Ecuador and China say YES to new OIL/Chemical refinery in Manabi [Archive]

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Bob

17th February 2014, 20:35

We all love crude oil refineries, and chemical plants where we want to retire right?

http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/2010/10/8992305-large.jpg

In 2007, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said the proposed 300,000-b/d RDP, to be built in the coastal province of Manabi, would cost around $5 billion, increasing to $10 billion if the partners decided to add a petrochemical plant on the site.

We know there will never be any spills, no emission to the atmosphere and that we can trust completely that China will only do its best to create the highest quality production facilities as they have done elsewhere in the world (where they haven't been kicked out as in many African countries).

http://researchandideas.com/images/thumb/d/dd/Rodeo66refinery.jpg/400px-Rodeo66refinery.jpg

Under the June 2013 agreement, CNPC (Chinese National Petroleum Corporation) said it will take a share in the construction of RDP (company name to be "Refineria del Pacifico") as well as participate in the exploration and development of Ecuador's upstream resources.

At the time, the RDP refinery and petrochemical complex was scheduled for completion by 2017, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said in a Jun. 29 release.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/rf/image_r/Boston/2011-2020/2013/05/04/BostonGlobe.com/National/Images/d1f40aaa59214ba9a7a21e9701fbaca0-d1f40aaa59214ba9a7a21e9701fbaca0-0.r.jpg

Above is a picture of protesters in Kunming, in China's Yunnan Province, demonstrated against a planned refinery Saturday, wearing masks with “No to Kunming PX” written on them.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news_images/20130517/p01b.jpg

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/large/2011/08/29/122783062.jpg

Above is a fire and the typical emission that results from a refinery fire, in this case fuel tanks which burned - "A huge fire at China’s state-owned PetroChina Co. refinery in northeastern port city of Dalian has disaster-weary residents on edge, about yet another environmental threat. “We don’t know where to escape to; if there’s a big explosion, the city will blow up too,” one worried resident told The Epoch Times." - ref: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/another-fire-at-petrochina-refinery-in-dalian-has-citizens-on-edge-60901.html

The world is getting a pretty good understanding of what buying Chinese means.

Lower costs right, but at what over-all long term expense?

http://www.chinafile.us/graphics/FromOilToAir-CF-07.png

There have been no discussions that plans for the refiner in Ecuador, that it's emissions plan is sound and will not damage the environment, that the fuels produced will not be any different than the typical "Bargain Rate Chinese Refiner" project.

http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/d03f7bb5-8e78-4983-a3c3-dddbd321d498.img

From the Guardian, in 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/feb/07/china-exploitation-africa-industry

"Africa will not put up with a colonialist China"

"China's sacred text is not a holy book like the Torah, the Bible, or the Qur'an. Instead, it is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Sun's core belief is that the "ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting."

"Nowadays, we are witnessing the application of Sun's ideas in Africa, where China's prime objectives are to secure energy and mineral supplies to fuel its breakneck economic expansion, open up new markets, curtail Taiwan's influence on the continent, consolidate its burgeoning global authority, and clinch for itself African-allocated export quotas. (The Chinese takeovers of South African and Nigerian textile industries are good examples of this strategy)."

To move to South America and perform a similar maneuver is no surprise, and to carry on with business as usual would be no different than what has been demonstrated in Africa.

Another point, China put in a refinery in Chad to develop lower grade oil produced from areas in the West of Chad. But, after it started, here is what the Chadian Oil minister reported as to their "standards of "good" (not) operating practices..

"The discovery by Chad's oil minister in August that the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) exploration activities in Koudalwa had violated Chad's environmental standards is a blow to the CNPC and its relationship with the government."

ref: http://www.theafricareport.com/Central-Africa/chads-oil-dreams-turn-into-slimy-nightmare.html - CNPC turns CHAD into a SLIMY Nightmare

http://www.theafricareport.com/images/stories/chadspillphotomadjiasranako.jpg

Back to Ecuador.. "Under the June 2013 agreement, CNPC said it will take a share in the construction of RDP as well as participate in the exploration and development of Ecuador's upstream resources. At the time, the RDP refinery and petrochemical complex was scheduled for completion by 2017, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said in a Jun. 29 release."

There is no reason to expect China to perform any differently in Ecuador than they have done in Mainland China (with producing shoddy fuels with high pollutant output), or explore as how they have done in Africa. There have been no demonstrations otherwise, nor examples shown where China has produced products in energy where people are happy with the end results.

