Oil Company pushes road near Mayan Temple of Lamanai

The search for black gold across the length and breadth of the jewel has raised concerns from a number of environmental organizations that oppose oil prospecting.  It was revealed recently that the entire country has been parceled off for exploration except for the Maya Mountains. Tonight we can report that there is another area where oil prospecting is taking place, this time in the north and dangerously close to an archeological site. News Five’s Isani Cayetano journeyed up the New River to the site of the latest prospecting.

Isani Cayetano

“Oil prospecting in the Orange Walk District is as much a concern for residents and ecologists as it is for the various NGOs that have banded together to lobby against it.  Lamanai Outpost, a tourist attraction that sits on the bank of the New River Lagoon, is one of several sites that can be affected by prospecting activity; most importantly are the diverse terrestrial and riverine ecosystems that surround it.”

Wilfredo Novelo, a resident of Orange Walk Town who frequents the lagoon for tourism, noticed the dredging of canals upstream a few months ago.

Wilfredo Novelo, Tour Guide, Orange Walk District

“I started seeing some activity happening like down in Shipyard. The Mennonites building huge barges on land and then they actually brought a big boat, a metal boat, that was built in Camp fourteen and when I asked, “What was the purpose for this boat and the barges?” They told me that this was for drilling for oil.  But the way I see the size of the boat, that boat cannot pass underneath the Tower Hill Toll Bridge, neither do the barges because they are equipped with huge jacks that suppose to be pumping stuff underneath the ground.  And I am certain that those boats and barges will not be going northwards but that would be going southwards to the headwaters of the New River Lagoon.”

That body of water which is approximately twenty-six miles from the foot of the Tower Hill Bridge is among the largest inland watersheds within the country.  The lagoon is adjacent to several villages in the Belize and Orange Walk Districts.  The area being excavated borders both.

“What we are in is one of several linear dredges behind Lemonal Village.  These artificial canals within the vast wetlands is believed to be used in the prospecting exercise.”

According to Novelo it is unclear which company is behind the digging but a local tourism association he belongs to plans on meeting with the Department of Geology and Petroleum to determine whether a concession was granted.

Wilfredo Novelo

Wilfredo Novelo

“We are in the middle of nowhere.  Who will want to spend such a great amount of money to dredge something out here?  Half a mile away we have the New River Lagoon; the Lemonal Creek is just over there.  Had the rains not come three weeks in advance I think this dredging would have reached to the creek over there see but the early rains is what definitely postponed this dredging project.”

Isani Cayetano

“Has the association approached the Geology and Petroleum Department to find out whether or not these people who are dredging in this area have legal concession rights to partake in this exercise?”

Wilfredo Novelo

“No, that is what we are going to be finding out this week.”

Errol Cadle, another tour operator who has spent most of his life in the area, is concerned about the adverse effect prospecting will have on the fragile ecosystem.

errol cadle

Errol Cadle, Operator, Lamanai Eco-Tours

“When you look at this beautiful lagoon, this lagoon stretches for twenty-one miles.  As we left my dock earlier we came up this river for twenty-five miles.  This lagoon is over a hundred and fifty-six feet deep at its deepest point.  So imagine, this water is flowing that way, we have villages going all the way.  We have like Shipyard, Lamanai is number one; just here at the mouth of the lagoon.  Going you’ll meet villages like Shipyard, Guinea Grass, there’s Orange Walk Town.  Already we have problems with the, every year we have little problems with the rum factory and the sugar factory right there destroying that area sometime every year when the water gets too hot.  And now for us to have oil pumping in this river, there could be a disaster. Trust me whenever there could be a leak, if it is so there could be a leak from one of these barges.  You know what could happen it will be very catastrophic because this water is flowing this way.  It will destroy everything in this area—all our marine life, all over like fishes, birds. I am fishing this area since 1981 and I am forty-two years and this is my life to be out here.”

While there is that concern there is equal apprehension over the nearby Maya ruin which is also a tourist attraction.  Lamanai Archaeological Site is a stone’s throw away from the site being dredged.

Wilfredo Novelo

“We have an obligation as Belizeans to try and save, secure the health of the river for future generations.”

A few weeks ago prospecting was conducted elsewhere in the Orange Walk District.  It is also unclear which company is responsible for that testing. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.