Falcón state is not only affected by the oil spills from the Paraguaná Refining Complex (CRP), which is the largest oil processing complex in Venezuela and is made up of the Amuay and Cardón refineries. Oil and gas spills have been recurrent there since November 2019, This have never been accounted for by Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) nor has information been given about an environmental study that began at the end of 2023 as requested by the fishing settlements around the “Golfete de Coro” (Little Gulf of Coro).
By Irene Revilla / Correspondent lapatilla.com
The coasts of Falcon have also been damaged by the oil spills from the El Palito refinery, located in Carabobo State to the east of Falcón. The last, but not the first one, registered is polluting the sensitive coasts of Falcon since it borders the Morrocoy National Park, was reported by fishermen and inhabitants of the area during the first half of August and to date there has been no response to the environmental damage, to the fishing families and to the providers of tourist services. PDVSA has not reported whether the oil spill comes from the El Palito refinery or from Planta Centro, a thermoelectric plant that receives oil through an underwater pipeline and that is also in Carabobo.
“The beaches are oily and the oil is in the sand. You just have to go in and feel the slime under the water. We have caught fish filled with oil when you open them, we also had stains on the boats and on the nets. The tide took it away, but if the breeze changes, it returns to the shore of Boca de Aroa or to the shore of the keys,” said a fisherman who has worked at least 20 years in the area.
In anonymity, the fisherman declared that Pdvsa had always taken responsibility for the spills, even giving help to clean the boats, repaint them or buy the rolls of thread to make their nets again.
“This is too nice, people come here from all states, they come to enjoy the keys, the caves, the beach. Also the fresh food, because here they fish and that is taken directly to the plate. We are worried about the mollusks, there are about 100 “guacuqueros” (Polymesoda artacta, a species of clam) who live off that. They take the fresh mollusks from the shore and the sand that they sell fresh to visitors on the beach, but with that spill that contaminated the entire shore, you can no longer take mollusks from these areas, because most likely they are contaminated.”
The fisherman commented that before the end of August, PDVSA gathered several residents of Boca de Aroa for three days to clean the shore. “Yes, look, people joined because the last thing we want is to lose our most important work resource. We want the park to be respected, so that when there is an emergency in PDVSA, they move to resolve it because emergencies can always happen, but we need them to work quickly, to attend to it to avoid greater and lasting damage.”
He emphasized that the cleanup was done by hand and very basic, that is, there were no specialists like in previous years. “I remember that many years ago, when something similar happened, PDVSA took over the beaches and until there was a contamination-free zone, they did not leave. They monitored everything, there was responsibility. I remember that they came with huge sponges that they put in the water to suck up all the oil. Doctors and nurses arrived and brought food for the fishermen and their families. You don’t see that anymore, you have to notify them through the fishermen’s councils, record videos and wait for them to show up and do something,” he said.
Pollution record
Marine biologist and professor Eduardo Klein wrote on his social networks that this oil spill is equivalent to the size of 37 thousand soccer fields and that it covers 225 square kilometers and is being dispersed by the water currents and prevailing winds.
The concern of environmentalists is the environmental importance of the Morrocoy National Park due to its mangroves, since oil is a big problem for this sensitive ecosystem. According to the National Parks Institute (Inparques), Morrocoy was declared a national park on May 26th, 1974, according to Official Gazette number 30, and has a Zoning Plan and Use Regulations.
The objective of the Declaration of the Protected Area is to preserve and conserve the ecosystems and landscapes located in the marine-coastal sector of the central-western region of the country, as well as to conserve in an unaltered manner the main ecosystems that characterize the national park, such as mangroves and coastal lagoons, coral reefs and seagrass meadows, the set of keys, shoals and islets, halophyte communities, salt marshes, savannas and deciduous forests.
The laws also contemplate the protection of biodiversity and ecological balance, guaranteeing the continuity of evolutionary processes and the normal flow of matter and energy between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, but despite all these specifications protected by laws, there is no pronouncement from PDVSA or the park authorities or the regional government.
Incalculable environmental damage
Cristina Fiol, a graduate in Biology from the Central University of Venezuela, who is also part of several NGOs in defense of the environment, explained in a forum given through Clima 21, that oil spills are industrial accidents, which spread in the sea producing emulsification, biodegradation and, finally, sinking and sedimentation. This means that if the oil is not collected quickly, it ends up at the bottom of the sea causing serious damage to the marine ecosystem. “…part of the oil can evaporate in two or three days, and the remains sink to the bottom of the sea.”
She explains that companies have contingency plans, with which they receive alerts before an incident becomes an emergency, which evidently in this case does not work because it is not attended to a priori.
The damage to the coastal axis of Falcón is incalculable and will be reflected in the coming years, since the oil is buried when it is not cleaned in time and this drags on a host of problems that affect all the elements of the ecosystem.
Specialists say that an environmental study has not been able to be carried out in the affected areas due to lack of resources, personnel and government intention. Last year a study was announced for the Golfete de Coro, which also continues to be affected by the spills, but to date there is no result of that study.
The spills do not stop
Last year, the Venezuelan Observatory of Political Ecology recorded 86 oil spills. Zulia, Falcón and Anzoátegui were the states with the highest number of events.
Despite all the complaints on social networks and through various media, the spills have not decreased during the first quarter of this year. The incidents occurred in Zulia, Falcón and Anzoátegui.
Since 2017, PDVSA has not published environmental and social management reports. The information handled by civil organizations is from reports in digital media and social networks, which does not represent the totality of the effects because, even, the amount of crude oil and gas spilled in each event is unknown.
The fear of the fishermen of the state of Falcón is real. The majority of the settlements, located throughout the state, live from artisanal fishing, and although they have had incalculable losses in the catch, their greatest fear is going out and not being able to catch anything at all.
“We do not want a dead sea and that is what we are seeing in four years of spills, we no longer catch fish. Now imagine that the Morrocoy National Park also loses all its beauty, which makes it unique, and that all the families of the coast depend on it,” concluded a fisherman from Punta Cardón.
They don’t say a peep
September 19th was World Beach Day and the agencies of the state of Falcón, such as the mayor of Carirubana, Insopesca and the Bolivarian National Guard, collected waste on the beach of Punta Cardón, Carirubana municipality, but the authorities, when asked about the oil spills, avoided talking about the environmental damage in the area.
Just a few days ago, the vice president and recently appointed Minister of Petroleum, Delcy Rodríguez, inspected the facilities of the Paraguaná Refining Complex. No media, not even the official ones, were invited to cover the visit. There was not a single word referring to the oil spills and much less about the corrective measures to clean the coasts of Falcón and Carabobo.
Meanwhile, the oil spill at El Palito or Planta Centro continues, and Pdvsa has not yet provided any exact information, but what is certain is that the contamination of the ecosystem is advancing inexorably.
Así se veía el derrame de petróleo de #ElPalito #PlantaCentro el #18Sep. Largas manchas de aceite en el #GolfoTriste Se se!ñala el sitio del derrame y por dónde salió (y sigue saliendo) hasta el mar. #PDVSA quieres mas detalles? Ya va mes y medio y sigue chorreando pic.twitter.com/tIOtDPirpf
— diodon histrix (@diodon321) September 21, 2024