In fact, the world is currently paying for the Chinese air pollution affecting weather worldwide.

And now in Ecuador, "a place to retire in" is about to be damaged beyond recovery for "creating a lessor dependency on foreign imports of energy for Ecuador", again at what long term expense and outcome..

ref: http://oilpatchasia.com/2014/01/cnpc-comes-to-ecuadors-aid-in-troubled-rdp-refinery/

http://oilpatchasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Screen-Shot-2013-09-06-at-2.37.45-PM-618x330.png
CNPC logo - (or we will rule the world without any battle)

Sidney

17th February 2014, 22:29

Reading this kind of ruined my day. I am literally nauseated. I truly thought Ecuador had a better leader than that.

Bob

17th February 2014, 23:09

Reading this kind of ruined my day. I am literally nauseated. I truly thought Ecuador had a better leader than that.

I hadn't heard about the refinery AND the proposed chemical plant (that makes exotic chemicals out of crude for exorbitant profits) until today myself. I had known about CNPC's terrible environment record, and how folks in Nigeria wanted CNPC to stay away, and I had known from the oil minister in Chad the disappointments..

"China National Petroleum Corp.'s Kazakhstani subsidiary JSC CNPC-AktobeMunaiGas has been ordered to pay 7.7 billion Kazakhstani tenge ($49.8 million) for breaching the country's environmental laws and causing environmental damage, Tengrinews reported." - http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20131206/NEWS09/131209887

"Chad suspends ALL CNPC operations" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23697269 - from BBC, World Africa news - "Djerassem Le Bemadjiel said the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) was to blame for an oil spill in several sites near a forest. He said the situation was "intolerable" . "It's a very serious situation, it's intolerable," Mr Le Bemadjiel told the BBC French Service, describing how trees had been destroyed. He said such violations were a crime, adding: "In the oil sector you don't do this."

This is reminiscent of the mishandling of Crude in Nigeria by Royal Dutch-Shell. The Nigerian spills have created a horrendous damage in Nigeria leading to a 50 year proposed timetable to clean up the damage and billions and billions of dollars and thousands of people to clean it up.

Ref: http://progressivechina.com/petrochina-to-pay-140-mln-in-fines-and-levies/19639 :

http://interfaxenergy.com/images/post-content/Changqing-Oilfield-in-the-Ordos-Basin.jpg
Locally, CNPC was fined for soil damage at Changqing oilfield, report says: "A Chinese court has ordered PetroChina’s largest oil and gas production unit CNPC, to pay RMB 850 million ($139.52 million) in fines and compensation after it found the company violated local environmental regulations, according to a state media report.

"The Yuyang district court in the city of Yulin in Shaanxi province ordered PetroChina’s Changqing Oilfield subsidiary to pay compensation last month for water drainage and soil erosion in Yulin from oil and gas development between July 2009 and March 2012, said China National Radio on Sunday."

These are recent incidents, why would anything be different in Ecuador with CNPC?

Bob

17th February 2014, 23:35

Beijing, China -

The State Government watchdog agency has recently BLACK-LISTED CNPC (inside the country itself), for the second time in 6 months. PUBLISHED : Thursday, 13 February, 2014, 5:34pm Reuters.

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country’s biggest oil producer, has been put on a pollution blacklist for the second time in six months after breaching regulations at one of its refineries, the state environment watchdog said.

"As Beijing tries to placate public complaints about the condition of the country’s air, water and soil, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) is under mounting pressure to strike hard against powerful industrial firms long given a relatively free hand to pollute in the quest for profit."

"The ministry said CNPC was fined 500,000 yuan (HK$635,000 ) and ordered to rectify “illegal behaviour” at its oilfield in northeast China’s Jilin province, where untreated wastewater was found to have contaminated local land and underground water tables."

--------------------------

It goes on..

"In February this year, over 80 civil society organizations submitted an open letter to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in support of a formal complaint against CNPC/PetroChina, a Global Compact participant.

"The civil society groups allege that CNPC, PetroChina's parent company, is a major financer of the Sudanese government and that it indirectly supports the Sudan regime that is responsible for the human rights crisis in Darfur. (Do you remember the horrendous human rights violations in Africa's Darfur region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Darfur)? - if not please read that.)

