OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR AND COUNCILLORS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF KAVALA
Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Municipal Councillors of the Municipality of Kavala
On Monday 07/07/25 you are invited to decide on the implementation or cancellation of the planned CO2 burial in the licensed wells of Prinos. Energean, a company of mainly Israeli interests, with the full sponsorship of the government and without the necessary expertise in the field of CCS, implementing an investment of more than 1 billion euros from European and national funds, will squeeze about 100 million tons of CO2 in its 30-year operation from countries of South-Eastern Europe in the heart of the closed bay of Kavala. In reality and according to scientifically documented opinions, it is the installation of a time bomb in the foundations of our region, forcing the safety of the inhabitants to be exposed forever to the nightmarish game of a peculiar Russian roulette.
Have you thought about how much security such an investment can guarantee when:
- It is being developed in a unique proximity worldwide with densely populated areas protected by Natura 2000 and with a spatially secured tourist profile.
- The risk of CO2 escaping from its prison is more than likely in an active tectonic seismic region given its more than a thousand years of being held in wells. Even the likelihood of an industrial-scale accident involving leakage of the gas is high both during transport and injection and during its storage. The guarantees of the measures to be taken and the low risk of risk that the company is claiming are not convincing in a country that cannot prevent the collision of two trains on the same line. Moreover, the cases of Cameroon and Mississippi, where many people have died or suffered serious health problems as a result of the massive leakage of CO2 asphyxiant, leave no room for confidence. Energean itself, in its own press release, admits in its own description that: “The project under study, due to its nature , is associated with potential risks and emergency conditions throughout its life cycle, and which require a thorough identification and risk assessment (Risk Assessment)…… These risks are identified in the integrity of the reservoir , escape through geological faults, or due to earthquake, acidification of the water without any risk management. All of us, the unique marine and terrestrial natural environment of our region will suffer the polluting consequences. Is there really even one reason why we should be forced to become guinea pigs and subjected to an endless ordeal? But there are dozens of reasons to say NO. Do we owe anything to the obvious greenwashing of pollution through a huge business by a company that has neither the know-how nor the size to allow it to invest on such a scale? In fact, its profiteering audacity is so clear that it goes so far as to pretend to ‘lift’ its profile by sponsoring cultural events, at the same time as its activities are linked to the heinous genocide against the Palestinian people.
Mr. Mayor Mr. Councillors
CCS is not the effective answer to the climate crisis. It is not “green” because it gives the “kiss of life” to the prolonged use of fossil fuels responsible for global warming. Nor is it sustainable since experience to date shows that CCS projects around the world have largely failed and many of them have been abandoned, such as in Algeria (SALAH), Australia (GORDEN), etc.
The storage of CO2 in Kavala Bay is a profoundly anti-developmental design because it produces nothing, promises desertification and violates the spatially established character of Thassos and the bay area as an excellent tourist destination. It is not development, it is the destruction of our productive pattern. It is the death of the tourism industry from which thousands of people have incomes with a significant contribution to our national economy. Next to beautiful coastlines and lush green landscapes, heavy industrial infrastructure will be developed in its most polluting version, with pipelines and cargo ships lumbering alongside our beaches, chasing tourists, cruise ships and yachts away from our seas.
Our country is facing a dangerous historical challenge. The problem to one degree or another concerns all citizens of our Region. Each of us, depending on the role we play, will be judged by future generations for our attitude. We all have a duty to stand up to the height required by the circumstances with all our strength and to prevent the “dumbing down” of our region. We must protect our country from the ‘plundering’ of modern pirates so that it can continue to sail safely into the future with the safety of its passengers and its ‘luggage’ intact.
Mr. Mayor Mr. Councillors
Every decision must place man and his environment, to which he owes his very existence, at its centre. On the basis of this supreme moral and value premise, we ask you to stand in solidarity with our common struggle until its final vindication.
We invite you:
- Justify the trust of the citizens in you yesterday and tomorrow by choosing to stand on the right side of history.
- Feel the magnitude of the responsibility that falls on your shoulders because of your state role and rise to the occasion. Decide boldly and empathetically, in the interests of the social majority in our Region, putting the brakes on an unnecessary, ‘dirty’ project. Otherwise, you will find yourselves alone accountable to your conscience and to the people who supported you and with a “sinful” dowry in your luggage, indelible “resignation”, because with your decision you have contributed to condemn our country FOREVER.
- Your vote on the City Council should be met with an all-out demand for the cancellation of the planned crime in our area.
- The clear message of your vote to travel to Athens and Brussels, saying that “our country, its people and its productive footprint are not destined for collateral damage nor are they offered for sacrifice on the altar of foreign or domestic economic interests. It is ours, it is our children’s, our children’s children’s…. We do not sell it or give it in return….”
In the context of this marathon race we invite the residents of our island to be present at the meeting of the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Kavala on Monday 07/07/25 at 17.00 at the Town Hall of Kavala.
COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THASOS INSTITUTIONS AGAINST CO2 DEPOSITION IN THE THRESHING FLOOR.
THASSOS 03/07/2025
CONTACT: email: thassosagainstCO2@gmail.com
