The Forest Oil Corporation: a ticking oil bomb over Bomba

This excellent piece is taken from Sam Dunham, who so wonderfully writes the award-winning blog "Life in Abruzzo".

It has been sent out as a press release at this website and on Google News
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Ticking Oil Bomb over Bomba

Italy & Denver: Forest Oil Threat of Interfering with Nature in Abruzzo’s Chieti

Bomba, in the province of Chieti Abruzzo, is still threatened by the ticking time-bomb of oil exploration by Forest Oil Corporation, its ever-present threat wielded by the silent and still undecided Italian National and Abruzzo Regional governments; if the go-ahead is given to create refinery and oil wells as proposed in the seismically challenged lake that sits just a 2-minute drive from people’s homes the affect could be devastating.

This summer Bomba has seen its most successful season yet with large numbers of tourists visiting and staying at the town to enjoy its varied water-sports, mountain-biking, hiking and famous Abruzzesi food & hospitality, rewarding the monies and hard work which had been invested in growing a sustainable economy developed by local residents over the last 25 years.

The propitiatory offer of a €380,000 cheque to be presented to the local commune each year for the next 14 years was made by the Colorado-based Forest Oil Corporation, but local businesses and families rejected this offer. They understood all too well that the exchange of such “dirty money” for the use of their land and a contribution towards the reduction in their income from the fall in tourism from placement of oil wells, drilling and a refinery on Bomba’s doorstep was not an acceptable compromise or compensation.

They are hoping that the Regional Abruzzo and National Italian governments follow their wishes with a statement rejecting Forest Oil’s plans and these ‘available funds’ rather than perceive them as an easy autumn harvest bonanza which admittedly both mishandled economies sorely need.

There is a palpable sense of trepidation and dread in the town following the 3-month silence by politicians which has followed their stiff resistance to Forest Oil’s plan at a fierce meeting that was held in the town on June 5th 2011, as the result of a 2 year advocacy campaign by Bomba’s full-time 930 residents to stop Forest Oil’s plans in Abruzzo Italy.

The local community gathered together to express their anger directly to key Forest Oil management. That this US Oil Company has a history of drilling in the middle of a desert far away from residential properties and no previous experience or proposed emergency plans for drilling in a highly seismically challenged freshwater dam situated next to residential homes should even contemplate their proposed plans for Bomba is additional fuel to the fire.

The Italian Energy giant ENI had proposed a similar project in Bomba but declared such a project ‘unsafe’ due to the high level of seismic activity in the area which in 2009 saw a 6.3 Magnitude earthquake destroy the nearby capital city of the region, L’Aquila, along with its nearby villages with the result of 308 deaths. An indication how volatile the land is locally can be seen in the construction of the earthern dam with no cement/mortar used.

Already Forest Oil has admitted that setting up a refinery alone will exceed legal limits in pollutants but they believe that their proposed payment system would help sustain the health of future generations that are affected by such fall out, something that no local resident of Bomba believes can be verified or is worth the risk.

Bomba’s 930 residents now wait to hear if the attraction of a 14-year payment plan together with just a 10% drill tax revenue is a simple enough calculation for the Abruzzo and Italian government to undertake in rejecting short-term riches, respecting its peoples wishes and put an end to yet another US Oil Giant attempting to drill in Italy.

View the video below to hear the Forest Oil Corporation meeting with the town of Bomba & listen to Head of the NoOilAbruzzo Campaign Maria-Rita D’Orsogna explain in English why Italy is so attractive to international oil companies.

This article was written by LifeinAbruzzo.com on behalf of the NoOilAbruzzo campaign as a press release.

To the Forest Oil Corporation: maybe you can mess with Texas but you can't with Abruzzo

Here is an Italian version of this story, aptly titled Yankee go home.

Here are pictures of Bomba, covered with No drilling signs

On June 5th 2011, a tiny Italian town, Bomba, Abruzzo, population 900 gave a lesson in environmental studies, civic participation and democracy to American Big Oil and its tentacles.

This time the public enemy was the Forest Oil Corporation of Denver, who was represented in Italy by Mr. John Klein and Mr. Giorgio Mazzenga.

