The Rancheria River has been saved...for now.

Read about one of the versions of why El Cerrejon has decided to "postpone" the Rancheria River.

Cerrejón postpones studies on the possible diversion of the Rancheria River 

 

Photo: Diana Sanchez

Article by: El Espectador Newspaper

The complex of mining in La Guajira (Cerrejon) said Thursday that the study that looked for diverting the Rancheria river, was postponed.

As reported by Cerrejón, the postponement of the study was due to "the conditions of the international coal price. The trend of the past two years has been downward, registering a fall in the price of coal of 35 percent. "

Meanwhile, El Cerrejón continues to explore options for its growth, according to them "not involving the Rancheria river diversion."

The current expansion project aims to raise progressively Cerrejón coal production from 32 to 40 million tons.

The problems of diverting Rancheria River:

The Colombian Newspaper, El Espectador, has been following the controversy over the Rancheria river diversion by this multinational which aims to exploit 600 million tons of coal that lie beneath its course.

The Rancheria is the only river that irrigates the semi-desert area of ​​the middle and lower Guajira, mostly Wayuu territory.

Continuing reports led the National Government in recent days expressed doubts about the viability of the project.

The Interior Minister, Fernando Carrillo Florez said on Tuesday that there was no possibility of adopting this project in La Guajira without a clear and widely participation of the Wayuu people in the consultation process.

Carrillo said the consultation process with the Wayuu for the river diversion "contains some preliminary agreements have been the subject of complaints by the Congress and some media who have called them harmful to the rights of the indigenous people."

For that reason, the head of the political portfolio ordered a review of the preliminary consultations that the Ministry develop nationwide, especially the Rancheria River.

Even the head of the political portfolio said that if there exist any disciplinary irresponsibility from an employee from the Ministry of Interior the “appropriate measures will be taken."