"CNPC / PetroChina seems more than happy to turn a blind eye to the fact that it is largely funding the Government of Sudan's six-year reign of terror over its own people in its Darfur region.

"Labeled genocide by the US Congress in 2004, this massive humanitarian crisis has resulted in the deaths of over 300,000 people, the displacement of at least 2.7 million and the rapes of countless women and young girls.

"But Sudan is not the only country where CNPC / PetroChina fails to uphold the ten principles of the UN Global Compact.

"In a March 19 Time Magazine feature-length article, "The Scramble for a Piece of Burma", Hannah Beech reports on the impacts of oil and gas development in the ethnic territories of military-ruled Burma.

"The exposé focuses in part on Arakan State in western Burma, where a consortium led by South Korea’s Daewoo International, in partnership with CNPC and the Burmese regime, are developing the Shwe Gas Project, Burma's largest ever natural resource extraction project, intended to transport gas to China via an overland pipeline.

"The article notes how the planned Shwe gas pipeline to China "will likely result in extensive village relocations" and how dissidents in ethnic Arakan State are currently being rounded up by the authorities and disappeared."

ref: http://globalcompactcritics.blogspot.com/2009/03/cnpc-petrochinas-controversial-dealings.html - CNPC/PetroChina's controversial dealings (worldwide)

ref: CNPC blacklisted - http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/china-environment-cnpc-idUSL3N0LI30020140213

Bob

18th February 2014, 00:08

Is there local oil in Ecuador?

QUITO, ECUADOR – In the Yasuni National Forest it could be called "terra incognita"; one of the beastliest, lushest, most fecund, abundant but unknown places on earth.

ref: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/01/25/environment/can-the-discovery-of-oil-save-ecuadors-rainforest/#.UwKeTfldVIE

The article is titled, Can the discovery of oil in Ecuador save the Rainforest?

http://chanlo.com/images/yasuni-1.jpg

Notice the location of where the discovery took place all the way on the eastern side of the Country.

How to get it to the refinery on the western shore, well by pipeline of course. But one location for a pipeline doesn't make economic sense unless the deposit is staggering in size.

Pipelines in the Rainforest.

"It was touted as the start of a new era of development: Ecuador joined OPEC and borrowed massively. In the first years, oil built hospitals, schools and roads. But 45 years later, Ecuador has just half of its reserves left — 4.5 billion barrels, of which 20 percent lies below Yasuni.

"Albert Acosta was the oil and mines minister when the Yasuni find was made. Today he is a radical ecologist, and will stand as a presidential candidate for a group of leftwing parties in next month’s election. “The reality is that oil has not brought development,” this charismatic academic tells me, when we meet in his office at Flacso University, Quito. “It has helped our infrastructure, but it has brought us immense contamination and environmental destruction. Oil has not solved the problems of Ecuador.”

"Working with nongovernmental organizations and academics, Acosta prepared two options — “Plan A” was a revolutionary scheme to leave the oil in the ground in perpetuity in return for half of its value (around $3.6 billion). Plan B was to send in a Chinese company. For the first time in history, a nation seriously considered not exploiting oil."

Did you read that? PAY the country to leave the oil in the ground.... or call in CNPC.

At the same time there is this plan (see the first post) to put in a new, large refinery at 300,000 barrels per day - that is not a small refinery. What is going to feed that sized refinery? Where will the oil come from?

"Plan A has received overwhelming support, with polls showing 95 percent of Ecuadoreans want Yasuni preserved as a jewel of nature, like the Galapagos, and in 2010 President Rafael Correa guaranteed not to extract its oil if the world gave Ecuador $3.6 billion over 13 years.

"The United Nations has now set up the Yasuni fund and, led by a $50 million donation from Germany, more than $300 million has been offered or received from national, regional and local governments, individuals, companies and institutions in Europe, Japan and the U.S. This alternative “aid” money is administered by a trust to develop renewable energy projects and conservation."

BUT at the same time, PLAN B seems to be being implemented.. HOW can that be? take the 3.6 billion in AID not to produce, but take 10 billion from CNPC and Venezuela (the partner) to produce.

What's wrong with that picture?