Mr. Klein had flown in straight from Houston, Texas with a cohort of 17 other oil execs and Mr. Rene Bakker, from the Paques Corporation.

They probably thought all they had to do was tell these Italian peasants that their magnificent oil refinery was going to be a job boon, safe, beautiful and giving out a fragrant fresh spring smell.

It is not the first time oilmen try to convince us to let them drill Abruzzo.

After more than four years, we are angry and tired but determined not to let Big Oil kill everything we are and have. We have kicked out Mediterranean Oil and Gas, Petroceltic, ENI and all their fracking friends, sending them back to where they came from.

We are sure we will defeat the Forest Oil Corporation as well.

For the past 5 years the Forest Oil corporation of Denver had been trying to drill the town of Bomba, which lays at the feet of a beloved recreational lake, and to put a nasty refinery in the midst of our towns, in an area that is geologically fragile.

Bomba is highly seismic, it periodically experiences mudslides, the natural subsidence rate is high, and back in the 1960s the oil company ENI decided not to drill the same location because it was not safe.

Today people live off of tourism, farming and winemaking.

That is who we are. Oil does not belong to our tradition. Period.

The Forest Oil Corporation carried out their plans in secret. For many years American investors know more about this natural gas drilling project than residents. They had no intention whatsoever of seeking dialogue with the people, or else they would have told us back in 2006.

But they choose silence instead and went ahead with their plans. About two years ago we saw them engaged in preliminary drilling and testing, we saw them building waste pits 200 meters from town, we saw them with their trucks, all these foreigners coming to a place where they did not belong.

So we started digging and we uncovered the truth, which in these internet days is easy to do: they really wanted to drill us and build a desulfurization plant.

Although the people and most local mayors knew nothing, some higher-up politicians did, and chose to stay silent, either for personal gain or just because they lacked the courage to stand up to Big Oil from the USA.

Thus, most - but not all - of the permits had been given. It was late, but not too late for us to work on stopping the Forest Oil Corporation and to put pressure on these lackluster politicians, and boy did we.

It has been two years of protests, of rebuttals, of letter writing, of independent scientists trying to explain to people why drilling Bomba is a bad idea, of us nagging our politicians and uncovering their wrong-doings.

We debunked every false statement the Forest Oil Corporation claimed on their environmental impact report. The church spoke up against them, merchants and tourism operators, school children and canoeing associations.

We told everyone about the way they treated Mr. James Mc Allen, donating him their radioactive waste without telling him about it, and how he got cancer most likely thanks to the Forest Oil Corporation.

We all came together to say no these bullies who give America a bad name.

Finally, the Forest Oil Corporation had no choice: if they wanted to save their project they had to come out and try to assuage us in person.

That is how Mr. Klein flew in to Bomba, from Houston.

The entire town was covered in signs and pickets saying no to the Forest Oil Corporation. The townhall was packed with people who wanted nothing else but to be left alone and to be who they have been for generations.

We did not believe one word Mr. Klein and his friends had to say.

They had their own interpreters and spoke English to us.

What arrogance. You want to drill us and can't even speak Italian? They probably thought they could sugar-coat answers and try to manipulate the truth - which they did try.

Thankfully, people in the audience knew English better than their interpreter, and people demanded translations be accurate.

Finally, after a lot of give and take, the Forest Oil Corporation had to admit that this desulfurization plant was going to be the largest of its type on the planet, and that the only other comparable one was located in the ... Texas desert 500 miles from the nearest town!

Now, how can you possible compare the Texas desert with a sleepy Italian village tucked in a verdant valley and where the closest homes would be about 200 meters from the refinery? Did they even know that according to their own calculations, the plant's exhaust would be beyond legal limits and end up directly into peoples' home?

The Forest Oil Corporation tried to tell us that their methods were "natural" - and what exactly about oil drilling is natural? - but they were booed and people were upset. The mayors of Altino, Bomba, Pizzoferrato, Gessopalena, Torricella Peligna and Bomba itself said no.

