The Scientific Committee that is working on the science behind the bioremediation project for the Las Salinas site declares that it aims to clarify certain myths that have circulated, especially through social networks, about the bioremediation technique and that only contribute to frighten the community about a remediation proposal that is completely safe and successfully applied in many countries around the world, such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United States and Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Sites contaminated by human activity represent for Chile and the world an environmental, social and economic challenge that reaches important proportions, generating concern, both in the States and in the scientific community and civil society. In Chile alone, more than a hundred urban sites with contaminated soils have been identified. Their remediation is part of the country’s public policies, which has been recognized with the enactment of Law 20.417, which amends Law 19.300, introducing new legal powers to the Ministry of the Environment. Among other functions, it confers the responsibility to propose plans, policies and programs on contaminated soils and to encourage, facilitate, promote and ensure Citizen Participation. This amendment establishes a new scope to the constitutional guarantee of living in a pollution-free environment, which lies in the incorporation of the right to know, access and be informed of the particular matters in question. The sector of Las Salinas in Viña del Mar sheltered for many decades an important industrial activity, mainly of oil companies. This activity culminated in 2000, leaving as an environmental liability the hydrocarbon contamination of this urban site. It is public knowledge that the first stage of cleanup (2008-2013) of the Las Salinas site -already concluded- was developed largely during the summer period of 2010. During that period, 47 thousand tons of contaminated soil were removed and the surface and subsoil installations of “Las Petroleras” of Las Salinas were dismantled, without interruptions, inconveniences or substantial alterations to the city and its communities. This process was certified by an independent environmental audit conducted by Fundación Chile. During 2015-2016, verification of the information previously collected was carried out and exhaustive field monitoring was conducted with the objective of developing a robust and rigorous Baseline of the site. Additionally, over the last five years, studies have been carried out at various scales with the objective of proposing, designing and implementing a suitable modular technology for the remediation of the site. This work aimed at developing the second stage of bioremediation of the site was carried out with the collaboration and technical support of local universities, national and international institutions and laboratories. A technical proposal for the cleanup of the site was prepared and is currently under environmental evaluation, aimed at cleaning up the remaining contaminants located mainly between 4 and 7 meters below ground level. This process determined that the most appropriate cleanup technique for the site corresponds to the (soil and water), (modules defined by their different environmental conditions) (time periods).
The plan includes an initial diagnostic phase, monitoring throughout the bioremediation process and post-completion monitoring of the operation associated with the cleanup. This guarantees the safety of the treatments to be used and ensures that their implementation in the field does not have an impact on the environment or on the community living in the area. Bioremediation is a biotechnology1 that consists of the use of microorganisms, preferably bacteria, to remove contaminants from contaminated soils or water. Bioremediation technologies include the following: Bioremediation is a successful environmental decontamination technology that is widely used in countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United States and Canada. In Latin America, it is regularly developed in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. However, in Chile bioremediation at industrial level is still incipient. It is aligned with the objectives and scope recommended by the Manual of Remediation Technologies for Contaminated Sites of the Chilean Ministry of Environment, which states that: “…the bioremediation technology for contaminated soils was developed to accelerate the natural process of soil remediation” and adds: “…”. Finally, this manual points out the successful experiences of projects already applied in our country. According to the framework established by the Ministry of Environment, the bioremediation proposed for the Las Salinas site aims to reinforce the biodegradation activity of the native microbiota in the environment, through the addition of nutrients (compost NCh 2880) and the controlled addition of microbial cultures, consisting of native strains isolated from the same site and other allochthonous strains isolated from the banks of the Aconcagua River in the Valparaíso region. These strains have been extensively characterized and successfully applied in bioremediation processes at different scales, producing evidence that has been recognized by the international scientific community through publication in prestigious journals. These investigations have allowed us to address their high hydrocarbon degradative potential in diverse environmental conditions, as well as to rule out that they possess characteristics of pathogenic species2. Therefore, we have built enough evidence to affirm that these strains do not constitute any danger for citizens, technicians, nor for the operators of the bioremediation process. Considering the above, we regret that fear is being instilled in the population by arguing that our project proposes “the dispersion of killer bacteria into the environment”. This is a misinterpretation of a technology that has been recommended, tested, widely validated by scientific research and successfully developed in a large number of decontamination projects around the world for more than 30 years. To state that the project will add “pathogenic bacteria, with the risk of possible outbreaks of contagion within meters of hospitals, educational centers and residential sectors”, is erroneous and lacks any scientific basis. The precariousness of these attacks leads us to assume that the opposition to the project has objectives unrelated to the environmental issue. If we make a serious analysis, it is evident that the statement that the genus is pathogenic is incorrect and far from scientific criteria.
Currently, it is widely known that this genus includes a large number of environmental species that reside in a number of natural and intervened ecosystems3 and that have a high biotechnological potential associated with bioremediation processes. There are also pathogenic species, such as and , none of which will be used in our bioremediation project. Instead, we propose the application of environmental species of the genus , which have been described and successfully used during bioremediation processes for more than 25 years, including research that has been published in prestigious international scientific journals, as mentioned above. Scientific evidence is the elementary principle, which allows a safe use of the available technology, in this case, bioremediation. Opposing environmental decontamination seems a nonsense, especially in times when modern societies, with the support of the United Nations, are moving towards a more resilient, adaptive and restorative development of our environments. For the same reason, we call on those interested in this project to inform themselves through the various scientific sources, to review the studies and documentation submitted to the current legislation, which allowed to express widely all the doubts and suggestions of citizens, and that have been considered within the evaluation process. We invite everyone to be informed about the technical proposal for the decontamination of the Las Salinas land and to participate in the various instances that are promoted within the framework of the current legislation, with the purpose of decontaminating the soils of the city and the development of our environment 1 Biotechnology refers to any technological application that uses biological systems and living organisms or their derivatives for the creation or modification of products or processes for specific uses (Convention on Biological Diversity, Article 2. Use of Terms, United Nations. 1992). 2 Sources: https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02625-15; 95162017000400017; https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.20810-8; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5684-9 3 Sources: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6439-y; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-10271-w; .
