As planned the non grata declaration concerning Repsol, Woodside & RWE was presented during the Plenary meeting for the Cabildo of Lanzarote on Friday
The Cabildo of Lanzarote agreed to support the citizens petition, declaring the social rejection of these multinational companies, who are not welcome in Lanzarote. The “Manifesto over the social responsibility of the multinational oil companies that promote projects in Canarian waters” will now be forwarded by the councils to the head of these three companies, who have a duty to listen and respond to this local opposition regarding their project. Just over 3,000 original signatures were collected within a 2 week period. Over 70,000 signatures have been collected since March 2012, however these are spread between different paper and digital campaigns.
This week a new international website www.savecanarias.org was launched, it’s only objective is to consolidate all of these signatures and more, into one single petition. The website is simply a copy of the petition, which will be available in 43 different languages, with a space to enter your name, email address and country. Then a sharing button so you can tell your friends.
At the time of publishing this article 2,289 people had signed the new petition, it only takes a couple of seconds to complete here: Save Canarias
There is a hashtag #savecanarias and the slogan “working together to save the Canary Islands”.
Today the Ministry of Industry from the Spanish Government has announced in the Official Gazette (BOE-B-2013-29831) that the Environmental Impact Study regarding the Repsol project has been made available to view in Gran Canaria. Not on the islands of Lanzarote or Fuerteventura who are directly affected by this project, requiring officials and public from these islands to travel, if they wish to learn of the impact the drilling could have on our environment. The document is over 1,000 pages long and available to view between the hours of 09:00 – 14:00. President of Lanzarote’s Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés stated that the situation “is intolerable and shows a new lack of respect by the Spanish State for the Canarian population.”
The announcement confirms that the project is authorised to drill in six different locations specifying depths of 2,750, 3,500 (2 wells), 3,650, 6,370 and 6,800 metres deep.
Dates for your diary for forthcoming events in protest to the oil drilling in the Canary Islands:
Sunday 29th September
English screening of “The Pipe” attended by film director Richard O’Donnel.
Friday 11th October
Residents meeting at the Cabildo to report on the progress of the campaign.