Later the Forest Oil Corporation themselves had to admit that they had never experienced such strong opposition from the people in their 95 year history.

All of this from a tiny Italian village!

The people won. Our "maybe" higher-ups politicians have no choice but say the final no and they have already pledged to do so.

A party is planned on August 8th 2011.

Elsa 2 Petroceltic: down the drain!

In yet another blow to the oil people from Ireland and the UK, and for Mr. Tom Bulford, the Italian Ministry for the Environment has denied approval to Elsa 2 as proposed by Petroceltic of Ireland.

Here is the news, the link to the Ministry's decision and a press release in Italian

Over the past year and a half, the Ministry had been inundated by phone calls, letters and environmental reports arguing against Elsa 2. We protested, marched and demanded actions be taken. Just as we have done for Ombrina Mare, we managed to get our point through to the authorities that may be.

We won.

Yesterday, May 23rd 2011, the Ministry finally came to the conclusion that we were right, and that it is pure folly to drill an oil rig just a few kilometers from the shores of Abruzzo and from a natural reserve.

Dear investors, as should be clear by now, Italy is not the place for oil drilling. We will keep fighting other oil rigs. We won't let you destroy this country.

To Mr. Tom Bulford

Dear Sir, with all due respect, we believe the current ban that Italy passed against offshore drilling WILL NOT be lifted anytime soon. In fact, we are working hard for it to be tightened so that the entire Adriatic sea be closed to drilling. Italy is not Saudi Arabia. People live off their seas, their tourism, their fishing activities. We the people don't want to be drilled, not offshore, not onshore. So please do not mislead your investors. Italy will does not want you.

Ombrina Mare is dead, and so is Mediterranean Oil and Gas.

GO DRILL YOUR OWN BEACHES!

Here is Ola-Channel, by the filmmaker Vito l'Erario

La città sul mare che non vuole il petrolio from olachannel on Vimeo.

CityRumors


Lucio Dalla on La Repubblica

Protests on La Repubblica

Qui un servizio su Rai3

Il Corriere del Mezzogiorno - sit in favor of the Tremiti islands


News Gargano







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Tri-regional rally against offshore drilling in Italy

Yesterday, May 7th 2011 the people from three regions - Abruzzo, Puglia, Molise, descended on the coastal city of Termoli to protest offshore drilling all along the Adriatic coast.

We have succesfully halted the drilling of Ombrina Mare, and we plan to stop in the same exact way Sound Oil, Northern petroleum, Petroceltic and all their friends.

Ombrina mare is just the first of our victories, dear investors.

Yesterday we have called upon Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo to ban offshore drilling in the entire Adriatic sea. Mayors, presidents of provinces, an estimated 300 organizations and 10,000 people came to support our love for our seas and the need to expand the current drilling ban from 12 miles to the entire sea, to protect all of Italy. Other rallies are planned for the rest of the summer.

In the meantime, some people dressed in gray suits from some London offices - aka Tom Bulford and his friends - have started speculations that the offshore drilling ban will soon be overturned, hence people should go ahead and buy shares from the moribund Mediterranean Oil and Gas or put their money in MOG's friend Sound Oil.

It is so funny for me to sit back and watch these people throw their money down the drain.

They don't have a clue. The poor investors who believe this nonsense are just gullible people from London, who can't even imagine all that is simmering in Italy and how much unity this is bringing us across the country.

They think we are greenies from Tuscany! They don't even have their geography right!

These London analysts, economists, stock market gurus or simpletons with time and money to waste, or whoever they profess to be have no clue that everyone is against offshore drilling along the Adriatic.

Our politicians - left and right - KNOW that allowing offshore drilling would be most unpopular and political suicide.

We simply will not let it go. Why do you think the ban was passed in the first place? These London "experts" say:

The ban on offshore oil development looks like an instant, panicky reaction to a popular news story rather than a considered reaction that took account of Italy’s energy needs and industrial policy – already the USA has started to repeal its ban on offshore drilling.

First of all, it was the worst enviromental disaster in US history and not a popular news story.
In California it is and will be off limits to drill 100 miles to sea. In Florida the ban is 125 miles from shore.

