Oil company stays silent on mishap at well

Belize Natural Energy is refraining from public comment regarding last week’s incident in Spanish Lookout except to say that the matter is currently the subject of an internal investigation. That was all we could get out of B.N.E. Communications Officer Daniel Gutierrez this morning, who also declined to elaborate on his employer’s apparent lack of compliance regarding environmental impact assessments for its operations both in Spanish Lookout and Big Creek. Chief Executive Officer Gilbert Canton returned to Belize late this afternoon, but we were unable to speak with him before news time. As we have reported, on Friday members of the Mennonite Community witnessed a fireball explosion from the flaring pipe at the oil well Michael Usher number two. The blast was followed by a mist of oil and water sprayed downwind over a half mile area, which included homes, businesses, and the community’s water reservoir. A clean up campaign was sponsored by the oil company, but village leaders say the incident has confirmed their fears that petroleum operations would affect their health and safety. Bolstering that concern is confirmation from officials of the Department of the Environment, who informed us that to date B.N.E. has not complied with the law to complete E.I.A’s for its operations … plans that would include emergency response measures for spills and similar incidents.