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- Paper Pulp Mills - Uruguay
- Corporate Accountability and Human Rights
- Climate Change and Human Rights
Environmental Violations:
Preventive Closure of Brazilian Petrol Company in Argentina
Buenos Aires, September 26, 2007 – The Argentine Environmental Compliance and Control Agency of the Federal Environment Secretariat (SAYDS) forced the partial closure of the Brazilian petrol company Petrobras, for failure to comply with environmental regulations. Petrobras' installations in Argentina include fuel reception, storage, and dispensing. The SAYDS found serious irregularities in facilities that placed the environment and human health at great risk.
The operative, carried out by the Compliance and Control Director, Raul Vidable, closed Petrobras' tank storage facilities in the petrochemical port area known as DOCK SUD, an area where the petrochemical industry has operated for years. Recently, the SAYDS forced the relocation of most of the petrochemical companies operating in DOCK SUD (including Dow Chemical) for risks to local communities. Petroleum companies operating in the area like Petrobras and Shell, have come under close observation by the SAYDS.
The preventive closure measure was ordered by the SAYDS following the finding of visible fuel leaks in at least 10 tanks, each holding up to 20,000 liters of fuel. In addition, 75 other tanks and over 300 out of service fuel pumps were stored in unsafe and visibly exposed conditions.
According to Vidable, “Petrobras must carry out soil studies to determine contamination caused by the leaking tanks and stored materials, and come up with a remediation plan.” The closure obliges Petrobras to construct a proper storage facility and improve primary storage conditions as well as remediate the contaminated soil surrounding several of its failing tanks.
The closure is another of a series of compliance audits carried out by the SAYDS in the last several months, in which the federal environment authority has applied strict environmental compliance measures to companies of all sizes and origin, including companies such as Bridgestone-Firestone, Danone, and more recently, Shell. Shell, located in the same DOCK SUD area, was handed down a full closure of its facilities for over a week, during which it claims to have lost some US$50 million. Shell threatened to sue the government, but finally capitulated and committed to invest US$60 million to bring facilities up to environmental code.
The industries that have come under the watch of the SAYDS, include companies of all sectors (leather tanneries, lactose companies, chemical and petrol companies, among others) all have one thing in common, they are all situated in the Riachuelo-Matanza River Basin, a region which under an emergency environmental decree, has been chosen for industrial cleanup, under the command of the SAYDS. With nearly 7 million people and over 1300 industries, living on or near its waters, and running through the heart of Buenos Aires, the Riachuelo-Matanza River Basin is one of Latin America's most contaminated rivers, and has been largely abandoned to industrial contamination and uncontrolled urban sprawl.
The SAYDS has devised a multi million dollar plan to clean up the river basin in a 15-year period, investing in large public sanitation and water works. The plan also includes the creation of a River Authority, presided by the federal and local government (but with majority voting power held by the SAYDS). The newly created Environmental Compliance and Control Unit of the SAYDS is entrusted with audits and hands down hefty fines, and if needed, closes industries that do not comply or that are posing risk to the environment and communities.
Already some 1500 inspections have been carried out, over 150 companies have had to make amends, and nearly 50 industries have been temporarily closed. Closures are usually lifted shortly after they are decreed, but only after companies sign an Industrial Transformation Plan (ITP), and commit financing and management resources to undergo transformation. “The idea is not to be anti-industry”, says Romina Picolotti, the Argentine Federal Environmental Secretary, “but to be anti-contamination . We will do everything we can to ensure that companies comply with the law, and we're in a position to help them do that, with financing and technical assistance, but we will not tolerate non-compliance”.
After lifting closures, the SAYDS monitors commitments with to the ITPs and will re-close if they company does not show progress as scheduled. So far, most are complying. The SAYDS provides companies with subsidized financing a free technical assistance to take up ITPs to bring their production processes up to standard.
For more information:
Jorge Daniel Taillant - jdtaillant@cedha.org.ar
