Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Monday, February 11th, 2008
The National Institute for Civil Defense, Indeci, has provided more than 108 tons of goods to help some 45,000 people in Peru as torrential rains continue to cause havoc throughout the country.
About half way through the rainy season, the storms have caused floods and landslides, or “huaycos” as they are known in Peru, that have blocked highways and left thousands of people temporarily isolated in the country’s Andes and jungle regions.
The head of Indeci, Luis Palomino, said almost all departments have been affected. “The only departments that did not have major problems in January are Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Ancash and Lima. But almost the entire country has suffered consequences from the rains, floods and overflow,” daily La República quoted Palomino saying. (more…)
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Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, IFC, approved a $300 million loan on Tuesday for Peru LNG, the second phase of the Camisea natural gas export project requiring a total investment of $3.8 billion, the largest foreign direct investment in Peru’s history. The project has already received funding from the U.S. Export – Import Bank, which approved $250 million, and the Inter-American Development Bank, which was the first bank to brush off environmental and social concerns by authorizing $400 million in December 2007.
The project will create a 253-mile pipeline and a natural gas liquefaction plant and marine loading terminal some 105-miles south of Lima on Peru’s pacific coast. The pipeline will transport natural gas from the Camisea gas fields through an existing pipeline network to the LNG plant. It is expected to generate $230 million a year in incremental royalties and $90 million in income tax revenue for Peru’s government. Most of the natural gas will be exported with markets in Mexico and possibly Chile and the United States. (more…)
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Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
The oil spill caused by explosions on a tanker off Peru’s northern coast last week is spreading south-west and affecting popular tourist sites, according to the head of Natural Resources and Environmental Management in the Tumbes Department, Augusto Zegarra.
Zegarra told Agencia Andina that the oil has spread to Piura Department and is seen off the coast of Mancora, a small fishing village with popular, picturesque beaches and well-known surf point, located about 650-miles north of Lima.
The oil spill was caused after explosions on a 1400-ton, Class C tanker, on lease from the Peruvian navy to the oil company BPZ Energy, caused a fire. At the time of the fire, the tanker was stationed at an oil platform offshore from Zorritos, Tumbes Department.The accident resulted in one death and numerous injuries. (more…)
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Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Flooding in the eastern province of Padre Abad, in Ucayali Department, has affected 1,500 homes and some 7,500 people after three days of heavy rains caused the overflow of the Aguaytía River.
Ucayali’s civil defense director, Federico Pezo, told daily El Comercio most of the damage is in the Miguel Grau and Barrio Unido districts located about 800 kilometers east of Lima. “The last time we suffered similar damage was seven-years-ago, but this time it seems like the situation is even worse,” said Pezo. (more…)
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Friday, February 1st, 2008
Peru’s first biodiesel plant was inaugurated in Lima’s Lurín district on Thursday with an investment of $25 million. The general manager of the Peruvian company Heaven Petroleum Operations, Samir Abudayeh, said the plant will have an initial daily production of 120,000 gallons of biodiesel with a later production at 240,000 gallons a day, Radio Programas radio reported.
“With this plant, using Peruvian technology, we begin the era of biofuels in our country,” said Abudayeh. “Biodiesel will create a series of development poles at the national level in the agriculture and agro-industrial sectors”
Made from fat or vegetable oil, biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel compared to conventional diesel. With little or no modifications, it easily replaces petroleum diesel in compression-ignition engines, which includes cars, heavy equipment and boats. (more…)
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Thursday, January 31st, 2008
Explosions on an oil tanker in northern Peru and a subsequent fire on the ship injured at least 15 people and caused an oil spill 30 km offshore from Zorritos, Tumbes Deparment, on the north coast near Ecuador. The Supe, a 1400-ton, Class C tanker, was on lease from the Peruvian navy to the oil company BPZ Energy, which used the tanker to transport crude oil and natural gas from its offshore platform in Block Z-1. The mayor of Zorritos, Tito de Lama, told Radio Programas radio there were three explosions on the ship which were likely caused by a short circuit. At the time of the explosions the tanker was reportedly stationed at the oil platform. It was later moved 2 kilometers, about 1.2 miles, away from the platform for safety precautions. Initial reports said that the oil platform was not damaged. (more…)
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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Authorities in northern Peru have set aside 43 hectares, about 106 acres, for a nature reserve to protect the Humboldt penguin, one of 17 penguin species native to South America’s Pacific coast, according to Wilfredo Sandoval in a report in the daily El Comercio. The proposed reserve is to be at La Farola, on the shores near the port of Eten, about 750 kilometers north of Lima in Chiclayo province, Lambayeque department.
According to El Comercio, the project is backed by French researchers from the Doué de la Fontaine zoo, who are in charge of creating a habitat for the penguins that will include a deep pool surrounded by protected areas for their nest burrows.
The initial investment for the reserve is reportedly $12,000, which includes the transportation cost of 12 Humboldt penguins from a Lima-based zoo to the reserve. (more…)
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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
The head of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, SPDA, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, sat down for an interview with daily El Comercio to discuss the creation of Peru’s future Environment Ministry and its relation to the country’s mining industry, one of the largest in the world.
Pulgar says the Environment Ministry must be able to regulate the environmental impact of mining. “A ministry that overlooks a widespread topic like mining has to be able to regulate. If not, it becomes a coordinator,” says Pulgar.
Without the ability to regulate, the ministry would have the same powers as the National Environmental Council, Conam, which he says “has lost credibility and become unmanageable.” “Citizens are demanding an entity that will be able to provide answers to mining.” (more…)
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Saturday, January 19th, 2008
Heavy rains are causing widespread damage to ancient ruins in Peru’s normally arid northern coast, says a regional director from the National Institute of Culture, INC.
Enrique Sánchez, the INC chief in La Libertad department, told Enlace Nacional the rains are damaging the adobe walls in the Chan Chan site, the largest city in pre-Columbian America and the capital of the Chimu Kingdom, which reached its peak in the 15th century before being conquered by the Inca Empire.
About 300 miles northwest of Lima, Chan Chan was a 28-square-mile city that was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Site in 1986. UNESCO described it as “an absolute masterpiece in terms of town planning,” and “a unique testimony to the ancient Chimu Kingdom.”
However, the same year the site was also added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger due to its exposure to natural erosion from wind and rain.
“Naturally, we always have conservation work,” said Sánchez “but it rains and that produces drips and the drips break the walls, they break the frieze murals… it’s uncontrollable.”
Sánchez added that workers are covering Chan Chan structures with plastic tarps in order to protect it from the rain. “Plastic tarps are put on the monument so they won’t be affected too much, and the next day we take them off.” (more…)
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Thursday, January 10th, 2008
Seven people are dead and 25 missing after a landslide in northern Peru swept a bus into the Utcubamba River, in Amazonas Department. The director of the National Police’s Protection of Highways Office, Col. Guillermo Arteta, told Agencia Andina the Tarapato Tours-owned bus was carrying about 45 passengers when it was hit by the landslide at around 1 a.m. on the Fernando Belaúnde Terry highway.
The driver of the bus, Esteban Neyra Guerrero, told Radio Programas radio he stopped the bus when it ran into debris on the highway. Guerrero said he asked the passengers to get off the bus and wait until he passed the blocked area. Only 10 people complied. Shortly after a larger landslide hit the highway, knocking the remaining passengers and driver into the river.
General Víctor Castañeda, the police chief in Amazonas, is leading the search and rescue operation according to Arteta. “In the following hours we hope to rescue more people, who we hope to find in good health,” said Arteta. (more…)
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