Some history of oil exploitation by the multi-national oil companies

(from the reference cited above)

"To see what could happen to Yasuni if the oil there is exploited, I travel to Lago Agrio, Texaco’s base camp in the 1970s, now an oil-rush town. The great primary forests have long gone. Waves of settlers have moved in and Lago Agrio and the area around it is a social and ecological disaster zone, after the company allegedly spilled nearly 17 million gallons of crude oil and dumped 20 billion gallons of drilling waste water between 1964 and 1990. Guerilla groups, drug traffickers and criminal gangs pour over the nearby Colombian border into what is now an industrialized landscape; pipelines snake within feet of houses; companies flare gas night and day from refineries; and the pollution, while far better than it was in the 1970s, continues.

"I meet Luis Yanza, a local community leader who was 16 when his family moved to Lago Agrio from the pristine south of Ecuador. “It was the Wild West, just oil and prostitutes when it started,” he tells me. “It was like going to hell. We would see huge smoke clouds — they used to spill the oil into pits and when they were full set fire to them. The water smelled of oil. We had an oil pipeline right by our house, which was close to the main Texaco camp, and we all had spots on our faces.” Yanza is one of a number of residents who has spent 20 years suing Texaco (bought by Chevron in 2001) to clean up the forests, through the Ecuadorean and U.S. courts. Last year the communities won $18 billion damages, but Chevron has refused to pay, claiming corruption in the Ecuadoran courts.

"My guide round the oil fields is Diego, a man in his 40s. He is distraught at the changes he has seen in 30 years. There is little primary forest left and most of the land is farmed. Roads built in the forest by the oil firms have allowed in waves of settlers, farmers, timber companies and hunters. New oil wells are being drilled, and villages that only a decade ago were little more than a few houses are now small towns with street lighting, parks, restaurants and shops.

"We reach Shushufindi, a town of 30,000 where Texaco used to dump oil and which is now the site of a refinery, billowing black smoke and flames. “Look,” says Diego. “I remember this when it was forest. Now it’s wrecked. Even years ago the pollution was terrible — we used to swim in oil. Now, we can’t breathe because of the air pollution.” He does not want to stop the car for fear the refinery guards will try to arrest him."

"Diego loves, but fears for, Yasuni. “I spend up to five months at a time there. When I am alone, I see all the animals. I walk quietly. I take a small kayak, I see electric eels, dolphins. The real treasure of Yasuni is not the oil, but the forest itself. I don’t want to think about oil coming to Yasuni. It would be a catastrophe. There will be money in the short term. But there will be no more Yasuni jungle.”

"Back in the deep forest at the Tiputini research station the primatologists tell me they now hear oil company planes flying overhead and say that the animals show signs of fear. Opinions at Tiputini are divided over whether Yasuni will be sooner or later exploited. The station’s resident director, biologist Diego Mosquera, fears it cannot hold out for long. “Who owns the oil has the power,” Mosquera tells me. “Oil is 100 times bigger than anything else in Ecuador. Honestly, I don’t think the companies can be stopped.”

A pipeline in Ecuador

http://jto.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/wn20130126e5a-870x396.jpg
Trouble in paradise: A young boy stands on an oil pipeline in Ecuador's Yasuni National Park, one of the world's most biologically diverse areas. Ecuador is asking for $3.6 billion in donations in return for leaving the oil in the ground and preserving the park. | AP

Both plan A and plan B - both at the same time ? One doesn't put in a refinery, and bring in CNPC unless the plan is plan C - take the money and ?

Sidney

18th February 2014, 00:30

Bob

18th February 2014, 00:40

Bobd, thank you for bringing this subject to light. I cry at the thought of the beautiful natural ecology one again be torn to shreds by big oil. How in hell can the people fight back when there is a fair and equitable plan A in place, which is failing? Are the citizens of Ecuador not privy to all of this information? Is Bill aware of all of this?

I've done a PM to share. It just seems that nobody should be doing plan "A" it seems, while at the same time doing plan "B". I seriously doubt the people understand.

Where Bill and Christine are, is quite far south, I believe far enough away, but never-the-less, in-country.

As Global Compact Critics article mentions, http://globalcompactcritics.blogspot.com/2009/03/cnpc-petrochinas-controversial-dealings.html - "The article notes how the planned Shwe gas pipeline to China "will likely result in extensive village relocations" and how dissidents in ethnic Arakan State are currently being rounded up by the authorities and disappeared." How can anyone protest, be a dissident and run the risk in-country.

I don't have a solution to this. As I said in the OP post 1, I just heard about this today, and it has been apparently going on for quite some time without being discussed.

