Despite a moratorium on mining extraction, which has been in force in the country since 2009, Laura Chinchilla’s administration reconsidered the possibility of exploiting natural gas and oil deposits. The beneficiary would be US corporation Mallon Oil.

The plans of Mallon Oil Company date back to March of 2000, when the state granted an exploration and exploitation contract in six blocs of the north of the country, which comprises 18% of the national territory.

Back in 2003, the Environment Technical Secretariat (Setena) had approved an environmental impact study that was questioned by environmental groups and even by the state’s Hydrocarbon Office, arguing that the bibliography did not include a real Environmental Impact Study.

Five years later, in 2008, SETENA ruled for the company. Environmentalists appealed the decision before the Constitutional Court. After a recent court ruling, the project was again given the green light to extract between 5 and 19 million barrels a year.

Mauricio Alvarez, coordinator of Oilwatch Meso America, says this contract has “serious implications” since it ignores the moratorium declared in 2009.

“The government is taking this problem and in the coming days we will know the public reaction of all sectors to the proposal, and to mining, since the contract comprises nearly 20% of the national territory for prospective oil and gas exploitation”, he said.

The proposal is backed by the former minister of Environment Roberto Dobles, who has defended the extractive company’s interests, to the extent of submitting a report in court against amparo appeals filed by several environmental organizations. This happened eleven months before he stepped down as Minister in 2009.

Alvarez, an expert in extractive industries, recalled the similarity with other oil contracts granted in the country, such as Harken Oil Company, a company that sued the Costa Rican state for 13 million USD.

The lawsuit began after the exploitation contract was annulled. The activist said: “In the case of Mallon Oil Company the state wants to grant a contract based on compiled information such as an Environmental Impact Study, as they have done in the past, which puts us in a situation of legal insecurity”.

He added that initiatives like this one are promoted by the government together with false solutions to climate change such as carbon neutral and REDD, portraying the country as a green economy while they promote oil activities.