The Platform for an Oil Free Algarve (PALP) has brought together the informal citizens group Glocal-Faro, the national conservation NGO Quercus, the regional NGO with the same goals Almargem, the bird protection association SPEA and News Loop, to challenge the “deafening silence” surrounding the situation.
No public debate
According to a statement made by PALP: “There was no public debate about the consequences for the region regarding drilling for oil, nor have there been any social or environmental impact reports.”
The collective add that “Nothing is known of the contract between the state and oil exploration companies. The silence and secrecy regarding this subject from national, regional and local government is deafening”.
The Platform has said it will ask the presidents of the 16 Algarve Chambers for “clarification of all decisions already taken in the hydrocarbon exploration in the Algarve” and “on the requirements of the exploration contract between the state and the oil companies.”
Environmental impact
Some of the major concerns from PALP regarding Algarve oil exploration surround the “potential environmental impacts” and the “incompatibility between the Algarve being a tourist region of excellence while also one of oil drilling”.
The associations claim that any drilling for oil in the Algarve should be considered to be “high risk” because of the area being in a “high seismic hazard zone” and warned of the consequences of any possible accidental oil spill on the coast, which would represent a “loss of resources” to “equally important activities in the Algarve, such as fishing, aquaculture and salt production.”
While the environmental ramifications are key to the collective, equally so are the social consequences with the association saying that Algarve citizens had been left to one side without any public debate on the oil issue.
Transparency
PALP are promising to contact every one of the Algarve’s 16 council presidents to attempt to bring some transparency to the process.
One of the areas in the Algarve that is expected to be targeted for oil exploration is located around 8.3 kilometres from the shore and at this distance it is expected that the gas towers and flames they emit will be visible from a number of beaches in the Algarve.
Repsol is one of the companies that has signed a contract with the Portuguese State for exploration and exploitation of natural gas and oil in the Algarve and the president of the Spanish multinational, Antonio Brufau, said last July that the company would start drilling and natural gas exploration in the Algarve “next year”.