SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Emergency workers try to contain an oil spill on a beach in Peru on December 27, 2024.
(Image: screenshot/@DDnewslive)
'Chaos': Peru Declares Environmental Emergency Over Oil Spill
"So far, we have not had any response from the oil company," said one fisherman whose livelihood has been threatened by the accident.
Dec 27, 2024
At least seven beaches and the safety of local wildlife have been impacted by an oil spill in northern Peru, said the South American country's Environmental Assessment and Oversight Agency on Thursday as the government declared an environmental emergency.
The environmental watchdog, known as OEFA locally, said in a preliminary report that about 10,000 square meters of surface seawater have been contaminated by the crude oil, which spilled from a vessel at a terminal of the Talara refinery.
Petroperu, the state-owned oil company, was preparing to load the oil onto a tanker when the spill was detected at Las Capullanas beach.
The company has not disclosed exactly how much oil spilled, but OEFA said it has extended over an area of 116-566 acres. Petroperu has also not stated the cause of the accident.
Petroperu told Reuters it has coordinated with the fishermen's union, but fisherman Martin Pasos told the local radio station RPP that he has heard little from the company about when he will be able to resume his work.
"We have not been able to go out for six days now," Pasos said. "It is chaos, what happened in Lobitos. So far, we have not had any response from the oil company."
Petroperu said Wednesday it had deployed clean-up crews as soon as the spill was detected earlier this week and that the cleaning of six beaches in Talara province was almost done.
Authorities were directed under the environmental emergency to carry out recovery and remediation work over the next 90 days.
Infobae reported that Petroperu was "minimizing" the damage as local authorities expressed concern over the safety of "turtles, crabs, octopuses, and fish [that] have been seriously harmed by contact with the spilled oil."
On Sunday, shortly after the spill, the public prosecutor's office launched an investigation into Petroperu's alleged criminal environmental contamination.
Rocío Silva-Santisteban, a poet, activist, and former member of Peru's Congress, noted that "it is not the first time that Petroperu has polluted."
"Since 2014 in Cuninico, Loreto, oil spills have been occurring, affecting the health of animals and people," said Silva-Santisteban. "This has been an ecocide!"
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
At least seven beaches and the safety of local wildlife have been impacted by an oil spill in northern Peru, said the South American country's Environmental Assessment and Oversight Agency on Thursday as the government declared an environmental emergency.
The environmental watchdog, known as OEFA locally, said in a preliminary report that about 10,000 square meters of surface seawater have been contaminated by the crude oil, which spilled from a vessel at a terminal of the Talara refinery.
Petroperu, the state-owned oil company, was preparing to load the oil onto a tanker when the spill was detected at Las Capullanas beach.
The company has not disclosed exactly how much oil spilled, but OEFA said it has extended over an area of 116-566 acres. Petroperu has also not stated the cause of the accident.
Petroperu told Reuters it has coordinated with the fishermen's union, but fisherman Martin Pasos told the local radio station RPP that he has heard little from the company about when he will be able to resume his work.
"We have not been able to go out for six days now," Pasos said. "It is chaos, what happened in Lobitos. So far, we have not had any response from the oil company."
Petroperu said Wednesday it had deployed clean-up crews as soon as the spill was detected earlier this week and that the cleaning of six beaches in Talara province was almost done.
Authorities were directed under the environmental emergency to carry out recovery and remediation work over the next 90 days.
Infobae reported that Petroperu was "minimizing" the damage as local authorities expressed concern over the safety of "turtles, crabs, octopuses, and fish [that] have been seriously harmed by contact with the spilled oil."
On Sunday, shortly after the spill, the public prosecutor's office launched an investigation into Petroperu's alleged criminal environmental contamination.
Rocío Silva-Santisteban, a poet, activist, and former member of Peru's Congress, noted that "it is not the first time that Petroperu has polluted."
"Since 2014 in Cuninico, Loreto, oil spills have been occurring, affecting the health of animals and people," said Silva-Santisteban. "This has been an ecocide!"
At least seven beaches and the safety of local wildlife have been impacted by an oil spill in northern Peru, said the South American country's Environmental Assessment and Oversight Agency on Thursday as the government declared an environmental emergency.
The environmental watchdog, known as OEFA locally, said in a preliminary report that about 10,000 square meters of surface seawater have been contaminated by the crude oil, which spilled from a vessel at a terminal of the Talara refinery.
Petroperu, the state-owned oil company, was preparing to load the oil onto a tanker when the spill was detected at Las Capullanas beach.
The company has not disclosed exactly how much oil spilled, but OEFA said it has extended over an area of 116-566 acres. Petroperu has also not stated the cause of the accident.
Petroperu told Reuters it has coordinated with the fishermen's union, but fisherman Martin Pasos told the local radio station RPP that he has heard little from the company about when he will be able to resume his work.
"We have not been able to go out for six days now," Pasos said. "It is chaos, what happened in Lobitos. So far, we have not had any response from the oil company."
Petroperu said Wednesday it had deployed clean-up crews as soon as the spill was detected earlier this week and that the cleaning of six beaches in Talara province was almost done.
Authorities were directed under the environmental emergency to carry out recovery and remediation work over the next 90 days.
Infobae reported that Petroperu was "minimizing" the damage as local authorities expressed concern over the safety of "turtles, crabs, octopuses, and fish [that] have been seriously harmed by contact with the spilled oil."
On Sunday, shortly after the spill, the public prosecutor's office launched an investigation into Petroperu's alleged criminal environmental contamination.
Rocío Silva-Santisteban, a poet, activist, and former member of Peru's Congress, noted that "it is not the first time that Petroperu has polluted."
"Since 2014 in Cuninico, Loreto, oil spills have been occurring, affecting the health of animals and people," said Silva-Santisteban. "This has been an ecocide!"
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.