180,610 EU citizens signed a petition hosted on Avaaz, the on-line activist site, calling on the environment ministry to “stop imminent petrol prospecting off the Balearic Coast”. This petition was presented to Spain’s environment ministry on Monday by representatives from Avaaz and the German environmental group OceanCare.
Spain is heavily reliant on energy imports currently buying in 99% of its oil and gas. Spain’s industry minister José Manuel Soria has said the country can't "afford the luxury" of not drilling for oil and gas and that finding oil reserves would mean a degree of less reliance from elsewhere, and more of an economic benefit.
Repsol alerady has a permit to start oil exploration off the Canary Islands and Scottish oil explorer Cairn Energy holds a permit to explore in waters between Valencia and Ibiza. Concerns have been raised that should an accident such as an oil spill happen, it would be a Balearic problem on account of prevailing winds and currents. The residents of the Balearics understandably do not want a disaster such as BP’s Deepwater Horizon happening in their back yard, and Greenpeace has stated that it is not necessary to drill in this sensitive ecosystem when energy can be derived from sustainable and renewable sources.
Earlier this summer, Greenpeace sent their Rainbow Warrior vessel to bring attention to and denounce plans for oil prospecting in the coastal waters off Valencia, the Balearics and the Canary Islands. The ecological impacts of oil drilling could be catastrophic and have a wide range of negative effects. WWF has called for a whale sanctuary to be designated off the Canary Islands as this area is home to nearly a third of the cetacean species on the planet and is one of Europe’s richest in terms of whales. Noise pollution is exceedingly harmful to whales and dolphins and there would be the constant threat of oil spills to harm the ecologically sensitive region. UNESCO has designated the waters around Ibiza as a World Heritage Site because of the biodiversity found there. UNESCO says “Ibiza provides an excellent example of the interaction between the marine and coastal ecosystems. The dense prairies of oceanic Posidonia (seagrass), an important endemic species found only in the Mediterranean basin, contain and support a diversity of marine life”.
The opposition to these drilling explorations is strong, and since the main source of income in the Balearics is from tourism, many are questioning whether it's really necessary. José Ramón Bauzà, the president of the Balearics – Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca – told thousands of protesters earlier this year: "Our oil is tourism".
We'll have to wait to see if the petition has had any impact on proceedings.