The ban was passed because of us, the people! Because we raised a stink against offshore drilling along our Italian beaches. You get it? Because we have no desire whatsover for you UK people to come over and destroy them. Capisc?

Mr. Guru says that Ombrina will supplement losses from Libya! Ha ha ha.

Are they on drugs? The output of Ombrina would have been PUNY! If ENI or Elf thought there was anything worthwhile they would have pulled it out back in 1980! This oil well is just for speculators like you, and will not change one iota the Italian energetic landscape. The politicians know this very well.

Furthermore, in September 2011, the National Coastal Park "Costa dei Trabocchi" will be officially inaugurated, making drilling around the Sound Oil, Petroceltic and MOG sites even more impossible.

To all the investors: just look at what you have in your hands today.

MOG told you they'd start drilling in 2008. It is now 2011.

The net worth of this company has plummeted.

Sergio Morandi was a failure.

MOG's oil rigs have been denied approval.

There are no plans to overturn the ban - despite what your London gurus say.

Ombrina WILL NOT be built, and we will die before you can even think of coming here and destroying our way of life. The same will happen for Sound Oil and all their sisters.

We are not greenies. We just love our sea. Get lost and go drill your own beaches.

Organizations against on and offshore drilling along the Adriatic coast:

Regione Puglia
Provincia di Campobasso
Provincia di Foggia
Provincia di Chieti
Provincia di Pescara
Comune di Foggia
Comune di Termoli (Campobasso)
Comune di Citta' Sant'Angelo (Pescara)
Comune di Vieste (Foggia)
Comune di Montesilvano (Pescara)
Comune di Roseto degli Abruzzi (Teramo)
Comune di Vasto (Chieti)
Comune di Giulianova (Teramo)
Comune di Peschici (Foggia)
Comune di San Salvo (Chieti)
Comune di Lanciano (Chieti)
Comune di Serracapriola (Foggia)
Comune di Tollo (Chieti)
Comune di Pineto (Teramo)
Comune di Carpino (Foggia)
Comune di Fossacesia (Chieti)
Comune di San Nicandro (Foggia)
Comune di Torricella Peligna (Chieti)
Comune di San Severo (Foggia)
Comune di Alba Adriatica (Teramo)
Comune di San Vito Chietino (Chieti)
Comune di Miglianico (Chieti)
Comune di Manfredonia (Foggia)
Comune di Rocca San Giovanni (Chieti)
Comune di Lucera (Foggia)
Comune di Treglio (Chieti)
Comune di Rodi Garganico (Foggia)
Comune di Vico del Gargano (Foggia)
Comune di Mattinata (Foggia)
Comune di Roccamontepiano (Chieti)
Comune di Altino (Chieti)
Comune di Bellante (Teramo)
Comune di Bomba (Chieti)
Comune di Canosa Sannita (Chieti)
Comune di Tornareccio (Chieti)
Comune di Torino di Sangro (Chieti)
Comune di Silvi Marina (Teramo)
Comune di Sant'Eusanio del Sangro
Comune di Mozzagrogna (Chieti)
Comune di Controguerra (Chieti)
Comune di Mosciano Sant'Angelo (Chieti)
Comune di Guardiagrele (Chieti)
Comune di Gessopalena (Chieti)
Comune di Frisa (Chieti)
Comune di Castellato (Teramo)
