Breathe
By Rosanety Barrios
In Greek mythology, the Titan Cronus, after dethroning his father, becomes the first king of the world. But the Oracle warns him that he too will lose his crown to a male child, so, to avoid this, he devours them at the moment of birth.
This image came to my mind after observing a photograph of the yellow smoke emitted uncontrollably by the Cadereyta chimneys. I found it disturbing to think that the same power that swore to keep and enforce the Constitution and the laws that emanate from it, is the one that today is poisoning the health of the society of Monterrey.
Petróleos Mexicanos is part of the Federal Executive Branch. Its director is appointed directly by the President of the Republic, and only he can remove him. Likewise, the Ministry of Energy, the entity in charge of issuing and administering the permit that allows Cadereyta to operate, and the ASEA, a decentralized agency of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, responsible for overseeing the environmental compliance of the refinery, are institutions that form part of the Federal Executive Branch.
According to its law, Petróleos Mexicanos "has as its purpose the development of business, economic, industrial and commercial activities in terms of its purpose, generating economic value and profitability for the Mexican State as its owner, as well as acting transparently, honestly, efficiently, with a sense of equity and social and environmental responsibility, and seeking to improve productivity to maximize the State's oil income and thereby contribute to national development."
In other words, in the legal framework, if everyone complied with their mandates, Cadereyta would not be operating in the situation it is in and Monterrey would not be breathing all the sulfur it is breathing today.
To begin with, we should all know whether or not the Cadereyta refinery is in compliance with environmental regulations, because it is obliged to report periodically to the ASEA. In turn, the ASEA should have made inspection visits, demanded compliance reports and acted accordingly, that is to say, immediately inform the institution in charge of the permit (Ministry of Energy), so that both, in a coordinated manner, take action and either temporarily stop its operation, or issue sanctions, which could go as far as losing the permit.All this in a civilized country, should be happening.
It is evident that this is not happening in Mexico today. In the Federal Public Administration, no one is doing their job, neither Pemex, nor the Ministry of Energy nor ASEA, and one wonders to what can we attribute that Pemex considers that its job is to refine even when it means poisoning the lungs of Mexicans, including its own employees and their families?
Is it true, as they say, that the equipment used to recover the sulfur contained in the oil before it is refined is useless? Is it true that there was no money for their maintenance and for that reason they cannot be used?
Nor will it stop making money if it stops operations. The financial statements prove it. Pemex Transformación Industrial, the division that groups Pemex's refineries, has lost 721 billion pesos between January 2019 and September 2023. Another relevant fact about Cadereyta is that, during 2023, for every barrel of oil it refined, 28% ended up as fuel oil, a waste product with a lower price than crude oil. This percentage alone is 28 times higher than that of a refinery in Houston.
All this is assuming that making money is more important than the health of Mexicans. It is clear that this is not the case, so why is no authority doing anything? If our authorities do not do their job, who takes care of our health, our integrity, our children's lives and the lives of Pemex employees?
What do the managers, superintendents and highly specialized technicians, with many years of work and pride in being oil workers, who are now forced to turn a blind eye and pretend nothing is happening, think? What do they tell their children? How do they explain to them that the company they used to feel proud of is now violating the law and poisoning the air they breathe?
And how do we, the citizens in general, explain to ourselves that the one who should take care of us insists on keeping operating a refinery that in any other part of the world should be stopped?
In the myth of Cronus, Zeus, his sixth son, survives and eventually dethrones his father, after bringing his five brothers back to life. For some reason, it seemed to me that telling it was the best way to end this column.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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