Do you remember the little threads coming out of the Prestige? From the sunken oil tanker "small threads with a plasticine appearance come out", Mariano Rajoy said in 2002, who at that time was vice president and spokesman of the Spanish Government, as well as Minister of the Presidency. The ship sank off the coast of Galicia, but the PP government shirked its responsibility, minimized the risk and the disaster ended up causing a black tide and a very serious environmental disaster. Never again!, was the popular outcry that swept through our country. That threat later hovered over all the Canary Islanders, especially the inhabitants of Lanzarote, La Graciosa and Fuerteventura, when again a PP Executive authorized the carrying out of oil surveys near our coasts. NO to oil!, was our cry of opposition.
We had been waiting for years to legally eliminate the threat of oil exploration in our waters and now we can read this: "As of the entry into force of this law, no new exploration authorizations, hydrocarbon research permits or exploitation concessions for them, regulated under Law 34/1998, of October 7, of the hydrocarbons sector, and Royal Decree-Law 16/2017, of November 17, which establishes security provisions in the research and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the marine environment, will be granted in the national territory, including the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf".
No, it's not a mirage. The phrase in quotation marks above is part of article 8 of the Draft Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition, sent by the PSOE and UP Government to the Cortes, and whose title is 'Exploration, research and exploitation of hydrocarbons'. This Draft Law has already begun to be processed in the Congress of Deputies and the deadline for submitting amendments ends next Tuesday, June 16. Likewise, the aforementioned article establishes that "as of the entry into force of this law, no new authorizations will be granted to carry out in the national territory, including the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, any activity for the exploitation of hydrocarbons in which the use of high-volume hydraulic fracturing is planned".
Being president of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, today a fellow citizen, gave his word that oil exploration in nearby waters would not be carried out without taking into account the opinion of the Canary Islanders. And he kept his promise. Now, another socialist president, Pedro Sánchez, proposes to legally screw that commitment to definitively close the threat. So much so, that the First Transitory Provision of the Draft Law ties it down even more. It includes: "Exploration, research and exploitation of hydrocarbons. 1. The provisions of article 8 will be applicable to all applications for exploration authorizations and hydrocarbon research permits that are being processed at the time of entry into force of this law".
Global warming and climate change are already here and must be combated with determination, with laws and with changes in consumption habits, but we cannot forget that advances in regulations are the product of demands and citizen mobilizations. In Lanzarote there were, by far, the largest demonstrations in history with tens of thousands of people occupying the streets to advance towards the end of the oil era and demand the energy transition towards clean and renewable sources, such as the sun or the wind, which we have in abundance. The evolution of human civilization teaches us that pursuing dreams with determination can make them come true, and even more so if the majority of society does it together and united. So this is also a victory for Lanzarote and La Graciosa. Plasticine threads? Oil surveys? Never again!
Fco. Manuel Fajardo Palarea, PSOE senator for Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
