The world is up in arms about the new frontier in mining – deep sea mining for minerals like lithium and gold from virgin seafloors around the world. Prospectors say that the growth of electric cars has left us no choice as the batteries need lithium and other rare metals to function. But mining for oil at sea has been ongoing for decades. Offshore drilling began in America in the 1880s and the damage of oil exploration at sea is only too well known after great oil spills.
Now a Brazilian petrochemical company called Petrobras wants to drill exploratory oil wells in the ocean near the mouth of the Amazon. Scientists worry if the plan gets approved, inevitable oil leaks could damage nearby ecosystems, including a vast reef system and the second-largest mangrove forest in the world. Little is known about the reef, so “a comprehensive evaluation of the risks from oil and gas exploitation is currently impossible”, says marine ecologist Rodrigo de Moura in a new Nature article.
His colleague concurs: “There’s a palpable risk of an oil spill if activities proceed — the fact it is an exploratory well for studying the region’s potential for deep-sea oil doesn’t exempt it from accidents,” says Carlos Rezende, a marine biologist at the State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro in Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil.
In defense, Petrobras said it will not be endangering delicate ecosystems, “there is no record of any nearby conservation units, nor is it located near rivers, lakes, floodplains or reef systems” they wrote, but the scientists familiar with the region know that the Great Amazon Reef System is only about 40 miles away and any oil spill or leakage will easily travel that distance.
Source: Nature
Studies suggest that the reef that the reef somewhere between 9,500 and 56,000 square kilometers across the mouth of the Amazon River. When it was first described by scientists in the 1970s, the researchers then did not observe any impressive range of biodiversity. But recent studies found an ecosystem with corals, sponges and fish.
“It is huge, and it is sensitive,” says Ronaldo Francini-Filho, a marine ecosystems researcher at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. “And we don’t know even 5% of what’s down there.”
Brazil has other megaprojects in the Amazon region that are under debate including the repaving of a highway that would pass through a preserved rainforest, the construction of a major railway for grain transport and the renewal of a giant hydroelectric dam’s license. Countries in South America were easy to exploit in the past but with environmental awakening and the understanding of a country’s need to protect their assets, citizens are expecting more from their leaders who will need to make tough decisions.