Comune di Castillenti (Teramo)
Comune di Francavilla al Mare (Chieti)
Comune di San Giovanni Teatino (Chieti)
Legambiente Italia
Assoturismo Abruzzo
Confesercenti Abruzzo
Confesercenti Puglia
Confcommercio (Foggia)
Confcommercio (Chieti)
Camera di Commercio (Foggia)
Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro - Puglia
Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro - Molise
Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro - Abruzzo
Italia Nostra - Pescara
Italia Nostra - Foggia
Greenpeace Italia
Touring Club Italiano
Vas Verdi Ambiente e Societa'
Guardie Ecologiche Volontarie - Parco di Montevecchia e Val Curone (Lecco)
Comitato Difesa di Chioggia - Chioggia (Venezia)
Le Cinque Isole - Tremiti (Foggia)
Il deposito dei sogni onlus - Pescara
Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori - Vasto (Chieti)
Club Alpino Italiano - Vasto (Chieti)
Adiconsum - Foggia
Verde Abruzzo Produttori Biologici - Chieti
Vastesi.com - Vasto (Chieti)
Arci - Vasto (Chieti)
Centro Turistico Giovanile - Bari
Centro Turistico Giovanile - Campania
Centro Turistico Giovanile - Puglia
Legambiente - Circolo Foggia
Legambiente - Circolo "Dai Colli all'Adige", Este (Padova)
Legambiente - Circolo Setta Samoggia Reno (Bologna)
Universita' degli Studi di Foggia
Ambiente e/è vita - Roma
Associazione Bed and Breakfast Parco Maiella Costa Trabocchi - Ortona (Chieti)
Rivista D'Abruzzo - Ortona (Chieti)
Associazione Molise-Europa - Termoli (Campobasso)
Marelibero Abruzzo - Pescara
Comitato Cittadini per l'Ambiente - Sasso Marconi e Marzabotto (Bologna)
Il Gargano Nuovo - Monte Sant'Angelo (Foggia)
Pro Natura Abruzzo - Castel di Sangro (L'Aquila)
Gargano Libero - Foggia
Link - Bari
Fare Verde - Conversano (Bari)
Azienda di Promozione Turistica - Bari
Azienda di Promozione Turistica - Taranto
Azienda di Promozione Turistica - Brindisi
Azienda di Promozione Turistica - Foggia
Azienda di Promozione Turistica - Lecce
Comitato Appennino Salute e Territorio - Loiano Monghidoro (Bologna)
San Vito Vela - San Vito Chietino (Chieti)
Animalisti Italiani - Lanciano (Chieti)
Consorzio Operatori Turistici "Cotug" - Rodi Garganico (Foggia)
Archeoclub - San Vito Marina (Chieti)
Cogecstre - Vasto (Chieti)
Acqua Aria Terra Molise - Campobasso
Consorizio Operatori Turistici Gargano Mare - Foggia
Parco nazionale del Gargano - Monte Sant'Angelo (Foggia)
Comunità del Parco - Ischitella (Foggia)
Comitato per la Tutela del Mare del Gargano - Foce Varano (Foggia)
Azienda Promozione Tursitica Provinciale - Foggia
Fondo Ambiente Italiano Foggia
Fondo Ambiente Italiano Vasto (Chieti)
WWF Abruzzo
WWF Molise
HabitatLab Onlus - Pescara
Circolo SEL - Foggia
Five Festival Sud System - Foggia
Marevivo - Roma
Comunicare Turismo - Foggia
Libera Scelta - Lettomanoppello (Chieti)
Slow Food - Foggia
Giovane Italia - Foggia
Associazione guide turistiche della Puglia - Foggia
Comitato Daunia e Gargano - Ischitella (Foggia)
Coordinamento Ciclabili Abruzzo Teramano - Teramo
