So, definitely NO. Lanzarote said it a decade ago and is starting to say it again now. It has cost them, though. The politicians, the institutions, and those who were once strong environmental and social movements. Without...
So, definitely NO. Lanzarote said it a decade ago and is starting to say it again now. It has cost them, though. The politicians, the institutions, and those who were once strong environmental and social movements. However, although this time it seemed that the crisis scenario was going to be favorable for Repsol's intentions, the island seems to be waking up from its lethargy. It seems willing to shout NO again. Or at least, NO in this way.
On this occasion, without a doubt, the great engine is being put in place by the Cabildo of Fuerteventura. With its president, Mario Cabrera, at the head, it has started a real battle on all fronts. He was the first to publicly report the file that the Ministry of Industry had already sent them, and also the first to start revealing its deficiencies. The first to start working on the allegations and to present them.
The first to denounce the alleged links between Repsol and the Ministry of Industry. The first to look after their interests, the interests of their island. The first, in short, to open the debate that the Ministry of Industry has tried to stop.
There, in fact, could be one of the reasons for the haste with which the central government is trying to act. And it is that once the oil explorations are authorized, only the Justice, in the event that any of the appeals that have already been announced prosper, could stop everything that comes next.
The Hydrocarbons Law is very clear about this. If a company finds oil, it has the right to exploit it. And as for the benefits, the only thing that is legislated is that a percentage of the profits will be for Spain. And the Canary Islands? And Lanzarote? What do they gain from all this?
Obviously, our society, the society of the whole world, still depends on oil, and will continue to do so until a truly viable alternative is found. And that is why it is logical that Spain is interested in exploring and exploiting that possible source of wealth. However, it is also natural that Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, which are going to be the most affected, ask themselves what they gain, apart from risks and an iron monstrosity off their coasts.
Of course, both Repsol and the Ministry of Industry, now with the Canary Islander José Manuel Soria at the head, assure that these risks do not exist. However, the way they are handling the issue does not inspire confidence. The Cabildo of Fuerteventura complains that they have been sent an obsolete file and even this Thursday, Mario Cabrera came out to denounce that they are "hiding" documents from them, the existence of which they have learned through the media. Nor are there any real studies of how these explorations or the subsequent extraction of oil may affect the Canary Islands.
To all this we must add the distrust generated by the haste, since Soria only gave ten days to the island institutions to present allegations and assured that it was impossible to extend the deadline, although he ended up granting ten more days.
Even, the Ministry tried to prevent the little information that exists from reaching the citizens, putting a confidentiality clause to the file that they sent to the Cabildos and the Government of the Canary Islands. At least, that is what the Cabildo of Lanzarote claimed, in order not to give a single piece of information from that file when it received it. Mario Cabrera, however, did not care about that clause at all, and gave another lesson. Don't the Canarians, and in particular the Majoreros and Conejeros, have the right to know what is intended to be done off their coasts?
No matter how much the technology and safety surrounding oil extraction has improved, and no matter how much the risks are minimized, they are obviously there, however small they may be. But in addition to the real debacle that a possible spill could mean for the islands, we also do not know how the explorations themselves may affect, even without any incidents being recorded. How would it affect the ecosystem, the marine fauna? the wealth that the Canary Islands live on today.
Eleven years ago, obviously, things were done wrong. At that time, it was the Cabildo of Lanzarote that led the battle and, like the PSOE of Lanzarote, filed an appeal in the courts and managed to stop the explorations. They were missing a small detail: no less than the environmental impact study. Come on, a trifle.
Do they intend to do things the same way now? Do they intend to do it again in a hurry, stealing the debate from the citizens and institutions of the islands? Do they intend to play the policy of accomplished facts?
José Manuel Soria assures that "the Canary Islands cannot afford to give up the explorations". He speaks of wealth and job creation but, where is that written? Where does it say that an oil giant like Repsol is going to come to Lanzarote and Fuerteventura to hire unemployed people to work on its oil platform? Where does it say that Lanzarote is going to see a single euro of the hypothetical oil that is extracted?
Unfortunately, the experiences we have on this island, abandoned in investments for decades, given the passivity of our institutions, do not invite optimism in that sense. And it would not even be enough for the Canarian Government to negotiate some alleged benefit that ends up where it always does, in Tenerife or Gran Canaria.
Lanzarote has to put itself in its place, and for that the role of society is also fundamental, to demand that its representatives take the reins of this situation or to take to the streets if necessary. Without tension, but with firmness. What does Valencia have, where they assure that Soria has committed to stopping the explorations, that Lanzarote does not have? That is what we have to ask ourselves. What we have to ask José Manuel Soria but, also, what we have to ask our institutions.
