Spill turns the Pantepec River black and threatens the ecosystem
After the torrential rains recorded on October 9 and 10, Pemex confirmed on October 21 a leak in the Poza Rica–Madero pipeline, in the municipality of Álamo Temapache.
The leak caused a massive oil spill into the Pantepec River. As of November 1, they had recovered 2.7 million liters of hydrocarbon in at least ten points of the riverbed and its tributaries, the equivalent of more than an Olympic swimming pool of oil poured into fresh water.
(Photo: Courtesy Unbio)
The president Claudia Sheinbaum He stated that the incident was caused by a landslide resulting from rains and floods and reported that the affected farmers would be compensated, while the residents would receive support from Pemex.
Although the spill was 100% controlled two days after the authorities confirmed it this Wednesday, November 5, Pemex reported that it continues to carry out remediation and hydrocarbon recovery work in the Pantepec River area, which reached 99% progress, The hydrocarbon spill continues to contaminate the water and affect the flora, fauna and communities. riversides that depend on the river for fishing, irrigating crops and supplying drinking water.
Zazueta maintained that the spill puts at risk more than 150 animal species and 400 varieties of flora endemic to the region.
The president of Unbio explained that the Pantepec River, a tributary of the Tuxpan River system, is home to enormous biological diversity: endemic fish such as the Herichthys tepehua or tepehuana mojarra, river otters, turtles, amphibians, herons, ducks, iguanas, crabs and a wide variety of aquatic insects, as well as riparian plants essential for ecological balance.
“Many of these animals were trapped underwater and died. Others tried to escape, but the damage has already been done. Today, this entire ecosystem is at risk. Communities report fish mortality, oiled birds, the smell of gasoline in the air and blackened vegetation, without there being an authority to supervise or remedy the damage,” he added.
(Photo: Courtesy Unbio)
Opacity and silence on the part of environmental authorities
Despite the reported damage, to date neither the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), nor the Safety, Energy and Environment Agency (ASEA)—in charge of regulating the activities of the hydrocarbon sector—nor the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) have reported or specified the environmental damage caused by the spill.
Given this, Zazueta demanded that Profepa carry out an immediate technical inspection, make the results transparent, impose sanctions on Pemex and activate an urgent environmental remediation plan with community participation.
“Profepa must do its job. It must be in the field, protecting the fauna, flora and biodiversity of Veracruz. Every hour that passes without effective action means more dead animals and more affected families,” he declared.
We cannot continue to tolerate the parastatal’s spills being treated as simple accidents. “Mexican biodiversity is paying a very high cost for constant institutional negligence.”
Enrique Zazueta, president Unbio.
From Greenpeace, Pablo Ramírez also criticized the silence of ASEA, an agency that – he said – only issued a statement on the day of the incident and since then has not provided information on the total amount of hydrocarbon spilled or the magnitude of the environmental impact.
“Without transparency, there can be no reparation. We do not know how many liters of oil were actually spilled. The worrying thing is what is not recovered, what infiltrates into the soil and aquifers. There is very little information about the real impact,” he warned.
Ramírez stressed that the environmental and human damage could have dimensions greater than those reported, recalling that “a single barrel of hydrocarbon can contaminate up to 80 million liters of water.”
“Groundwater contamination is one of the most difficult to clean. The effects are prolonged and can affect the health of communities for a long time,” he added.
