Alejandro Álvarez Iragorry, biologist and coordinator at Clima 21, attributed the recent oil spills to the current situation of the state-run oil company PDVSA. He warned that the repeated environmental damage to Venezuela undermines the tourism sector and the country’s economic potential at times when oil production is almost nonexistent
The early days of August 2020 were marked by the news of several oil spills across the national territory. First, one big black stain covered the waters and beaches of the states of Falcón and Carabobo. Several miles of coastline were impregnated with fuel, seemingly spilled from El Palito refinery, located in Puerto Cabello. Days later we learned of the spill of a large amount of crude oil over land areas of the states of Anzoátegui and Monagas. While the country’s oil output has plummeted in recent years, much of the remaining production has been lost in these accidents.
But beyond the loss of fuel, which aggravates the already precarious situation of gas shortages in a country that used to be one of the biggest oil producers in the world, it is the damage to the ecosystem in large extensions of the Venezuelan territory that has triggered the alarms of environmentalists and Human Rights defenders, who warn of the risk posed by widespread pollution.
Alejandro Álvarez Iragorry, biologist and general coordinator at the environmental organization Clima21 said that “the environmental issue is an absolute priority; either we address the issue and stop the current environmental degradation or there will be no future in this country. Faced with declining domestic oil production and a shift in the global energy sector where oil is no longer the great economic engine that it used to be between the 1950s and the 1990s, we wonder what to do with our reserves. Tourism is the answer to having a steady source of foreign currency revenue, but this will be impossible if we destroy the environment”.
In the opinion of the human rights defender, the succession of events that currently affect the ecosystem is leading the country towards an environmental catastrophe prompted by the effects of oil spills on coastal areas in one hand, and the effects of mining on 80 percent of Venezuela’s freshwater reserves in the other, while the authorities fail to prevent the collapse.
The Oil spills and environmental damage are a consequence of the situation in the oil industry
-What are the characteristics of the spill that affected the states of Carabobo and Falcón?
-Oil spills are occurring in an unquantified number of cases, and most of them do not even make it to the media, because they occur in remote areas south of the states of Anzoátegui and Monagas, or they are so recurrent, as in the case of Lake Maracaibo, that nobody pays attention to them anymore. What is the current figure? There has been an enormous number of spills in the last 12 years, but PDVSA stopped publishing data in 2012.
“As far as we know, the operating conditions of the oil industry have greatly deteriorated. Some 20 years ago, PDVSA produced three million barrels a day, but that number has decreased to just over 300 thousand, according to the most recent data from OPEC. The company is falling behind in its operational capacity. Under these circumstances, not only does the production fall, but also the industry’s ability to prevent and mitigate further damage”.
Alejandro Álvarez Iragorry
The environmentalist explains that the oil industry is risky by nature since its operations can cause damage to the population, properties, or the environment and that oil companies must follow protocols for accident prevention and management.
Lack of information hindered the efforts to avoid environmental damage
Álvarez Iragorry asserted that, if the conditions that prevail in the oil industry continue, they risk not only affecting Morrocoy or other national parks but the health of citizens and their livelihoods.
“There was no information in the press about the spill in Carabobo and Falcón until August 1, and it was local organizations, such as Azul Ambientalista, that first drew attention to the media. Professor Eduardo Klein, from Simón Bolívar University, developed a model that uses satellite images of the oil slick and data on local currents and winds to trace the spill, finding out that it seems to have originated at El Palito Refinery during the weekend of July 24. Anonymous sources had claimed that a ship on the high seas had spilled the product, but Professor Klein located the position of the tanker and ruled out the hypothesis,” said Álvarez Iragorry.
The biologist, who holds a doctorate in Ecology, said that between the date of the spill and the moment when the first alert was made, almost a week went by in which nothing was done, or if it was, it went unreported. In this sense, he indicated that it is the responsibility of the oil company to inform the competent authorities, communities, state governments, and other institutions whenever a major incident occurs so they can take precautions; By failing to do so, the damage was allowed to extend.
Established protocols were not applied
-Which protocols should have been set in motion?
-There are complex protocols, complete books dedicated to each type of facility, where a contingency plan indicates what to do in each possible case, including a spill, an explosion, or a fire. Each plant has certain rules to avoid accidents, which involve regular maintenance and supervision, leaving however a statistical probability of an accident, even if the guidelines are duly followed. When this occurs, you have to consider other measures such as containment, so that it does not expand, and mitigation, to soften the impact. Each element will have a specific plan. The books are later divided into operational manuals that are given to those in charge.
What could have been done? A plan of action to prevent the spill from expanding; barriers made of cloth or other absorbing material are used for this purpose. This was not done or was done very poorly because the spill proved to expand substantially. The existence of the spill was not recognized until August 4, through a report from the Ministry of Ecosocialism.
