business & economy

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SUNTRACS goes to the mat over job safety, company unions
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The Panama News readership in July
Business & Economy Briefs

Major new lawsuit

in Bocas oil spill

by Eric Jackson

Representing 192 people who make their livings from fishing or otherwise depend on the quality of the waters off of Chiriqui Grande in their economic lives, attorney Ricardo Vial has sued the partially state-owned Petroterminales de Panama (PTP) for $325 in damages resulting from last February's oil spill.

The cleanup from that spill is continuing, with many of the fish and molluscs in the area either killed or driven away or rendered inedible. An estimated 400 families made their livings from fishing those waters before the spill and now they have either been obliged to travel farther out to sea or cease fishing.

In an earlier lawsuit, attorney Silvio Guerra, representing 14 affected indigenous communities sued for more than a half-billion dollars and managed to get a court order sequestering 5,000 barrels of crude oil in the PTP tanks. However, that oil belonged to a third company and Supreme Court magistrate Víctor Benavides lifted the sequestration order. Since then in local Chamber of Commerce circles and from other PTP allies there has been grumbling that Guerra is working for sinister "special interests," by some accounts Gulf Arab oil sheikhs who would like to eliminate PTP and take over the business of pumping oil across the isthmus. No evidence of this or any other alleged "special interest" involvement has been presented to the public or the courts and Guerra scornfully dismisses the charge.

With the lifting of the sequestration order, plaintiffs with far fewer resources to fight a legal battle than PTP were left facing the process of years of litigation at a disadvantage before the possibility of any relief, and meanwhile having to make some decisions about what to do about making a living.

Meanwhile, other branches of government are making findings from their investigations and seeking yet more data.

The National Environmental Authority (ANAM) finds that there has been "severe" environmental damage and that it was the result of PTP's neglect of an oil tank valve that was known to be malfunctioning but was allowed to go unrepaired and unreplaced until it finally broke down completely.

However, ANAM also finds that most of the oil residues have been dispersed and that the vegetation along the affected shores, composed mainly of mangrove forests, has survived the spill. Environmentalist critics note that a lot of the oil has congealed into tar balls that have sunk to the bottom of the water or have been buried in the sand, which, however, they say, will continue to leak harmful volatile substances for a long time to come.

As expected, a cutting edge technical question has been raised about this spill in contemplation of the next one: Is it better to use chemicals to disperse an oil spill, or not to do so? The dispersant chemicals do their own harm to the environment, but do save a number of birds and other creatures that would otherwise die horrible and very visible deaths by being covered in oil. From a public relations point of view it helps an oil company not to have photos of dying pelicans, but which remediation strategy is best for sensitive coral reefs is another question about which there isn't universal agreement on the answer.

The nation's ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo), Ricardo Vargas, is calling for a more detailed survey of the environmental and economic damage, so as to more precisely put a price tag on the oil spill. He has called upon the University of Panama's marine resources experts to help in this work.

SUNTRACS goes to the mat over job safety, company unions
PTP wins a big early court round over Bocas oil spill but the argument isn't over
Environmentalists, historic preservationists gain the upper hand over Clayton woods

Mining companies prompt protests in three provinces

Taboga up in arms about oil pipeline and refinery proposals

The Panama News readership in July
Business & Economy Briefs