Rimboschiamo Peschici - Peschici (Foggia)
Terra Nostra Onlus - Poggio Imperiale (Foggia)
Centro Studi Martella - Peschici (Foggia)
Argod - Sanicandro Garganico (Foggia)
Gruppo Archeologico Garganico S. Ferri - Vico del Gargano (Foggia)
Emergency - Foggia
CicloPazzi - Lanciano (Chieti)
Gruppo Archeologico di Terra d'Otranto - Otranto (Lecce)
Puntoeacapo - Roma
Comparto Biccari Zona 167 - Foggia
Unione Nazionale pro loco d'Italia - Foggia
Confederazione italiana sindacati lavoratori - Foggia
Associazione Punto di Stella - Peschici (Foggia)
Diario Montanaro - Monte Sant'Angelo (Foggia)
Liberta' di Parola - Ortona (Chieti)
Comitato Foggia Propositiva - Foggia
Unione generale del Lavoro - Foggia
Costambiente - Atessa (Chieti)
Gruppo Archeologico Dauno - Foggia
Garganistan Web- Foggia
Life in Abruzzo - Colledara (Teramo)
Fare Ambiente Puglia - Foggia
Associazione la Mejofauna - Isole Tremiti (Foggia)
Brancaleone - Roccamontepiano (Chieti)
Associazione Libera - Termoli (Campobasso)
Si energie rinnovabili, no petrolio - Monopoli (Bari)
No scorie Trisaia - Rotondella (Matera)
Organizzazione Lucana Ambientalista - Potenza
Task Force Ambientale (Teramo)
Stoppa la Piattaforma - Sciacca (Agrigento)
Gestione Partecipata del Territorio - Bomba (Chieti)
Comitato Abruzzese del Paesaggio (Pescara)
Libera associazioni nomi e numeri contro le mafie - Termoli (Campobasso)
Citta' Plurale - Matera
Manichini D'Ottone - Pescara
Associazione Culturale Carpino Folk Festival - Carpino (Foggia)
Le Colonne d'Ercole - Ortona (Chieti)
Marevivo - Bari
Osservatorio diplomatico internazionale -
Associazione Genitori di Vico del Gargano - Vico del Gargano (Foggia)
Istituto Scolastico Cesare de Titta - Lanciano (Chieti)
Movimento 5 Stelle - Rovigo
Nuovo Senso Civico - Lanciano (Chieti)
OLA Channel - Venosa (Potenza)
Lipu Puglia, Gravina di Laterza (Taranto)
Associazione le cinque isole - San Domino, Isole Tremiti (Foggia)
Cicolamici Fian - Foggia
World Activity Club - Vasto (Chieti)
Comunita' dei Padri Passionisti - Fossacesia (Chieti)
Consulta Giovanile del comune di Vasto - Vasto (Chieti)
Pro-loco Manfredonia (Foggia)
Lecceta di Torino di Sangro, Torino di Sangro -(Chieti)
Comunita' Francescana Miracolo Eucaristico - Lanciano (Chieti)
Comitato No Petrolio - Tollo (Chieti)
Costituente del Parco della Costa Teatina - Vasto (Chieti)
WWF Zona Frentana e Costa Teatina (Chieti)
Centro Turistico Giovanile "Egnatia" - Monopoli (Bari)
Comitato Abruzzese Difesa Beni Comuni - Tortoreto (Teramo)
Emergenza Ambiente Abruzzo - Pescara
Chietiscalo.it - Chieti
Giovani Democratici - Foggia
Comitato Natura Verde - Tollo (Chieti)
Abruzzo in Movimento - Ortona (Chieti)
Associazione Radicali Lucani - Potenza
Giacche Verdi Gruppo Gargano - Vico del Gargano (Foggia)
Associazione Tutela e Salute dell'Ambiente di Basilicata - Potenza
Valorizzazione delle Terre Pubbliche attraverso le Popolazioni Locali - Assergi (L'Aquila)
No all'Italia petrolizzata - Los Angeles (California)

