European self-destruction: Spain has gas for 40 years, but it is forbidden to extract it
The current energy crisis is not Putin's fault, it is not the fault of the cynical and cheating fate that has deprived us of natural resources, but it is the result of a deliberate and precise plan of destruction. As Spanish magazine ABC reveals, a treasure trove of roughly 1,300 billion cubic meters – 1.3 trillion cubic meters – of gas is buried underground, which equates to nearly 40 years of that country's consumption at the current rate, according to one. study of the Higher Council of Mining Engineering Schools. Its exploitation would significantly reduce Spain's energy dependence, guarantee supply in turbulent times like the present, create thousands of jobs and probably lower the bill, or it could be an alternative source for all European countries.
Most of these unconventional gas fields are distributed in the north, in the belt that starts from Asturias and reaches the Pyrenees, including Burgos; in the Levant, the Betic mountain range and the last stretch of the Guadalquivir.
Unfortunately, this gas cannot be extracted because the PSOE and Podemos government banned the exploitation of hydrocarbons throughout Spain by law a year ago. The climate change law – approved with the abstention of the PP and Más País and the vote against Vox – also prohibited 'fracking' (or hydraulic fracturing), the technique that should be used to extract that unconventional gas, the so-called because, instead of being in big sacks, it is stored in the pores of the rocks, so that to extract it you have to drill through them.
"Political reasons"
That ban, preceded by other similar regional legislation, was due to "purely political reasons", says the dean of the High Council of the Colleges of Mining Engineers, Ángel Cámara, and there was no room for "a scientific or academic debate" in where the advantages and disadvantages of such an important decision have been analyzed. "What was there was misinformation and the rumors against it weighed heavily," he says. The fact is that the numerous foreign and Spanish companies that eight or ten years ago were willing to exploit unconventional gas – more than a hundred permits were requested and some companies had already made major investments – have ended up abandoning the projects.
So Spain, rich in gas, continues to import 99% of it mainly from Algeria, constantly remaining under blackmail from that country. As if the CO2 emitted by North African methane were less harmful than the Spanish one!
It seems the story of Italy and the over 700 unused methane wells already dug, all not for an economic question, but for a political decision that makes us permanently dependent on abroad. Naturally, citizens passively undergo these decisions.
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The article European self-destruction: Spain has gas for 40 years, but it is forbidden to extract it comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/autodistruzione-europea-la-spagna-ha-gas-per-40-anni-ma-le-e-vietato-estrarlo/ on Wed, 23 Mar 2022 08:00:05 +0000.