Pemex Oil Spill in Oaxaca, Mexico, Threatens Sea Turtles and World-Class Surfing Beaches

PRESS RELEASE

A PEMEX oil spill in the port of Salina Cruz in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca went uncontained for 11 days along Pacific Coast beaches, impacting more than 12 miles of coastline.

The spill has so far resulted in the deaths of 13 sea turtles and tarred beaches with oil revered by surfers worldwide for their wave quality.

"The beaches of southern Oaxaca are Mexico's most important for nesting Olive Ridley sea turtles and surfing tourism," said Dr. Eduardo Najera, the Mexico Director for WiLDCOAST. "We are requesting that Mexican federal authorities investigate the cause of the spill and require PEMEX to quickly and thoroughly clean up its mess."

Beaches impacted by the oil spill include Salinas del Marqués, Brasil, Brasilito, Azul, Punta Conejo, La Escondida-Guelaguichi, Playa Cangrejo, and Chipehua.

Conservationists are concerned that the petroleum could harm the 500,000 Olive Ridley sea turtles that lay their eggs on Morro Ayuta beach located north of the oil spill area.

Federal sea turtle monitors reported that clumps of oil have appeared along the more than 14-mile beach, considered among the world's most important nesting beaches. More than 25,000 Olive Ridleys arrived on Morro Ayuta during the three days proceeding the oil spill.

During a recent tour of the region by WiLDCOAST, there was no evidence of any effort by PEMEX to clean up beaches and wildlife impacted by the spill.

"Pemex must be required to clean up and restore all of the ecosystems damaged by the oil spill to the fullest extent possible," said Najera. "Indigenous communities, families and businesses that make their living from fishing, surfing and eco-tourism must be compensated for their losses as a result of damage from the spill."

WiLDCOAST is an international conservation team that conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife. www.wildcoast.net.

Mexico's Pemex faces possible fine for oil spill
Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:35pm GMT


MEXICO CITY Aug 24 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex faces a fine for an oil spill in the western state of Oaxaca that has affected up to 6 km (4 miles) of coastline, authorities said on Friday.

The spill, which began last week when a floating oil storage facility sunk, has so far spewed 1,000 liters (264 US gallons) of crude onto eight beaches, according to Laura Ernestina Aguilar, head of Oaxaca's environmental protection agency.

She said the final spillage figure would likely be higher.

"The fine will have to set an example," said Aguilar.

Pemex has 20 days to clean the affected area, or face the prospect of a bigger fine, said Aguilar. The company has four months to appeal the decision, she added.

Pemex said in a statement that it would "strive to return conditions to how they were."

The affected beaches are near Pemex's Salina Cruz refinery that pumps 330,000 barrels per day.

In January, a pipeline leak in the state of Veracruz polluted a local river. (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

A public awareness campaign has started on facebook to encourage people from all over North America to join together to put immediate and relentless pressure on the Mexican government to clean up this oil spill immediately!


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pemex-Oil-Spill-in-Oaxaca-Mexico-not-being-cleaned-up/453779084661725

PRESS RELEASE

Thirty Chontal leaders from the southern coast of Oaxaca joined WiLDCOAST and Greenpeace-Mexico in a September 12 protest of the Oaxaca oil spill at the annual congress of PEMEX in Mexico City.

"Over 20 beaches in Oaxaca were impacted by the August 11th oil spill in Salina Cruz," said Serge Dedina Executive Director of WiLDCOAST. "More than 120 miles of coastline have been hit by oil. There hasn't been any comprehensive effort to clean up the remains of the oil which is damaging some of the world's most important sea turtle nesting and surfing beaches."

More than fifty sea turtles have been reportedly killed as a result of the oil spill and to date PEMEX has not made an effort to carry out a long-term cleanup program to make sure that Chontal communities impacted by the spill are able to resume their fishing, surfing tourism and sea turtle conservation activities.

"This is only one of more than 53 oil spills that have occurred this year alone in Mexico. The communities that have been impacted need to be compensated for their livelihood losses as a result of the spill," said Greenpeace-Mexico Campaign Director Gustavo Ampugnani.

Many of the beaches impacted by the spill are world-famous for the hundreds of thousands of sea turtles that nest there each year and known world-wide by surfers for their quality of the waves. Barra de la Cruz was listed by Surfer Magazine as one of the best waves in the world and was the location for a 2007 ASP World Tour surfing contest that attracted the world's best surfers.

Pablo Narvaez of Barra de la Cruz was one of the Chontal leaders who brought their surfboards to the protest. "We need to make sure that PEMEX works with out communities to clean up the spill," he said. "There is no excuse for PEMEX to take so long to respond to the spill. PEMEX needs to make sure that this doesn't happen again and that it has a plan to deal with spills in the future."

After the event at the PEMEX Congress, WiLDCOAST and the Chontal leaders met with Senator Benjamin Robles at a special session in Mexico's Senate. They discussed the impacts of the spill and the goal of having PEMEX carry out extensive cleanup operations and indemnify communities impacted by the spill.

"This needs to be taken care of now," said Narvaez.