Pemex: Stop Destroying Tobasco Demands Greenpeace

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

PEMEX: STOP  DESTROYING TABASCO,  DEMANDS GREENPEACE AT THE END
OF THE TOUR THROUGH THE STATE

Villahermosa, Tabasco. Greenpeace has brought to an end the
working tour called THE OIL TRAIL, begun a week ago, to document
the effects of the oil activities in the state of Tabasco, with
the summon to PEMEX to terminate the oil exploration and 
exploitation in the Biosphere Reserve of the Wetlands of Centla,
and the demand to begin, without delay, the restoration of the
affected areas, the removal of the abandoned offshore
installations, and the renovation and maintenance of pipelines
and installations.

To reinforce their demands, the activists of Greenpeace unfolded 
a gigantic banner (8 x 25 m) over the city's pedestrian bridge.
with the message: "PEMEX; STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF TABASCO". Four
activists rappelled  from the bridge and maintained the banner
hanging over the Grijalva, more than one hour.

"During this week we have had the opportunity to observe the
environmental disaster caused by  the oil installations and the
continuos oil spills originated by the exploration and
exploitation activities of PEMEX, with the acquiescence of the
environmental authorities " said Alejandro Calvillo, spokesperson
of Greenpeace.  He concluded: "This situation cannot go on. Both
the executives of Pemex and mainly in the environmental
authorities should radically change because they are flagrantly
violating the law  by not doing their tasks and by covering up
very serious environmental transgressions". 

During  the journeys along the so-called "OIL TRAIL" , members of
the environmental international organization Greenpeace have
borne witness of the serious impacts of the oil industry in
Tabasco.

On Monday the 31st, aboard the flagship of the organization,  the
RAINBOW WARRIOR, Greenpeace reached the marine platforms of Campo
Arjona, an oil field  abandoned 20 years ago, to record their
critical conditions, the fractures in the structure and the still
on-going oil spills, which violates international  regulations.

On the second day Greenpeace visited and took samples in the
Wetlands of Centla  were there are over 550 hectares (ha) heavily
polluted in the Ejido Jose N. Rovirosa, (in 1989 the government
agency Codezpet set the amount of 50 ha damaged)  and  hundreds
of hectares in the Ejido Ley de la Reforma Agraria , in the
municipality of Cardenas, near the separation battery No. 1 of
the San Ramon oil field (in 1989 the Codezpet set the amount of 5
damaged ha). During these visits, records were made of the
inhumane laboring conditions of the "chaperos" (tar people), deep
into the oil without any protection equipment , and bathing into
diesel at the end of the working day. The above mentioned
violates both the Law for the Environmental Protection and the
Federal Labor Law.

On the third journey through the coastal lagoons, records were
made of the crisis in the oyster production in one of the most
rich and productive lagoon systems  in the whole country. Records
were also made of the salinization of over 80,000 hectares in the
El
Carmen-Machona-Pajonal lagoon system, and the death-blow to the
oyster farms in the Mecoacan lagoon was confirmed. Damages caused
by the oil installations and the waste dumping are by far the
responsibility of Pemex.  The agreements between Pemex and the
communities have not been carried forward, neither the
recommendations made to the oil industry by several government
institutions.

On the fourth journey, witnesses were given by the victims of the
explosion in "Platano y Cacao"  which occurred  on February 16th,
1995. Another explosion had happened in the same area nine years
before, in 1986; and last year a third accident happened on the
same pipeline system in the installations of Cactus, a few
kilometers from Platano y Cacao. Greenpeace documented the
standing risks related to thousands of  pipelines, their years of
service, the lack of maintenance and the large number of
settlements located in the impact areas in case of an accident.
In the case of Platano y Cacao, the Office of the Attorney
General has not fulfilled the recommendation of the National
Commission for Human Rights to look for accountability.

During the fifth and sixth journeys, the Greenpeace party went
into the nucleus  zone No. 1 of the Biosphere Reserve of the
Wetlands of Centla, to substantiate the impacts of the dredging
ordered by Pemex to revive the wells of the Usamacinta oil field,
the run-off  of chemicals from the flatboat used as a warehouse.
In the same way,  the party corroborated the pollution generated
by this kind  of activities  at the Well No. 22 of the same oil
field. These facts violate the Law for Environmental Protection
and the resolutions of the International Convention for the
Wetlands Protection, the RAMSAR Convention, on whose list the
Mexican government has added the Wetlands of Centla.

CONCLUSIONS

Beyond doubt, the oil activity has had a very serious impact on
the ecosystems of Tabasco. Vast lagoon complexes and immense
tracks of land and marshes have been drastically modified by the
installation works and by the pollution caused by the oil
industry. The
environmental impacts of Pemex should be kept from happening and
controlled by the environmental activities, as established by the
law. Nevertheless neither Pemex nor the environmental authorities
comply with the law. Consequently the natural renewable resources
which sustained the livelihood of a good many of the rural
communities of the state of Tabasco are experiencing a crisis
caused by the oil industry.