Marching Against Lizama

'The Lizama Petroleum Disaster'. Lizama is the name of the well which poured out oil last month.

Young people marched down Carrera Septima this afternoon protesting the oil well which spilled oil for most of March in Santander Department. 

'As a Colombian I demand the resignations of those
responsible for the ecocide: The Minister of the Environment and
 the director of the ANLA.' And what about the
Ecopetrol executives' resignations?

(The ANLA issues licenses for companies which want to
carry out projects generating environmental impacts.)

According to Controlaría reports, the state oil company had left many abandoned wells unsealed and had not properly updated its contingency plans. I'd be willing to bet that out there in the swamps and jungles a lot of oil wells are leaking away with nobody around to notice.

Interestingly, in Bogotá the oil well scandal over the oil well leak happened to coincide with rare attention to the chronic problem of air pollution as authorities announced a 'yellow alert' about pollution levels in late March. The alert generated a number of news articles and editorials, and one academic even informed us that the pollution comes from diesel vehicles. 

It's almost makes one wonder whether Colombia should kick its dependence on a fuel which damages the environment and human health from the moment it's sucked out of the ground to when it is burned and released into the atmosphere. Perhaps Colombia could no longer make fossil fuel exports the foundation of its economy, and stop subsidizing driving. But real changes are too much to ask, of course. And the real problem is not how they extract oil, but whether they do so at all.

Still, the industry can rest comfortably: the moment will pass, and the public's attention will move on to something more important, such as gasoline prices, football games and beauty pageants.

Unfortunately, despite Colombian leaders' expressions of concern about climate change, the nation continues to make fossil fuel exportation the 'locomotive' of its economy and celebrates cars sales as an unqualified good. The only prominent voice calling for change - leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, who wants to change oil for avocadoes - is completely unrealistic and would generate huge opposition from citizens and industry.

'The land belongs to the campesino; Not to the multinational.'

A bit strangely, many of the protests denounced fracking - even tho the leaking well did not employ fracking. But fracking makes a good all-purpose demon.

Environmental authorities were criticized for slowness in responding to the spill. So far, no heads have rolled. But it sure seems as tho people in power should pay for the failure to put into place environmental safeguards, which is the TRUE scandal here.

'No to cruelty, no to fracking and yes to renewable energy.'  

'The Lizama Petroleum Disaster'. Lizama is the name of the well which poured out oil.

'Popular sovereignety on environmental issues.' 

 More and more municipalities are holding local referendums, and voting overwhelmingly against permitting oil exploration and mining. The votes are controversial, with some national politicians declaring that they have no legal weight.

'No to fracking.' But the leaking well had nothing to do with fracking.

The often uninformed and emotional opposition to fracking (like the opposition to nuclear power genetically modified organisms) threatens to make conventional oil extraction appear environmentally sound.

'Don't take out our life. No fracking in Colombia.'

 By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Real Scandals Behind the Oil Spill

Spilled out from Ecopetrol's Lizama 158 well poisons a nearby stream. (Photo: Vanguardia Liberal)

An abandoned oil well pouring out petroleum since the beginning of this month has generated angry headlines about animals killed, fishermen out of work and residents sickened. But the real scandal may be state oil company EcoPetrol's alleged irresponsible handling of its exhausted wells.

The Lizama 158 oil well in Santander Department has been pouring out oil, much of it into a nearby river, since the start of March. At least 550 barrels of oil - according to the company - and perhaps as many as 23,000 barrels - according to the National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA) - have spilled out.

Ecopetrol has speculated that a nearby tectonic shift could have triggered the leak. But whatever the immediate cause of this spill, the press scrutiny has exposed a much larger scandal. According to multiple Controlaria reports, Ecopetrol frequently failed to seal exhausted oil wells, leaving the wells a threat to pour petroleum onto their surroundings.

How many times will this disaster be repeated? How many Ecopetrol wells are leaking away into the jungle?

The accompanying scandal here is the, despite the repeated Controlaria reports, apparently no government enforcement entity bothered to force Ecopetrol to obey the law.

How many other environmental regulations are being ignored, setting the scene for future disasters?

It's worth pointing out, too, that even when it's not spilled into the jungle, oil is an environmental disaster all along its life cycle: Even the cleanest oil wells often require road and pipeline construction, opening the wilderness to farmers and deforestation.

And the oil that is processed 'correctly' will ultimately be burned, polluting the air and contributing to global warming.

The best solution for the environment is not to finally seal well Lizama 158, but to end our addiction to oil.

Meanwhile, yesterday El Espectador printed this impactful article about Colombia's worst environmental disasters. As the paper points out, the leaking oil well is a minor disaster compared to Colombia's terrible deforestation rate, the innumerable rivers destroyed by illegal mining, and the Ciénaga Grande, a wetland on the Caribbean coast, is being steadily killed by roads, dikes and canals.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours