The Algarve Livre de Petróleo Platform (PALP) has written an open letter to the 12.040 signatories of the petition “An Algarve free of exploration, prospecting, exploration and production of oil and natural gas (conventional or non-conventional)”, which was discussed last day 26th of October, at the Assembly of the Republic, and where he explains how the parliamentary debate went.
In the letter, the PALP clarifies the positions taken by all parties with parliamentary seats: “The PSD and the CDS defended the contracts and laws relating to the prospecting and exploitation of hydrocarbons that sustain them. It should be remembered that it was during his government that the last contracts were signed, namely with Portfuel de Sousa Cintra, covering 14 of the 16 Algarve municipalities», he begins by explaining.
The PAN defended that «Portugal must have an environmental policy consistent with the commitments it assumed in the Paris Agreement», says the PALP. In this sense, this party presented a bill that aimed to revoke the decree-law that regulates access to and the exercise of oil prospecting, research, development and production activities in Portugal. In addition, it also proposed the revocation of contracts signed with oil companies.
However, this bill only had the vote in favor… of the PAN. They voted against PS, PSD, PCP (although they have also presented a similar project), and CDS. BE and PEV abstained. Therefore, the PALP asks: "don't the BE and the Greens defend the end of the concessions?".
The PS recognized that “oil activity can lead to environmental risks and harm activities related to the sea and tourism, and therefore, in the Assembly of the Republic, it recommended the Government to adopt new energy options (solar and wind) and to carry out a rigorous and independent assessment of oil prospecting and production contracts in the Algarve», explains PALP.
The Socialist Party also requested that the Draft Resolution be submitted to the Commission for a period of 45 days, instead of its immediate vote.
The Greens, in turn, presented legislative initiatives: one for the suspension of contracts and another for the mandatory environmental impact assessment in the phases of prospecting and researching oil and natural gas. They also chose not to put them to a vote and to be referred to the Commission.
BE also presented a legislative initiative that intended to make environmental impact assessment mandatory for the exploration and exploration phases of oil and natural gas, which was submitted to the Commission.
Finally, the PCP had already four months ago recommended to the Government that research and prospecting for hydrocarbons be preceded by an environmental impact assessment.
Faced with these positions, the PALP says that "some of those who voted against or abstained on the proposed repeal of the anachronistic decree-law, argue that, with this repeal, a legal vacuum would be created, so that a bad law of the no law”. For that Platform, this “is not an argument”.
And he explains: “there is no exclusive law for nuclear energy or for renewables, including hydro. There are several legal instruments on partial aspects that frame them. If the decree-law is revoked, oil prospecting and exploration will not be without a legal framework: there are ordinances, decisions of the Council of Ministers, laws relating to extractive activities, namely in sensitive areas and the Natura 2000 Network».
“In addition, there is the new law on environmental impact assessment (EIA). On the other hand, the decision to revoke the law itself can determine the conditions under which it takes effect. Let's not forget that the previous decree-law, DL No141/90, was much more restrictive of the activity in question», adds the PALP.
This Platform questions, in effect, the effectiveness of the EIA. If this, in the opinion of the PALP, were effective, «we would not have dams in Portugal on top of habitats priorities and many other examples, all of them from situations subject to EIA”.
"In most cases, we seek to mitigate environmental damage through minimization measures or find compromise solutions, where the polluter compensates for the wrongs done, through compensatory measures, always with losses to the environmental, cultural and economic heritage" , argues the PALP.
In this sense, the Algarve Livre de Petróleo Platform asks: «What will be the compensatory measure that will be given to us for the impact of this industry on tourism? Or fishing? Or at the risk of an oil spill? Or methane leakage?”.
For PALP, the environmental impact assessment studies “do not allow us to sleep peacefully”.
Despite the discussion in the Assembly of the Republic, "all the proposals presented by the parties, with the exception of the PAN, are perfectly useless, since, with a firm policy of banning prospecting and exploitation of hydrocarbons, they will become obsolete", he argues. to PALP.
The Platform, which feels defrauded, ends the letter saying that, in its opinion, on the part of the political power there are only two "very concrete" decisions to be taken: the annulment of decree-law 109/94, which should be replaced by regulation for clean energy, and the termination of all contracts.
The PALP meets, until the 18th of November, at COP22, in Marrakesh, in the Kingdom of Morocco, in Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as a way of bringing the problem of fossil fuels in the Algarve and Portugal to international bodies.
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