Greenpeace claims spills underreported

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The government underreported the number of oil spills in Mexico last year, the environmental group Greenpeace said in early February.

The government reported this week that 423 oil spills had occurred in 1998. But Greenpeace said internal documents from the state oil monopoly Pemex show that at least 572 oil spills took place in the first nine months of last year.

A spokesman for Mexico’s federal environment protection agency, known as Profepa, had no comment. Pemex officials could not be reached.

Alejandro Calvillo, head of Greenpeace’s Mexico office, said in a statement that Pemex’s policy “is to reject and attempt to hide the damage it inflicts on the environment.”