Mexico City.– The spill from a Pemex hydrocarbon pipeline has affected a community of Papantla, in the northern region of Veracruz, since August 21, which has also caused the death of native species and domestic animals, environmental organizations reported.
The activists explained that the spill in the Totonaca community of Ojital Viejo has contaminated artesian wells and crop plots, and with this the health of neighboring populations is put at risk through which a stream runs that is a tributary of the Cazones River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
“The spill was located by the community on August 21, after identifying the smell of sulfur in the upper part of the community, which alerted the neighbors and community authorities who took on the task of searching for the leak point, that was identified in one of the two oil pipelines that, along with two gas pipelines, run through the community,” they detailed in a statement. They indicated that during a tour carried out on September 28 and 29, evidence was obtained that the spill is still not being properly attended to.
“A crew of 8 Pemex employees, without safety equipment and with rudimentary tools, is limited to removing the contaminated soil and placing it on the side of the stream, without any safety measures to protect the soil or bodies of water, worsening the situation with the rains that occurred again on October 1,” they noted.
The Mexican Alliance Against Fracking, CartoCrítica, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda), Fundar and Greenpeace México, among other organizations, demanded that Pemex immediately remove the sludge and other contaminated materials and assume the financing of the restoration of the affected ecosystems and crops, as well as the care of affected people. They also urged the company to maintain its pipelines and other facilities, especially those that cross towns and communities, since the Mexican Petroleum Fund for Stabilization and Development allocates resources for the remediation of sites contaminated by hydrocarbons.
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