Oil sands development threatens Congo rainforest
By GUY CHAZAN Criticism is mounting against Italian energy giant Eni SpA’s plans to squeeze oil from the tar sands of the Republic of Congo, which campaigners claim could endanger one of the world’s largest tropical rain forests. Eni says the crude would be produced in areas of grassy savannah, and wouldn’t harm the local environment in the country, the capital of which is Brazzaville. But a study to be released today cites internal Eni reports as saying more than half the tar sands exploration zone is made up of “primary forest and other highly bio-diverse areas.” The study is published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the think-tank of Germany’s Green Party, and was authored by a coalition of Congolese human rights organizations and Western researchers. At issue is a technology condemned by environmentalists as polluting and out-of-synch with global efforts to tackle climate change. Eni’s project would mark the first time the process of deriving synthetic crude from oil sands—a mixture of sand, clay and bitumen—has been applied on any scale outside of Canada. “This is a particularly dirty, carbon-intensive form of oil production and it is being planned for an area that’s highly sensitive in ecological terms,” said Dr. Sarah Wykes, one of the authors of the report. “It’s just too high-risk.” In a response to emailed questions, Eni said the tar sands project would involve “no destruction of primary forest; no occupation of existing farmland; no impact on areas of high biodiversity; and no…resettlement of people.” It said whatever the conclusion of the environmental and social impact assessment it is currently conducting, “no rain forest area will be affected by the project.” …
