol-YPF and Argentina's Perez Companc and construction firm Techint.