As soon as the Supreme Court's ruling, endorsing oil exploration in the Canary Islands, was known, several environmental associations sent out statements rejecting this decision. Ecologistas en Acción-Ben Magec, which filed one of the appeals against the Royal Decree granting permits to Repsol, does not rule out "any legal avenue" to stop the project. Oceana has also lamented this decision, which "contributes to the destruction of up to 25 marine areas and 82 protected species." Greenpeace has also stated that it will continue with "social and political pressure" to stop the project, while WWF Adena announces new appeals.
Ecologistas en Acción has "deeply" regretted the Supreme Court's decision and has underlined its "firm intention" to continue working against projects with serious environmental impact and very negative social and economic effects." This association believes that the mere fact that seven appeals were filed against the Royal Decree "demonstrates the high degree of opposition" to this Repsol project.
This group has recalled that the citizens of the Canary Islands have made clear their rejection of oil exploration by taking to the streets to protest. "Numerous studies also show that the extraction of hydrocarbons from the seabed has very negative effects on marine and coastal ecosystems and poses a high risk of spills," he warned.
Like the Canary Islands Coordinator against Oil Exploration, Ecologistas Acción finds it "worrying" that the president of Repsol, Antonio Brufau, announced the publication of the decision "hours before it was released." Thus, he recalled that this company is "the main beneficiary" of these explorations in the Canary Islands.
Ecologistas en Acción does not rule out any legal avenue to stop this project, which "violates the proper application of community environmental legislation." In addition, it will continue to express its opposition in the streets, together with other environmental organizations and citizen movements.
On the other hand, Oceana has also lamented the Supreme Court's ruling and recalled that this group "documented" the existence of 25 marine areas and 82 protected species during an expedition in this area, as explained by the expert of this international organization in the trial.
"The Supreme Court has favored economic interests"
WWF Adena, which filed one of the appeals that have been rejected by the Supreme Court, has also lamented this ruling. "With this decision, the Supreme Court has favored economic interests over the exceptional natural values of the area to be explored and the feelings of the Canarian society, which has been shown to be mostly against this project."
WWF recalls that the area where Repsol plans to search for hydrocarbons has "an incredible environmental richness, being with all certainty the most important area in Europe for cetaceans", both for the diversity found in the area, and for the uniqueness of some of them such as sperm whales and beaked whales.
The organization has denounced the project in the European Union, because it considers that it violates several community directives on the protection of species and habitats and, will continue "using all legal mechanisms at its disposal to stop this unacceptable project".
No information on the species that inhabit the area
"We are talking about allowing exploratory surveys in places where the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAGRAMA) itself admits to lacking information about the communities that inhabit them. In addition, it has approved an Environmental Impact Study in which Repsol declares that it does not know the definitive locations where the drilling will take place, among other deficiencies," said Ricardo Aguilar, director of research at Oceana in Europe, and an expert in deep-sea ecosystems. "We regret that the Supreme Court has been influenced by this decision," he said.
Oceana has recalled that Repsol's permits cover an area of 616,060 hectares, almost 2.5 times the emerged surface of the two islands. "It has not been sufficiently explored. There could be corals up to 8,000 years old, associated with great depths and gas emanation zones," he said.
Therefore, for Oceana it is "a shame" how the Government is "distributing" permits that "benefit a few, risking the rest of the Spaniards to lose countless essential and highly fragile habitats." "The deep Canarian ecosystems are unique and support key species for tourism and fisheries in the area. It is reckless to destroy these habitats in a few years to favor the extraction of a finite and highly polluting energy resource," said Aguilar.
Oceana has insisted that these explorations compromise "the biosphere reserves in the Canary Islands", since UNESCO "could annul said allocation if the project is carried out". The group has stated that the south of Fuerteventura is one of the most interesting areas in the world for beaked whales, cetaceans that feed at depths greater than 600 meters.
Social and political pressure "in Spain and Europe"
From Greenpeace they also consider that "the interests of a multinational cannot be put before those of the citizens and the environment" and warn that they will continue with the mobilizations and the "social and political pressure, both in Spain and in Europe, so that this dangerous project does not prosper".
"Now we know that Repsol has someone to defend it while the environment is not defended by the Ministry in charge or by Justice," said Julio Barea, head of the "Prospecciones NO" campaign. "Unfortunately, accidents have shown us that there is no safe way to extract oil in deep water and fishing and tourism in the Canary Islands are going to pay the consequences of this suicidal policy of the Government," he said.
Greenpeace has pointed out that the Environmental Impact Statement favorable to Repsol "recognizes the possibility that, in the event of a serious spill during the surveys, the Canary Islands would receive 5.85 percent of the spills and 26.2 percent would impact the Moroccan coast." The environmental organization will offer a press conference this Wednesday in front of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and will deliver a report against the explorations to the Government Delegation. On Saturday, it will celebrate the Global Action Day in different parts of Spain against the surveys.