I do know that very very clean small scale refineries are possible, built on the micro-scale (less than 25,000 barrels per day can be created), with minimal pollution if the newest of technologies are used and the brightest environmentally concerned companies making and running them.

I have NEVER ever heard (though there is a big oil mindset trying to explain that the massive billion $$ refineries are clean) above 200K barrels per day refineries are clean - they are not clean, never have been and due to the massive size, they cannot be clean and kept clean. Nor can pipelines to these refineries be kept safe from spills/or damage or erosion over time. Things wear-out and spills happen.

Sidney

18th February 2014, 01:07

doodah

18th February 2014, 01:17

Flash

18th February 2014, 03:54

A few months ago i lost 6,000$ of 401/RRSP/retirement shares on a chinese company inversting in the petroleum industry in Canada.

They literally screwed all their Canadian investors. We won in court, but how do you get your money back from China?

So, that is what I think of Chinese (not the people of course but the uncontrolled very power greedy company's owners and government officials), as bas if not worst as American imperialists, Rockerfellers and Rotschilds together.

Bob

18th February 2014, 16:31

A few months ago i lost 6,000$ of 401/RRSP/retirement shares on a Chinese company investing in the petroleum industry in Canada.

They literally screwed all their Canadian investors. We won in court, but how do you get your money back from China?

So, that is what I think of Chinese (not the people of course but the uncontrolled very power greedy company's owners and government officials), as bad if not worst as American imperialists, Rockefellers and Rothschilds together.

Hi Flash - that's not good. China was doing what it could to get Canadian oil, as they are doing anywhere people will sell oil. Slight anecdote on the feelings being expressed.. With the intense cold and storms that swept down through Canada into the States, the massive natural/propane gas "shortage" hit, and drove up prices 3X normal, basically putting more and more people into a financial hardship situation. Either freeze to death or pay through the nose for some heat, and an ability to cook, wash with warm water and flush the toilet without it freezing solid. On talking to some of the fuel distributors they said, we HAVE the oil, we HAVE the gas, but, the fuel has been bought out from under us by China. It has been sent there, out of the Country cause China pre-bought the fuel.

These distributors go for who speculates and who buys in advance, which commands also the futures market prices. Manufacturers then will withhold production to also drive up prices. This price fixing technique (is illegal) damages the idea of free market prices.

From post #5 above, the biologist Diego Mosquera, the station manager at the Yasuni wilderness Tiputini research station, fears it cannot hold out for long. “Who owns the oil has the power.” It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the play is to get the oil/gas, control it, own it, then use it to manipulate the people. Be they consumers or investors. Both are being controlled by the oil exploiters.

Some are choosing to "win" battles without raising a gun. They do it by controlling the energy resources. They control it through restricting exploration, they control it by creating substandard polluting products, they control it by shutting down production "for maintenance" when they can jack the prices as high as possible. It is not free market driven, it is a manipulation being allowed by someone(s) to harm the investor and consumer.

Bob

18th February 2014, 20:07

Ecuador approves Yasuni national park oil drilling in Amazon rainforest - 16 August 2013 - from "The Guardian", UK
Environmentalists devastated

Plan C appears to be the solution chosen. Drill baby Drill !

Take the money from China and Venezuela, develop the oil, devastate the rainforests. Build the refineries in an area that has been touted as the retirement community, best beaches and condos in the Country.

Manabi may end up looking like Bayonne New Jersey, Linden - "a perfect industrial place to build big industry". Or maybe like Galveston Texas, remember the white sands beaches there, a long time ago? Progress I guess. Either the world community pay the 3.6 billion to "prevent" oil exploitation, or the local thought is "screw em", drill baby drill..

"Polls show that between 78% and 90% of Ecuadoreans are opposed to drilling in this sensitive region.

"Kelly Swing, the founder of the Tipitini research centre in Yasuni, said the area affected by drilling could be 20 or 30 times more than the government has claimed once access roads are factored in. "A new road is the death knell to any wilderness area, no matter where in the world,"

hmm - some pictures of beaches and refineries..

http://e-arcades.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/rm_20120228_6815.jpg

http://www.hesscorporation.com/media/csr_2011/2011site/img/products/h_products.jpg

http://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/bp-texas-city.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Galveston_Bay.jpg
Galveston, TX bay beach

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/71/188487963_246c98a02f_m.jpg

http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/summer2012/images/motorcyclistRefinery.jpg
Refinery Row, Corpus Christi Texas

http://www.thebusinessyear.com/images/data/articles/022_2763_01_b.jpg
Existing and proposed new refinery on the beach

The beauty of Manabi before the refinery - http://www.garyascott.com/tag/manabi

http://www.mantarayinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/IMG_8098.jpg

Come to Manabi ! says the promo..

