La Pampilla Spill

The first month of the worst environmental disaster in Peruvian shores history – the most media-trendy, at least.

 

 

VENTANILLA, Peru – On Saturday, January 15^th, 2022, while the Pacific Ocean was in alert due to a tsunami caused by the blast and collapse of a volcano in Tonga Islands, Italy’s Mare Doricum petroleum ship downloaded Brazilian crude to La Pampilla Refinery, operated by spain’s Repsol corporation.

 

Around 17:10 PET (2310 GMT) , it was notified the downloading hoses broke. Initially, all seemed to be a 26.9-feet stain, or the equivalent to a 1.6-feet-side square, and 0.16 barrels, according to Repsol’s preliminary information. For January 23^rd, Peru’s environment Ministry estimated that 11,900 petroleum barrels spilled in the sea. One petroleum barrel equals 42 U.S. gallons or 159 liters.

 

The next day, Sunday 16^th, who attended Cavero Beach mid-morning found the water inked in black, a heavy smell. For Wednesday 19th, Repsol corrected its number – the spill represented 6000 petroleum barrels.

 

In les than a week, the spill extended along 42 miles to the north until getting to Chancay, Lima – 24 beaches mostly affected according to the General Directorate of Environmental Health & Food Safety (Digesa, as in Spanish). About 3000 fishers and all-level businesspersons closed all their activities due to the whole strip of beach and sea inside 5 miles, addressed to little fishing by law, got useless.

 

One of the largest damages produced in two conservation areas managed by the Peruvian State: the National Reserve of Guano Islands, Islets, and Capes, and the Ancón Reserved Zone. Birds, marine mammals, and fishes, especially, got deadly injured or died because their skins covered by petroleum, ingested it not wanting, or because the sunlight was blocked to the sea depth, one of the richest in the world in biological terms.

 

 

Repsol looks for guilties

Peruvian Government urged Repsol to ddeploy necessary resources for cleaning the stain, but the corporation seemed to protect first in denying a presumed responsibility, and it furtherly started the procedure at the same time it issued a legal campaign focused on blaming Peruvian Navy about not warning the tsunami in spite of the warning issued from the Pacific Tsunami warning Center.

 

According to Repsol, a report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Oceanographic Comission points out anomalies in the Pacific during January 15^th probably related to the eruption in Tonga. They added it caused strong waves propeling the spill, but windsurfers sailing next to the Mare Doricum that same moment posted videos which evidence there was no wind nor waves.

 

By its hand, the Environmental Evaluation & Prosecution Organism (OEFA as its initials in Spanish) listed presumed negligences that Repsol had committed since the very first emergency moment and up ahead. The first one: not warning on time. But Repsol said it notified the problem just started.

 

Eventually, the Supervising Organism of Investments in energy and Mines (OSinergmin, as in Spanish) suspended La Pampilla operations on January 19^th, although the Peruvian Government temporarily re-opened them on February 4^th for avoiding the fuel shortage because the refinery provides 33% of Peruvian market, according to Apoyo at 2021.

 

The news passed almost unseen in Spain. Top stories were mostly broken by a possible war in Ucrania and many internal struggles in the local Parliament. However, a Spanish Government’s representative traveled to Lima, the Peruvian capital city, for negotiating with the national government and pitch the media that Repsol was actually taking control of the emergency.

 

In the remaining Peruvian Northern shores, people and authorities did Maths about where the stain could get to their coast if it was not remedied urgently. Their large threat was its largest fishing provider – Humboldt’s Current, that in usual conditions comes from antartica and diverts to the west in Piura where it meets the Equatorial or El Niño Current, that during the austral summer uses to penetrate a little more  to the south.

 

 

The broken hose

What still remained in the shadows was what happened exactly. It was known on January 26^th that Mare Doricum’s Captain Giacomo Pisani sent a letter to Repsol exposing nine failures, among them, the spill’s containment barrier “didn’t have enough length to cover the perimeter of ship,” Spain’s el País newspaper reported.

 

However, Repsol responded saying the captain did recognize there were anomalous waves, those could be the cause of the rigs holding the hoses to disconnect. But it also pointed out in the letters, Pisani indeed recognized the barriers were set up for containing the spill.

 

In a legal maneuver known on February 14^th, almost one month later, Repsol demanded the ship’s owner and its insurance company to indemnify it due to the spill started because of an abrupt maneuver of the petroleum ship that broke the hoses and downloading rigs. The right number is ignored, only that the amount is “billionaire.”

 

Nevertheless, repsol recognizes it spilled 10,396 barrels, 1500 less than the Peruvian Government claims, it was affected a 41-square-mile area. To have a perspective, the surface of Madrid Metropolitan Area, the Spain’s capital city, is around 1800 sq mi, as big as the whole surface of Sullana Province, Peru, can be contained and still having about 75 square miles of free space.

 

The Peruvian Government’s numbers are different – for January 23^rd, OEFA calculated 7 sq mi of land and 27 sq mi of sea, 34 sq mi in total, 7 sq mi less than Repsol, unless an update. Add to that, 8 barrels spilling on January 25th in the same pier than on 15^th, also operated by Repsol.

 

 

Is it reversible?

Repsol has promised to give back a rehabilited sea. At our deadline, the National Service of Protected Natural Areas (Sernanp, as in Spanish) says that only talking about birds, there were 905 injured. Until February 9^th, it found 208 died and it could rescue 56.  A bunch of them was in Parqué de las Leyendas Zoo, Lima City, healing.

 

Once the petroleum impregnates in their wings, they can’t fly, and if they drink the water, they intoxicate. Removing them the substance gives them life options but it leaves them without their natural fat for not dying from hypothermia. The biologists estimate their rehabilitation can take one month at least, but before getting them back to their habitat, it has to be clean first.

 

With information of Peruvian Society of Environmental Law and Grupo El Comercio. © 2022 asociación Civil Factor Tierra. All Rights Reserved. Comment this in he box below or on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Would you like to know more about? Write us at factortierra@gmail.com