Álvarez Iragorry regretted that, until the moment of the interview on Thursday, August 13, PDVSA had not issued any report or given any information. What kind of information do we expect? First, the admission of the incident; second, the magnitude, how many barrels of oil were spilled; third, the characteristics of the oil. It is not the same to handle a spill of crude oil than a spill of refined oil products; furthermore, a spill of gasoline is different from a spill of heavy products. It is suspected that the spill consisted of fuel oil used for sailing and burning, one of the heaviest oil products ”, he pointed out.
He also criticized the ministry for saying it was going to conduct tests. “I do not know what kind of tests, they should not be testing because PDVSA should have disclosed what was spilled,” he said.
The environmental damage also affects people
–What kind of damages can be caused by the spill?
Manifold. We have numerous types of environmental damage and also damage to people. In both cases, there is damage to human rights. Regarding the environment, we know that, due to the currents, the stain ran along the entire coast of Carabobo state to the area of Tucacas, in Falcón, where it affected the mangrove area; from the north of Morrocoy, it may have moved towards Cuare and the keys. First, it reached a long stretch of sandy coastline where many of the pictures published by the Ministry of Ecosocialism showed people collecting oil and stained sand. The sand in this area is very low quality, but you have to bear in mind that many organisms live underneath, including crustaceans and mollusks which are sold for human consumption. Fishing is a very important element of the informal economy in the area due to the decline of other economic sectors. Fish have a great mobility capacity; they migrate if they perceive that something is off (and leave nothing to fish). But the mollusks that live under the sand cannot move, so they either die or absorb parts of the noxious compound and incorporate it into their body, with the potential to affect people’s health when sold for consumption.
Álvarez drew attention to the ecosystem at Chichiriviche hill, next to Morrocoy, home to a mangrove community of different species. Closer to the coast, the red mangrove’s long roots are used by an enormous amount of organisms to grow and breathe. Due to the spill, the oil slick will kill the organisms and the mangrove itself.
He added that, on a second level, the substance affects the seagrass -flowering plants that live under the water- when it reaches the depths. In this case, we may be talking about thousands of endangered species.
“On the edge of Morrocoy National Park, towards the keys, there are coral reefs; We must remember the accident that occurred in the 1980s, a natural catastrophe that killed 80 percent of the reefs. The slow repopulation process is now in danger. A deputy minister of Ecosocialism said that 90 percent of the spilled oil had been cleaned up after seven days and the National Park was no longer in danger”.
-Is it possible to conduct a cleaning as described by the Government?
-An instant cleaning? A magic trick? You can look on the internet for the oil spill in the island of Mauritius and see an area with a huge oil stain that government officials are currently trying to contain.
The environmental damage affects the right to health
The biologist explained that, in addition to the environmental issue, there is an impact on people’s right to health and the economic rights of those making a living from fishing, gathering, and tourism, who also hope for the end of the quarantine to retake their activities. “They are all forms of economic and social rights”.
Álvarez explained that the right to information and the right to participation have also been affected because the Government failed to seek the support of specialists or experts on the matter. “The Venezuelan Society of Ecology hosted an excellent forum; if the Government had convened a similar group of people, they would all have given some kind of advice,” he said.
– Is there a connection with the incident in Anzoátegui or is it part of the same situation affecting the oil industry?
-It is part of the same process. We no longer have data on how many spills are occurring, but it can be estimated that, in technical terms, there is a high prevalence of accidents. It is like a person driving a car and having little crashes all the time. We fear the next accident could be very serious or fatal. We need to demand a revision inside the oil industry to determine what is happening and take the necessary measures because we risk witnessing much worse things. We have oil facilities all along the Venezuelan coast and in many parts of the country, and a serious accident has the potential to affect many people, beyond environmental damage.
“Let us remember the explosion at the Amuay refinery,” he stressed, “whose causes are still unknown. If you enter Caracas from La Guaira, you will see a large gas tank. No houses were around at the time it was built, but now thousands of human lives could be lost if it explodes. The current shortage of fuel should not be happening in Venezuela. I think the biggest problem right now is the possibility of something worse happening. We should be preparing for that. In risk management, you take actions after a disaster to prevent or prepare for the next one”.
A catastrophe in sight
-Does this add to the ecological disaster in the Orinoco Mining Arc? What can you say on that, added to the recurrent oil spills?
-This can lead to a catastrophe. When talking about environmental issues, you should scale the problem to determine the importance, how many people it affects, its extent and duration, and the possible costs. The two major environmental problems right now are the mining activity south of the country and the degradation of waterways north of the Orinoco river; they are affecting the entire population, it is a very serious problem.
Álvarez explained that two million people are estimated to be contaminated with mercury due to mining and have their lives threatened by the environmental damage.
“This is not a novel situation, but it has progressed over time. It has been a public health issue since the 1990s; however, mercury accumulates in the area and does not fade away. Starting in 2000, mining expanded to untraditional areas such as the Caura River and the state of Amazonas. A group of researchers considered the Caura basin to be one of the last pristine areas with minimal human impact in the world, but now we have heard of local human communities affected by mercury after mining began in the area in the early 2000s. 80 percent of the fresh waters in Venezuela originate south of the Orinoco river, and they are being polluted.
Translated by: José Rafael Medina