“Ecuador loves life,” they say. But we say, “Life loves Ecuador”, because it has blessed us with its uniqueness. The best part of Ecuador is that you can experience the richness of its biodiversity any day, anytime; as distances are so short and roadways continue to improve with each passing year. This is why having a home there is a true gift from nature.

"A popular Spanish song, nothing more than an ode to the ocean, went like this: “In the sea, life is so much tastier; in the sea, I love you so much more. With the sun, the moon, and the stars, in the sea, everything is joy.” Despite what is lost in translation, it’s still deeply clear how the ocean has the unique power of making us feel light with peace and carelessness. If you were granted the opportunity of experiencing this every day, would you seize it?"

http://www.slideshare.net/maxgalarza/refineries-in-ecuador - a slideshow PPT showing the development of industry in Ecuador - refineries, petrochemicals, fertilizer, shipbuilding, steel production.

The new refinery and petrochemical complex Ecuador, is to be located in Aromo, Manta canton, in the province of Manabí.

REF: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/16/ecuador-approves-yasuni-amazon-oil-drilling drill baby, drill.. (sigh)

Bob

18th February 2014, 20:44

Want to see the refinery's website?

http://www.rdp.ec/

It touts social responsibility, environmental responsibility, through the expertise of the CNPC, their best programs, those that establish demonstrated effectiveness worldwide.
http://www.rdp.ec/responsabilidad-social-rdp/ambiente-rdp

http://www.rdp.ec/images/Galerias/Ambiental-sostenible.png

http://www.rdp.ec/images/Galerias/Fotos_GG/20130514_115232.jpg
ING. BISMARCK ANDRADE GONZALEZ, GENERAL MANAGER, PACIFIC REFINERY ELOY ALFARO RDP - CEM

Yes there is a large pipeline planned to feed this refinery.

"The new plant will allow for the processing of 300 thousand barrels of oil a day, which will meet the internal demand and will allow for surplus oil to enter the international market. The petroleum products may be used in markets in countries such as Peru, Chile, Central American countries and even countries on the eastern coast of South America.

Heavy oil deep conversion technology will be used which will allow for the production of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, sulfur and petrochemical bases.

"The project includes the construction of oil pipelines, multi-pipelines, a crude oil port unloading system, and offshore installations.

"The installation of a 160-kilometer multi-pipeline is expected, however the locations of the port systems as well as a gas pipeline are still to be decided, among others."

La información y el contenido multimedia, publicados por la Agencia de Noticias Andes, son de carácter público, libre y gratuito. Pueden ser reproducidos con la obligatoriedad de citar la fuente. http://www.andes.info.ec/en/no-pierda-economia/first-phase-pacific-refinery-214-complete.html"

Bob

18th February 2014, 21:52

EcoWatch put up a page to help folks understand why Ecuador chose to abandon the rainforest, the will of the People, and ignore efforts to save the Amazon from exploitation.

ref: http://ecowatch.com/2013/09/06/ecuador-abandons-plan-to-leave-oil-in-amazon/

In August of 2013 Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's announcement of a plan of exploitation of the RainForest, encroached on the hopes of environmentalists and indigenous rights activists in Ecuador and progressives around the world.

Correa had announced on Ecuadorian state television that he was liquidating the fund for the program and that "it was the world’s fault". The world would not give Ecuador 3.6 Billion $ to abandon exploitation. By this act of defiance(?) Correa dismissed the key Article 71 wherein the ambitious drafters declared:

All persons, communities, peoples and nations can call upon public authorities to enforce the rights of nature. To enforce and interpret these rights, the principles set forth in the Constitution shall be observed, as appropriate…The State shall give incentives to natural persons and legal entities and to communities to protect nature and to promote respect for all the elements comprising an ecosystem. (another read my lips?) 90% of the Ecuadorians reject that action of the basic violation of Article 71.

"In the 2008 Ecuadorian constitution, in granting rights to nature, is not only trailblazing ecological precedent, but also essential.

