The institutional website of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism already considers oil prospecting in the Canary Islands authorized, as specified in the cartography available on said site. The website, in the section belonging to the Secretary of State for Energy, headed by Fernando Marti Scharfhausen, includes maps with the oil prospecting already authorized, and among them it is specified that 'Canarias 1 to 9' already have said consideration.
This has been denounced by the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, which emphasizes that the Ministry of Industry has not yet authorized said prospecting and maintains a period for allegations open until this week.
"This type of errors must be corrected immediately, because they lead to misunderstandings. Especially because we had already raised serious doubts regarding the compatibility of said administrative process with respect to the professional relationship that Fernando Marti Scharfhausen, recently appointed Secretary of State for Energy, has with the multinational oil company that would be awarded the permits 'Canarias 1 to 9': Repsol", explained the president of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura.
Mario Cabrera recalls that the Secretary of State for Energy is the instance where the aforementioned hydrocarbon prospecting authorization file is currently being processed, "and it is surprising, to say the least, that the head of the Secretary of State, appointed on December 30, has been a senior executive of the multinational oil company in Latin America."
"If we add to this the rush that the Ministry has now given to process the authorizations before the new European regulation comes into force in 2013, which is much more restrictive, we have serious doubts about the entire process, which makes it more recommendable than ever to cancel everything", said the president of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura.