On December 31 Ends stop the activities. The alarm of the WWF: half the territory at risk
"Nero d'Abruzzo oil or green?"
bipartisan battle against the drills 
The mayors of the coast: "Referendum". Environmentalists: "Moratorium." The commissioner states: "A false problem" RELATED NEWS to save Italy: Abruzzo will not become a bottomless oil well Merate like Dallas?
Brianza there is A. Hall (May 13, 2009)
Coast of overflow
LONDON - They say that even the "holy hermit" loved the stretch of sea. Morrone, Celestine V, climbed the hills of Fossacesia up there to enjoy the Adriatic "Dotted with overflowing." The typical wooden fishing platforms are still there, a symbol of one of the most beautiful coasts of Abruzzo: the brochures of tourist promotion of the "Land of the Parks" emphatically describe the "sweet cultivated hills that form the backdrop to this sea." But those parties, the beach front in Ortona, could soon rise to a new platform. Of a kind quite different from the ancient fishing machines. This project Elsa2 Vega Oil: a well for oil exploration by drilling 7 kilometers from the coast.
REPORT - The outlook is not at all like the sideways movement of citizens, associations, trade unions and producers which is welded on the ground (and in Net) against what has been called a "derived oil." Also because the shaft Vega Oil - a company controlled by Canadian Cygam - is not an isolated case. Indeed. As it says in a dossier published in February by WWF and Legambiente, and obtained from data of the Ministry of Economic Development, around 50% of the Abruzzo region is affected by instances, permits and concessions for the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons (the document in pdf here). In practice, nearly three-quarters of Commons (221) and 80% of the regional population. Not only that: the Abruzzo region in Italy is the second for "total area occupied by exploration permits and concessions cultivation ': 34% of the territory has already been assigned. Also because, as explained in the Annual Report 2008 of the Department of Energy, the area of \u200b\u200ba mining license (which should be stated, is not always linked to oil) is much higher than that actually occupied by the plants. The "green heart of Europe", which is home to three dozen national parks and nature reserves, has in fact discovered to have an unexpected call mining.
COMMENTS - After appeals, demonstrations and leaflets, and environmentalists committee's move was to collect and send to the Ministry of the Environment a number of comments against the construction of the platform Elsa2. Simple citizens, associations, tour operators and academics have put pen to paper and drew up their technical reports, trying to remove the point by point the assurances of Vega Oil. A campaign backed by the Province of Chieti: the chairman, Enrico Giuseppantonio, has long expressed its strong opposition to the project by pointing the finger at "the almost total lack of connection between national and local institutions." Confcommercio and "Emergency Environment Abruzzo, a network that brings together dozens of groups, have decided to distribute posters to color:" No petrolizzato Abruzzo.
The leaflets of Confcommercio
POLICY - The latest idea, lanciata nei giorni scorsi in modo bipartisan dai sindaci di Pineto e Silvi Marina, è quella di organizzare un referendum. «Facciamo decidere agli abruzzesi, padroni del loro territorio, se vogliono un Abruzzo nero o un Abruzzo verde» ha affermato Gaetano Vallescura, primo cittadino di Silvi (Pdl), durante un convegno. Una proposta subito accolta dal collega di Pineto, Luciano Monticelli (Pd): «Per la difesa del territorio non conta l'appartenenza politica, contano soprattutto i valori e la battaglia comune. L'Abruzzo non può permettersi di perdere altro tempo». Nel frattempo si è mossa anche l'Italia dei Valori: i consiglieri regionali Paolo Palomba e Lucrezio Paolini hanno appena presentato una risoluzione urgente chiedendo the Chairman, Gianni Chiodi, worked with the national government: the goal is a measure of ten-year moratorium. "Large multinational companies engaged in the extraction of hydrocarbons - have motivated the two members IdV - see in Abruzzo, on land and at sea, a sort of 'land of plenty' are able to meet their own economic interests."
WWF - What are the reasons for the protest? The first is environmental. "The oil Abruzzo is dense, low-quality - said Dante Caserta, the National Council of the WWF, Corriere.it - \u200b\u200bto be refined locally. With all the risks associated with desulphurisation: from waste products is in fact hydrogen sulphide can be dangerous. " Not so according to the environmental impact study presented by Vega Oil, just to mention one of the cases on the agenda: the report reads that the interference from future drilling activities are "void" because it does not affect "the 'Current land use. " And what about the landscape, provide the outline of the platform will be "an event of short-term curiosity rather than an alteration of the landscape." Then there is the economic aspect, we are sure that a 'change oil' does not bring wealth and jobs? "We do not live in the desert - Caserta said. - Our region produces high quality wine and olive oil: this is not compatible with oil. And neither is tourism. A must give up something. " But the oil companies must pay local authorities a share of their revenues: is not appropriately compensated? "The legislation provides for royalties very low compared to other countries: 10% for extraction on land and even less for those at sea. Of this percentage, only a small portion comes to local authorities. "
The map of mining rights in Abruzzo
MORATORIUM - The crucial date that environmentalists and various associations have circled on the calendar is the next on December 31 that day expires In fact, the moratorium adopted at the previous regional legislature and that it is mainly served to halt the construction of the Centro Oli Ortona ("nothing more than a refinery," explaining to the WWF). For now the project seems Eni frozen, but the drills may take action somewhere else. "We call for a new moratorium - Caserta insists - that it serves to stop an unsustainable situation. There are already under way that situation will be difficult to block. But we must defend the interests of the people, not just those companies. "
Councillor state - is the region? What is the position of the junta? "This is a false problem," marks a Corriere.it the Councillor for the Environment, Daniela States. "We are the Green Region of Europe - he explains - and then we do not run that risk. The President Nails and Berlusconi himself were clear: there will be no petrolizzazione Abruzzo. The promise of the Prime Minister reassures you, that is. "Yes." Yet many ministerial processes have been started: how do you stop? "We're putting together a series of initiatives to carry out what the president promised during the election campaign Nails" announces the commissioner, but without going into detail. "I do not think I want to stop the drills - he explains - I want to think that there is no need to stop them because in a region verde non si deve correre questo rischio». Comitati e ambientalisti sostengono che senza misure concrete da parte vostra si inizierà a scavare. «Ad oggi io le posso parlare di una volontà politica. E non mi sembra poco». Sarà così anche dopo il 31 dicembre? «Anche dopo il 31 dicembre».
Germano Antonucci
