With the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) soon to begin, environmental activists have raised the alarm about the potential risks the project poses.
Before the East African Court of Justice, a protracted legal battle rages, in which four Civil Society Organisations are challenging the environmental viability of the EACOP.
The proposed 1,443-kilometre pipeline that will run from Uganda’s oil-rich Albertine graben to the Tanzanian coast will be the longest heated oil pipeline in the world, with a capacity to carry 216,000 barrels per day at peak production.
However, Dickens Kamugisha, the Executive Director of AFIEGO, one of the four Applicants in the EACOP case, says the project poses a significant risk to the environment.
“You know the EACOP project passes through very delicate protected areas, it gets its oil from areas that are regarded as protected areas of trans boundary importance and we are asking, what are they doing to make sure that these are respected,” Kamugisha said.
AFIEGO has also dragged NEMA, the entity mandated with management of Uganda’s environmental resources, to the courts of law, accusing it of issuing EIA certificates of approval before contentious issues have been resolved.
“All the environmental impact assessments that were conditional by the companies which were contracted were approved by NEMA before putting complete mitigation plans in place,” he added.
But the Petroleum Authority of Uganda insists that the project is environmentally viable and that all necessary regulatory, environmental, and health safety measures have been put in place to minimize potential negative impacts of the pipeline on the environment.
According to Dr. Kobusheshe, environmental considerations were front and centre in planning for the pipeline, right from the design chosen, to the selection of the route it should take.
“We looked at the environmental impacts that can be avoided because it is not just regulating, assessments were done and approved,” Dr. Kobusheshe noted.
Critics of the project also charge that the pipeline will run through numerous sensitive biodiversity hotspots, and thus it risks significantly degrading a number of important nature reserves.
NEMA’s Isaac Ntujju however said that a major ecological nightmare for oil-producing countries is the fear of oil spills, given their potentially calamitous impact on communities and the environment.
But Dr. Kobusheshe is confident that the safeguards put in place in the project design will be sufficient to assure the preservation of the country’s rich ecosystems.
A supportive legal framework has also been established to ensure the safe exploitation of the oil resource.
In fact, benchmarking from global oil producers, the pipeline could be one of the safest evacuation options available for Uganda’s crude.
Against criticism that the country is venturing into oil production right as the world shifts away from fossil fuels and embraces cleaner energy options, proponents of the government’s position argue that exploitation of Uganda’s oil resource will indirectly tackle the country’s bigger climate threats such as deforestation and charcoal burning.
The East African crude oil pipeline project is expected to cost 3.5 billion dollars. It will be constructed by the EACOP Company that’s jointly owned by TotalEnergies, with 62 percent shareholding, Uganda National Oil Company at 15 percent, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation at 15 percent, and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) at 8 percent.
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