OPEN LETTER – CALL FOR SUPPORT
κ . …………………..,
Regular member of the Committee on Agricultural Economy, Environment & Rural Development Development
The Coordinating Committee of the stakeholders of Thassos was born out of the need to express the universal opposition of its inhabitants to the attempted storage of industrialCO2 pollutants from SE European countries in the depleted oil field of Prinos. Energean, an Israeli-British majority-owned company, plans by government decision to store up to 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year for the next thirty years according to the estimated capacity of the wells.
With the Municipality of Thassos in front, we serve the solid, non-negotiable mandate of the society of our island, the Bay of Kavala and the wider region of our Region, to thwart the transformation of our blessed land into a cavern of foreign industrial waste. We defend our right to live in a safe and clean environment in the place we were born and love. We have already collected 6000 signatures of citizens opposing the project and we continue.
What we all have in common is that the project is neither “green” nor sustainable, and worse, it threatens our very existence. Our valid objections stem from our study of the data that form the belief that our safety, our island’s productive fabric and our unique natural environment are being put to a dangerous irreversible test FOREVER!
Really how much security can such a project provide when:
- It is developed within a stone’s throw from densely populated, paratropical areas with a strong tourist production footprint. In the case of Thassos we are talking about our “backyard” and not a project 250km away from beaches like in Sleipner, Norway. Why should we be guinea pigs?
- No study can predict the consequences of an unexpected accident over the centuries. Why should we live in permanent insecurity from the possible occurrence of a serious accident that could even endanger our lives?
- Our region is tectonically active. Our proximity to the great Anatolian Rift makes us witness frequent earthquakes. Hence there is always lurking the risk of release of the stored gas in the event of a major earthquake with uncharted risks to the safety and health of the inhabitants. Why do we have to live on a time bomb in the company of a nightmare for ever?
- The quality of “fresh water” in underground aquifers, from which drinking water is largely drawn, can be affected by the injection of CO2 into wells.
- CO2 can escape through weak spots in the rocks. The highCO2 content of marine waters will lead to impoverishment of biodiversity, fish breeding habitats and food chains will be destroyed with irreparable damage to fisheries.
- In an environment of increased gas pressure inside the reservoirs, sudden explosions (blow outs) can occur with a risk of escape. Control of the composition of the mixture of the stored flue gases, possibly including radioactive ones, is difficult or impossible.
κ. …………………
CCS is not an effective answer to the climate crisis because it is neither “green” nor sustainable:
- Experience to date shows that CCS projects around the world have largely failed (88%) and have been abandoned, such as in Algeria (SALAH), Australia (GORDEN), etc.
- It gives the “kiss of life” to the prolonged use of fossil fuels that are responsible for global warming on the one hand and puts the brakes on the energy transition to clean, renewable forms of energy on the other.
- Alternative sustainability options are neglected as nature knows them. For example, greening large burnt areas with trees would clean up the atmosphere as they act as huge carbon sinks.
- CCS is the “green” flushing of pollution with a big “business” in the background.
“Crisis begets Croissants”, the climate crisis is not being addressed. The big winners will be heavy industry as the huge costs of capture, transport and storage will be borne by taxpayers.
- The companies are relieved of their responsibility to store the goods after 30-40 years. After that, the responsibility of overseeing and controlling the facility will always be the responsibility of any government. This is a costly process and requires a high level of expertise that we do not have as a country.
- Burying pollutants is not a productive investment because it produces nothing. In fact, the “Prinos” does not respond to the climate crisis at all if one considers that the 3 million tonnes of CO2 that will be buried in its wells compared to the 40 billion tonnes per year that the planet emits corresponds to a negligible 0.0075%!!! of the carbon footprint. It is therefore a ‘business’ of billions with a phony ‘green’ passport that passes billions of euros into the pockets of its unscrupulous promoters, plunging our country into extinction.
