Environmental Impact Assessment of Remediation Strategy in an Oil Spill in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region

Past petroleum-extraction activities in Ecuador have contaminated its Amazon region. To assess the environmental impact attributed to remediation regarding cleanup of these oil spills, two scenarios were studied according Life Cycle Analysis methodology: (1) No-action, which means leave contamination place without any further action and (2) Environmental remediation, where environmental-load representative spill was studied. Results indicated that no-action scenario presented a higher for 12 out 16 categories evaluated (climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity non-cancer effects, particulate matter, ionizing radiation health, ecosystem, photochemical formation, acidification, terrestrial eutrophication, marine freshwater ecotoxicity, mineral, fossil renewable resource depletion). Moreover, global weighted score 5.45 points, while got 3.3 decreased by 39% due activity applied, showing positive influence mitigate effects presence pollution sources associated petroleum industry Ecuadorian