Head of Italian NGO Greenaction Transnational, a member of the AAG, Roberto Giurastante told reporters in Ljubljana that building the off-shore terminal would require digging up the highly polluted seabed of the Northern Adriatic, while Italy had no idea what to do with the toxic sediments.
Moreover, the Italian Environment Ministry failed in explaining how to protect the planned off-shore terminal and another terminal on land which would be constructed within a 15 km radius.Giurastante added that the off-shore terminal would be built closer to Slovenian than Italian land, while building it would mean breaching Slovenia's territorial waters.Spain's Gas Natural, the company wanting to build the terminals near the border with Slovenia, presented forged data on the temperature of the sea and on the extent of toxic sediments, according to him.
The AAG called on the Slovenian government to block the international regatta Barcolana, co-sponsored by Gas Natural, as a way of showing that Slovenia would not take part in "shady deals".
Touching on previous failed complaints with the European Commission, president of the AAG Vojko Bernard said that European Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik did a huge mistake by allowing lower officials to decide on the matter.The AAG also promised it would take the case to the European Commission again, asking it to reopen the NGO's first complaint about the land terminal, while the NGO would also file a new complaint about the off-shore terminal.
Both Bernard and Giurastante were critical of Slovenia, saying it was too lenient in defending its own interests and has not done anything, despite having all the necessary documentation for more than a year.
Should the Slovenian government fail to block the Barcolana, the AAG would take the matters into its hands, asking other NGOs, including Greenpeace, for help.
The press conference came as a response to a letter sent by Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo to her Slovenian counterpart Roko Zarnic, explaining that the Italian environmental authorities have cleared the construction of the off-shore gas terminal and the pipeline.
SOURCE: THE SLOVENIA TIMES