"UN data reports that threatened species in Ecuador in the year 2011 were no less than 2,260.

"In neighboring Peru and Colombia, both countries with roughly four times the territory of Ecuador, the number of threatened species is roughly a quarter of that amount (even the vastly larger U.S. and Brazil do not come close to Ecuador in threats to endemic species). "

VIOLATION of TRUST

The statements made at the outset, were for a new type of environmental stewardship, for all - people, flora and fauna (the plants and animals). But this about face had created such a global outcry, that the government started to make claims that the public, especially the youth, are being manipulated in an effort to take down the government. Critics point out that there has already been drilling in the park under Correa and that the auctions of oil blocks nearby are also problematic.

"Moreover, the issue of mining for copper and gold in the south of the country, near the Peruvian border in the Cordillera del Condor, will also have a major impact on indigenous people, water supplies and precious rainforest. Overall, the green position is increasingly stained, the revolution less radical. We have been lead to understand that the south areas are pristine and will be kept that way, a "safe space" for all to retreat into, but now we see that the policy is to have gold and copper mining in the area.

Have people understood what strip mining for copper is like?

Here is an example in Utah, Kennecott copper mines, how they strip mine out deposits, wreaking the environment locally and with polluted run-off contamination of river ecosystems..

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oEZg4V99_1o/Ubyc4bcFDxI/AAAAAAAADuM/TJsXQj9x4Bg/s1600/31%2BMir%2Bmine.jpg

Published on: Tue Feb 19, 2013

"The Horrors Of Copper and Gold Mining in the Headwaters of the Amazon"

"An area in the upper Amazon in south-eastern Ecuador is under threat from the first of what may be a succession of open pit copper mines. The first mine – Mirador One – has already been licensed and more mines are planned for the future.

"The type of "open pit" mining being planned always causes pollution because, as soon as sulphide rocks are exposed to air and water, they create a chemical reaction and exude sulfuric acid, which in turn releases heavy metals from the rocks, which in turn create toxic waterways.

"In this case, the waterways link into the great Amazon River system."

"The President is relying on mining and oil exploration, financed by Chinese loans, to continue his "social revolution". At present Ecuador pays 24% of its Gross Domestic Product to service these loans, and it seems that access to more money hinges on China being able to strip Ecuador of its most valuable mineral resources, which in turn strips Ecuador of the most ecologically mega-diverse areas left on the planet.

"This is a short term gain for one generation, followed by a terrible loss for all future generations. The legacy for the future will be an ongoing huge financial cost to mitigate the effects of Acid Mine Drainage in the upper Amazon, The fabric of Nature and the fabric of society will be devastated.

"All the money in the world cannot re-make and re-build a fragile eco-system, and a thousand-year-old culture destroyed by copper and gold mining. The issue of the Mirador Mine goes beyond minerals and pollution. It is a pivotal point in the future of Ecuador.

"Will the government and President protect Nature and the "Good Life" for future generations? Or will they sell and destroy Nature, leaving a legacy of severe environmental degradation and an ongoing financial burden that will arise from the need to mitigate the effects of further damage from Acid Mine Drainage?"

ref: http://lab.org.uk/ecuador-correas-dilemma

http://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Domingo-Ankuash.jpg

Pay attention to this map of exploitation of Ecuador for oil and minerals

http://protectecuador.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Ecuador-mining-projects-oil-blocks-indigenous-territory.jpg

This PDF shows the EXPLOITATION MAP of ECUADOR as currently exists.

http://protectecuador.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Ecuador-mining-projects-oil-blocks-indigenous-territory-web.pdf

Bob

18th February 2014, 22:06

Thanks Bobd. Good post. One does wonder... it sure looks like Plan C, but who gets to keep the UN fund money? Wait... that's money from the citizens of the world, right? Taxpayer money? How nice of us to line someone's pockets and not get what we were supposed to get in return. Aren't we tired of being swindled yet?

Some time ago I heard that Ecuador was the first country on the planet to amend its national Constitution to grant rights of "Personhood" under the law to Nature - just as the US grants rights of "Personhood" to Corporations. This was, it seemed, an attempt by Ecuador to level the legal playing field so that corporations would not automatically run roughshod wherever they want to on the planet. Since that time, I believe Uruguay has also implemented such a constitutional amendment.

