On April 8, ASMAA received a copy of the court award, which we challenged on 12 April, but a few things become quite clear, wites Laurinda Seabra, ASMAA's leader:
The contracts were extended more than once in the past few years.
On April 8, ASMAA received a copy of the court award, which we challenged on 12 April, but a few things become quite clear, wites Laurinda Seabra, ASMAA's leader:
The contracts were extended more than once in the past few years.
An update from Laurinda Seabra from ASMAA, the Algarve Surf and Marine Activities Association, whose legal battle continues on behalf of the people against the government and its oil company colleagues:
"There are times, when the demands on my time and on my own personal resources get out of hand. It’s been a heavy and demanding road for past 8 years, but looking back … the past was a walk in the park, now we are really facing some serious financial challenges as we continue to fight our legal battles against the government and the oil companies.
"2018 was a watershed year for ASMAA as we progressed through the transformation process that started in 2017," writes Laurinda Seabra from the Association.
Anti-Oil Drilling Campaigns: as we have done since the creation of ASMAA, our primary focus continued to be the “Nem UM Furo” anti-oil drilling national campaign.
Multiple actions took place right throughout the year across Portugal. During the year many updating and feedback sessions where run in Alentejo, Algarve and Central Portugal.
A report from media independent, Apenas Fuma, reveals that proposal for an onshore test well in Aljubarrota, in the Batalha concession area in Central Portugal, has been held up over the question of whether or not an environmental impact assessment is needed.
The Portuguese Environment Agency stated that it, "can not conclude" its deliberations as the submission from Australis Oil & Gas Portugal failed to state exactly where its rig will be drilling.
Galp-ENI’s oil and gas exploration test well, planned for an offshore location 46 kilometres due west of Aljezur, remains suspended after a Loulé court upheld PALP’s May 24th challenge to the Ministries of the Sea and of the Economy.
According to PALP, the Administrative Court of Loulé, in an order signed on June 29th, considered that the arguments put forward by the Ministries were not sufficient to allow the drilling to commence.
Portugal’s Minister for the Environment, João Matos Fernandes, fully supported the government’s pro-oil stance, at meeting of the Parliamentary Environment Committee, during which he trotted out the agreed government's nonsensical mantra that it ‘only wants to find out what resources are out there.’
Fernandes was accused by MPs of giving in to economic interests. He stated that, "If the country wants to be independent of energy from abroad," the Galp-ENI drilling programme will go ahead.
The Terras do Infante association of western Algarve municipalities, now led by the impressive figure of Aljezur’s recently disgraced mayor, José Amarelinho, is hosting an anti-oil conference on June 29th, with free entry for those interested.
'The well nobody wants!' is 'another form of struggle, reiterating the total opposition to the exploration and extraction of oil in the Algarve, in particular to the announced test well in the sea bed off Aljezur,' according to the publicity.
In a move of unparalleled cynicism, Galp Energia, one of the concession partners for the Santola hydrocarbon exploration area where test drilling is due to start in October this year, is funding a study into the whale and dolphin population along Portugal’s coastline.
Common whales, the world's second largest whale, dolphins and other cetaceans are to be found in the ocean off the Portuguese west coast but they have yet to be studied and their numbers established.