Save Cahors from 3Legs Resources!

This person is Mr. Peter Clutterbuck.


From Orca Exploration, trying to drill Abruzzo, Italy to 3Legs Resources, trying to drill Cahors, France


Shame on you!


The fight to save this planet from drilling itself to destruction is global. I wish everyone could educate him or herself on how destructive the oil and gas industries really are, and get going, for real, in a global activist effort to save what we are, and what is sacred to us as humans.

We don't know where to stop anymore. The power of the almighty dollar seems to leave nothing untouched.

Abruzzo is where I grew up, where I used to run through the vineyards, play with the leaves, get mud on my hands, check on my grandmother's chickens, bury my feet in the sand, come home blonder and smelling of salt as a kid, and smell the seasons to the fullest.

I no longer live there, but I have been fighting from so far away to save its waters and its land, just because it is the right thing to do and because I cannot accept it that people from who knows where can decide to change irreversibly a place that I love.

I have never been to Cahors, France. But when I learned that an oil company called 3Legs Resources wants to frack them, my heart went out to this similarly green region, tucked in the SouthWest of France, where they make wine, where they have castles and a history and traditions that don't include drilling for gas.

The people from 3 Legs Resources have never been to Cahors either, I am guessing.

Or maybe they went there on some buisness trip. Who knows. But these middle aged white men who make decisions for Cahors are all outsiders. They come from the Island of Man, UK. Their people have worked for Encana, for ConocoPhillips, they fracked in Poland, they fracked in Germany, Barnett Shale in Texas and Niobrara, destroying those places in the US.

What do they know and care for Cahors?

One of the CEOs of 3 Legs resources, Peter Clutterbuck, used to work for Orca Exploration, a minor oil company. I know them because they were partners of Petroceltic of Ireland who wanted to drill Abruzzo. Apparently he left Orca in 2010.

These people are like weeds. They go to a place, try to drill and destroy and then they move on to the next target. No cares at all for the people of Abruzzo, for the people of Cahors, for the people anywhere period.

To our friends in France: don't believe them!

Fracking WILL pollute your groundwater.
The laws of Physics are clear.
Once you mix polluted and fresh water it cannot be undone.
You have nothing to gain from fracking your land.

We kicked them out of Abruzzo, we forced our tepid politicians to pass laws to protect our oceans and even sent Mediterranean Oil and Gas, another tiny UK company, back where it came from.

If we could do it in Italy - with our incompetent prime minister - you can do it too.

All the best to Cahors from Abruzzo.

MOG is sinking fast!

Oil rig and FPSO. MOG wanted to build these beautiful objects 3.5 miles from the Abruzzo coast. Shame on you!


This is hilarious - the people at Mediterranean Oil and Gas can't do simple math!

Back in June 2010, the Italian government passed a law, according to which ALL and ANY oil rig planned within 5 miles from shore, all around Italy, will not be allowed. The ban increases to 12 miles, in the proximity of Coastal or Marine parks.

MOG wants to drill their Ombrina Mare rig off the coast of Abruzzo, complete with an FPSO, an oil processing and storage ship, about 5 kilometers from shore with a mini-desulfurization facility on top of it. The area is close to the Parco Nazionale della costa Teatina and well within the 12 and 5 mile border designated by the law.

The law was passed in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, but also thanks to Italians protesting their government to better protect our waters.

Despite all this, MOG doesn't seem to understand and keeps thinking they can still get away with it. Maybe I have to tell them:

Dear sirs at MOG: 5 miles = 8 kilometers, and that is larger than the 5 kilometers of your oil rigs!
It is crystal clear.

What part of YOUR DRILLING IS ILLEGAL do you not understand?

The people of Abruzzo have spoken, protested and forced their politicians to say no. To this day noone supports the drilling of Ombrina Mare, except those who have vested interests in its construction.

So what business does MOG have, a British company, to still push their agenda?

GIVE IT UP - WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE!
COUNT YOUR LOSSES AND GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!

I know what their problem is, they are about to go bankrupt!

Today an article by Andre Lamberti, in Proactive Investors UK states that MOG is considering a "sale of the company" or the "divestment of certain assets", as suggested by their CIBC consultants, who obviously have no knowledge of Abruzzo, nor do they care.

To them, it is just about money, assets, speculation, drilling, a far away land on a map. To us, it is the beach we go to in the summertime, where the memories of our youth are and that we want to give to the next generation - oil rig free - thank you very much.

According to the same article, the ban has "materially impaired" MOG's ability to raise further funds required to develop its assets, as well as to meet working capital requirements.

They also are asking their loan repayments to be extended past the deadline of September 2011.

In other words: we are driving them bankrupt! They thought they could come here and do as they pleased? You obviously do not know who you are dealing with, sirs!

They continue:

“Negotiations with potential investors are on-going and the company is hopeful that one of the current opportunities will resolve the company's financial position satisfactorily. There can be no certainty that these discussions will result in a satisfactory outcome".

They know it too that they cannot win.

"The company intends to challenge any assessment that the Decree is applicable to Ombrina Mare"

Yeah right - who do you think you are kidding - you are penniless!

Dear Mr. Investor, do the right thing - take your money and run - it is good for your conscience, it is good for your wallet.