At the time of the amendment, it sounded like Ecuador had taken such a gigantic leap forward, out of the pollution trap. But now I wonder if it is all just Urban Legend. What has happened to that Constitutional amendment and what can its value be if it isn't protecting Nature in this instance?

Oil isn't the only resource being exploited in Ecuador. The Chinese are also digging gold, which has raised some protest from the citizens.

Thanks DooDah - I found the rest of the research and cited in posts above, including more on Article 71 of the Ecuadorian Constitution being VIOLATED by the current maneuvers.. See posts 13 and 14. The strip mining operations for exploitation of METALS from the SE of Ecuador headed WEST to the coast is particularly worrisome IMHO.

ref: http://lab.org.uk/ecuador-correas-dilemma gets into the mining in the SE and that more mines are being authorized. One can't simply dig on another mine surface, one has to move in a westerly direction to open up more territory.

Bob

19th February 2014, 02:03

Are there any environmental risks to mining operations being conducted in the South of Ecuador?

It is believed now that Article 71 is being violated with the oil exploitation of the Rainforest, and the increase of Mining activities happening.. it is important to see if there are any safety and environmental studies performed by reputable international organization watchdogs.

UNEP, the United Nations Environmental Program did a full study on small scale mining and "artisanal" mining for gold in Ecuador. Attention was paid to the South East mining and Southern parts of the Country. (Maps below)

The report is: http://www.unep.org/chemicalsandwaste/Portals/9/Mercury/Documents/ASGM/Formalization_ARM/Case%20Study%20Ecuador%20June%202012.pdf - JUNE 2012 - Analysis of formalization approaches in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector based on experiences in Ecuador, Mongolia, Peru, Tanzania and Uganda - the ECUADOR CASE STUDY

"Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) is one of the oldest and most traditional forms of mineral extraction in Ecuador.

"As expansion and the conflicts experienced throughout the sector from large-scale to small-scale and artisanal operations resulted in an anti-mining sentiment in several parts of the population.

"In 2007, with the change in government and associated economic and political shifts, there was a halt to large and medium-scale mining activities for a period of 19 months until a new legal framework for mining which addressed environmental and social concerns was promulgated.

ISSUES of SIGNIFICANT CONCERN

"Ecuador experiences similar environmental and social impacts as do other countries that have ASGM.

"Most are caused by mercury and cyanide use in the processing of gold, as well as the sedimentation and related pollution associated with tailings mismanagement and alluvial extraction activities (especially in rivers and other watersheds).

"The resulting water contamination has a direct impact on the ecosystem but also on water use for other economic activities, and on the health of the population.

"In 1997, it was estimated that Ecuador emitted 20 to 50 tons of mercury to the environment (in those areas).

"Because of the specifics of the mining process, about 30% of the mercury emitted by small-scale gold mining ends up in mine tailings as low-reactive elemental metallic mercury and about 70% of the total goes to the atmosphere as mercury vapour during the amalgam burning and gold purification processes.

"The areas that have experienced the most ASGM impacts are where the sector has been most active over the years such as Portovelo-Zaruma, Ponce Enriquez and more recently Chinapintza and Nambija. For example in Portovelo-Zaruma, there are around 150 gold processing plants that discharge 20,000 tons of heavy metals to the aquatic system annually.

"Later studies show a range of health problems associated with mercury and cyanide exposure.

"A 2002 study detailed mercury intoxication symptoms and elevated blood-Hg levels in children in the gold mining settlements in Nambija and Portovelo. In the same study there was some indication that even children who had low blood-Hg levels (<10 microg/L) may be affected by exposure to sodium cyanide, which is used extensively in the local gold-mining operations.

"Another study of the health and environmental effects of gold mining activities noted that mercury storage at home is a key risk factor evidenced by gastrointestinal complaints and an increasing incidence of elevated diastolic blood pressure and elevated mercury levels in hair."

Ecuador has two kinds of mining organizations – the national (Cámara Nacional de Minería del Ecuador) and the provincial chambers (Cámaras Provinciales de Minería) in the Oro, Guayas, Azuay, Loja, and Zamora regions. Concessions are controlled through the Mining Regulation and Control Agency (http://www.recursosnaturales.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/09/mining_law.pdf) - claim information could be obtained through such agency.

Reference Maps

http://chanlo.com/images/exploitation-1.jpg

Closeup

http://chanlo.com/images/exploitation-2.jpg