- At Sleipner in Norway, the longest-running project in the relatively recent history of CCS and there with problems in overseeing storage in the North Sea, underwater storage facilities bury theCO2 that is separated from the pumped gas because it is not marketable due to its high content. No other source country stores CO 2 there, almost in the middle of the ocean. Here, in Prinos, in the “lake” of the enclosed Gulf of Kavala with a much smaller capacity than Sleipner, literally in our backyard, Energean is operating with perforated M.P.E, allied with the “omertas” of the local media, some “mirrors for the natives” and with brazen hypocrisy to convince us in its “saving” work by flaming us with CO2 from France, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus Balkans etc. It is the smell of easy and big profit that attracts the “hawks of the rapacity” and with the backs of the government of course, as Prinos is a “fillet” with ready-made warehouses, pipelines, drilling and therefore with promising profits. “They don’t give a damn about ‘green’ development.
For Thassos and the wider region of the Gulf of Kavala, the storage of CO2 in Prinos is a deeply anti-development planning that violates its spatially established character as an excellent tourist destination. It is not a sustainable development, it is the death of the tourist industry from which thousands of people have incomes with a significant contribution to our national economy and certainly incomparably multiple of that of Energean who gave the public the humiliating amount of 65000 euros!!! in 2023 from the exploitation of the deposit. This project irreparably damages the prestige and reputation of Thassos as a flagship of tourism in the An. Macedonia & Thassos’ reputation and the reputation of Thassos in the region of Macedonia & Thassos’ reputation in the area of the region of Macedonia & Thassos. Thrace. It condemns a unique natural environment of a place visited by 1 million tourists a year by smudging it with unimaginable amounts of foreign industrial waste. Next to beautiful coasts and green landscapes, heavy industrial infrastructure will be developed in its most polluting version with pipelines and cargo ships running alongside our beaches, chasing cruise ships and yachts away from our seas.
κ. ……………
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. Now, before it is too late, before we regret why we … caught ourselves in our sleep and condemned our country to a grim adventure of no return. Let us protect our “emerald of the Aegean” from the… “plunder” of modern pirates so that it can continue to sail well into tomorrow with the prosperity of its passengers and its “luggage” intact.
We ask you to stand in solidarity with our struggle for his vindication.
We invite you:
- Feel the magnitude of the responsibility that falls on your shoulders because of your high state role and stand up to the demands of the circumstances. Decide boldly and empathetically, in the interests of the social majority in your Region, putting the brakes on an unnecessary, ‘dirty’ project. Otherwise, you will find yourself alone with the world as a whole against you, accountable to it with a “sinful” dowry in your luggage, indelible “resignation”, because with your decision you have contributed to condemn our country FOREVER.
- To vote in your Committee with our appeal, your decision to meet the universal demand for the cancellation of the planned crime in our region. The decision of the Regional Council will be the most powerful weapon in our quiver.
- Listen to the universal demand of the Thassian people who honoured your Party with their decisive vote and made you the majority force in the Regional Authority.
- Justify the trust of the citizens in you yesterday and… tomorrow by choosing to be on the right side of history.
- Support us and help us in practice by taking initiatives to support us in our decision-making centres.
Our unanimous, resounding message should travel to Athens, Brussels and every corner of Greece:
Our gifted island, its people and its productive footprint are not destined for collateral damage, nor will they be sacrificed on the altar of foreign or domestic economic interests.
ON THE MOVEMENT OF THE THASOS INSTITUTIONS AGAINST THE STORAGE OF CO2 IN THE FOUNTAIN OF KAVALA
THE PANETHASSIAN STEERING COMMITTEE
BAGENA OLGA
ANASTASIOS BOZATZIDIS
LASCARINE DIAQUEME
CARANDELOS YANNIS
VANGELIS CARTRIDGE
MERACLES COMASTAS
KALILIOPI ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜIDOU
PAPACHYRIAKOU HARALAMBOS
PASCHALIS KING
GEORGE PASCHALIS
SAMIOTTI STEFANIA IRENE
TAHMADZIDIS YIORGOS
ΦΩΤΙΑΔΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣ
CONTACT:
email: thassosagainstCO2@gmail.com
