City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz denies permission to investigate whether there is gas in the Armentia-2 well
- Municipal technicians have determined that the General Urban Management Plan (PGOU) does not authorize surveys to investigate the existence of gas. The Basque Councillor for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, has left open the possibility of filing a complaint.
The SHESA hydrocarbons company of the Basque Government submitted the licence application at the City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz last October. SHESA was preparing to conduct a survey to investigate the possible presence of gas in the Subijana Armentia-2 well. Gorka Uraran announced on Tuesday the report of the municipal technicians who gave a negative response to the call.
Uraran advocated the granting of the licence last week, inter alia, on the grounds that citizens have the “right” to know if there is gas on the ground. In making the report known, he expressed his support for the decision of the municipal technicians in defense of the “general interest”: “I will not put the general interest of Vitoria-Gasteiz at the service of any strategy, energy, or any other kind, despite agreeing. Above all, I'm the mayor of my city, and I'm here to defend the city.
Eh Bildu de Vitoria-Gasteiz has demanded the mayor and the PNV to reject any claim for gas extraction and has stressed that "the decision to refuse the license has not been a gift from Uraran, it is due to the work carried out for years by a social and political majority of Vitoria-Gasteiz".
He is not “good news” stated Berriztui, and has pointed out that the achievement is of citizenship: "We would like to congratulate all the people who have opposed this gasist project and, above all, those who made the fight against fracking a real cry of people." The movement against the exploitation of fossil fuels and in favour of a new energy model carried out a mass rally on Saturday before the City Hall demanding that SHESA refuse the authorisations.
Solitude of the PNV
Last week, the loneliness of the PNV in gas extraction in the Basque Country was evident. On Tuesday, at the municipal climate action commission of the City of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Mayor Uraran was the only one who was in favour of granting permission to SHESA. All opposition groups were against, and the PSE, which forms the municipal government alongside the PNV, said nothing. On Wednesday, however, the PSE voted in favour of the motion tabled at the General Meetings of Álava against gas extraction. A motion will be voted on Wednesday at the City Hall in Vitoria-Gasteiz, and it is to be seen whether the PSE is going to depart from the PNV or not.
Tapia: “The issue may not stay here.”
On Wednesday morning, the Councillor for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantza Tapia, spoke in Radio Euskadi about the decision of the City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz. He stressed that the SHESA project for the research of the Armentia-2 well is authorized by the Ministry of the Environment and therefore “meets the requirements for the exploratory probe”. Tapia has announced that they will examine the possibility of filing an administrative appeal or a contentious appeal against the City Council’s decision: -The topic may not stay here.
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