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Protests against Chevron and Gabriel Resources in Campeni, Romania | Image Tweeted by @ambrablu
Romanians rallied in the thousands this weekend again, protesting against US energy giant Chevron and Canada’s Gabriel Resources.
Chevron has plans to explore Romania for shale gas while Gabriel is attempting to build Europe’s largest gold mine, Rosia Montana.
Protesters are particularly furious over the leftist government’s intentions to allow the projects to move forward and lack of transparency in the approval process, Reuters reports.
The proposed Rosia Montana mine has been the target of much opposition since early September when the government passed a bill to speed up the project.
Bowing to mass opposition, the government said it might cancel the permit, at which point Gabriel threatened to sue to country for $4 billion.
Read more on Rosia Montana here.
Meanwhile, Chevron appears to have decided that it’s better off staying away – for now at least. After local activists blocked access to the village where Chevron planned on looking for shale gas, the company announced that it would suspend exploration activities in the country.
Image Tweeted by @cuibus
But anti-shale movements have turned into a global phenomenon this week.
Anti-fracking protests took place in Canada on Friday, from New Brunswick to Vancouver.
Opposition in New Brunswick tuned violent as protesters burned cars. The movement spilled into the weekend with activists seizing a news vehicle on Saturday.
Other protests were also reported in South Africa and the UK.
6 Comments
Petre
Why work when we they have a drink – see picture in the article. Romanian are going abroad to do any mining .. Basically what Romanian are saying is that in their country
mining and oil and gas activities are not welcomed.
Jonson.joe
Why mine when you can pick oranges in Spain?
Madskul
No worries – Europe will pick up the tab for Romania just like they did for Greece – at least for a while – and we all know how THAT ended !!!
Re. the worldwide protests against shale gas exploration – IF the layabout protesters (see above picture – I wonder who paid for the drinks ?) are successful then it won’t be long until there are worldwide protests about increasing energy costs !!!
It’s about time those of us who work for a living stopped paying fpor those who don’t.
Leonid Budge
Romania is a fantastically beautiful country which needs all of the benefits that the development of this project can bring. Romania is presently BOTTOM OF THE HEAL AND TOP OF THE HELP.It needs this project and more like it if the country is to advance.
Leonid Budge
Common Sense from the PM
Mr. Ponta said he isn’t yet confident that parliament will green light
Rosia Montana, which could become Europe’s largest open-pit gold mine.
“In the end I think the majority of Romanian society will understand
that if we respect environmental protection standards, if we have
benefits in taxes, royalties, jobs, we should do what all the modern
countries in Europe and beyond are doing to take advantage of their
natural resources,” he said.
Commonsense – not extreme leftist politics – what good for Romania.
this project will get built and will be a landmark transaction for the
Romanian economy. Those who oppose it should surrender to the will of
the people as the majority of Romanians want a better life and a better
future.
Leonid Budge
“Romania Balkan Tiger or Balkan Backwater” http://democracyinstitute.org/_literature_127369/Download_Romania_EU_paper_text
Rosia Montana is a test case for Romania – either its open for
investment and a bright future or its just the poor backwater of greater
Europe.