In recent days, the Council of Ministers approved the Legislative Decree containing “Urgent provisions for the environmental protection of the country, the rationalization of environmental assessment and authorization procedures, the promotion of the circular economy, the implementation of interventions regarding the remediation of contaminated sites and hydrogeological instability”.
This is a series of new rules or strengthening of others which, among other things, also include a greater space for gas drilling in Italian seas, effectively taking our country back to at least two decades ago. And here’s the crux.
What certainly attracts attention are the innovations introduced byarticle 2 in the matter of research And cultivation Of gas And petrolium on the national territory. First of all, according to experts, the choice to give up planning tools such as the seems evident PiTESAIThe Plan for the sustainable energy transition of suitable areas.
The disappearance of PiTESAI and the absence of a possible new plan – as explained by the No Triv Coordination – capable of taking into account the environmental and social unsustainability of new extractive activities, in fact favors the revival of 11 research permits in sea and 18 on land, repealed in the last two years as a result of PiTESAI itself (c. 8, art. 11 ter, Law 12/2019) and a new flourishing of Oil & Gas activities on the national territory.
All of this, of course, could result new exploration activities, including for oilthus denying the Government’s desire to limit it to gas only. And not only that: the liquid hydrocarbon cultivation concessions already granted on the date of entry into force of the Decree or to be granted on the basis of permits issued by 17 October 2024, will continue for the “useful lifespan” of the deposit, potentially leading to the authorization of new wells and, therefore, new extraction activities.
A second innovation which will have the effect of paving the way for works connected to the extraction and cultivation of hydrocarbons is the restoration of the conferment of the same “public utility” character.
Net of all this, the age-old mystery remains unanswered: given that once extracted, gas and oil are the property of the private individuals who extract them, who can therefore place them freely on the market, what would this public interest consist of?
Another sore point concerns the reformulation of the hitherto ineffective gas release, which, under certain conditions, will have the effect of eliminating the 2006 ban on search for and extract gas less than 12 nautical miles from the coastlines and from the perimeter of protected natural areas, the companies being able to go up to a distance of 9 nautical miles.
We make a non-formal appeal to jurists and opposition political forces who really care about the defense of the common good and public health in the perspective of a just energy and social transition, to work with acumen and passion to detect and denounce every aspect of illegitimacy that is hidden in the folds of the recent device, concludes the Coordination.