"The funds raised will be used to finance an active 2006 work programme,
concentrating on drilling to achieve production and prove up existing
reserves. This will include four new wells, three work-over wells and
one sidetrack well on the Company's Guatemalan assets."
Apparently, well according to Taghmen's website, they are going to carry out an
environmental study over the next three months. Going on the past
record of these company-led environmental studies would suggest that you shouldn't hold your breath. In an article in Prensa Libre (11-02-06) by Eduardo Smith, environmental concerns were brushed aside citing the past record of another oil company Perenco working in Rubelsanto, Alta Verapaz. But it doesn't take long to find reports of the environmental damage in Rubelsanto by French company Perenco, who bought out the infamous Basic Resources in 2001 for $120.5 million. El Periodico ran stories alleging that the cleaning at Rubelsanto hadn't been as thorough as it should have been, while La Hora had more reports.
They also quoted conservative US academic Walter Williams, who just happens to be Chairman of the Foundation of Free Markets at the Francisco Marroquin university. Unsurprisingly Williams also brushed aside environmental considerations, according to Prensa Libre's paraphrasing, as long as cash income is more than the cash cost. In fact, I added in the word cash. But there in lies the problem with Williams' neat cost-benefit analysis: how do you put an price tag on the environment?
Talk of money raises another interesting issue: according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the government received $79 million from oil extraction in 2005. So what is the Guatemalan government doing with the revenues from oil extraction? Are they going to support local communities most negatively affected by the oil exploration?
In fact, these are questions that Magali Rey Rosa, of Colectivo Madreselva, (an Oxfam partner) writing in her column in none other than Prensa Libre, herself posed in August 2005. And the answer she finds? Have a guess.
