Solidarity with Zurawlow – Warsaw, July 15 Out of an initiative by the “Strefa Zieleni” (Green Zone) Foundation, who represents the “Zlupieni.pl” (Fracked off) movement, as well as the Greens, dozens of people came together on Monday, July 15 in front of the Ministry of the Environment to take part in a solidarity picket supporting the now seven-week long protest in Zurlawlow. Present also, were a number of farmers from Zurawlow who have been diligently monitoring the activities of Chevron, the corporation who has been trying to search for shale gas in the area of their village. The farmers have been on duty 24 hours a day and are carefully following all of Chevron’s activities in order to prevent further law breaking and ongoing noncompliance with administrative procedures by Chevron. The “Strefa Zieleni” (Green Zone) Foundation handed the Ministry another motion requesting that they revoke Chevron’s licence to explore the area for shale-gas (the first motion was made not long ago by the provosts of four towns in the concession of Grabowiec). Protesters also presented the Ministry with water from a well in Rogow, polluted by seismic testing in 2011, that remains undrinkable today. Six of the dozens assembled in front of the Ministry – four residents of Zurawlow, the President of the Green Party, Agnieszka Grzybek, and the Director of the “Strefa Zieleni” Foundation, Ewa Sufin-Jacquemart – met with the Deputy Minister of the Environment and Chief Geologist of Poland, Piotr Wozniak. Unfortunately, during the hour and a half meeting, neither proposals for resolving the conflict, nor any declarations were made on the side of the government. Minister Wozniak simply encouraged the farmers from Zurawlow to continue monitoring Chevron to ensure they follow the law. Moreover, the Minister claimed that the Ministry of the Environment “does not make decisions” about extractive licences since it is at the level of the voyts (mayors) that environmental decisions are made, and the Ministry of the Environment “simply signs” licences, when all of the documents are in order. According to Minister Wozniak, the goal of recent changes made by the Ministry Council to motions by the minister of the Environment, which eliminated the legal grounds, on which voyts could demand environmental assessments, was to free voyts of obligations in which they had no expertise. Agnieszka Grzybek, referring to voting that occurred a few days ago at the European Parliament Environment Committee which requires obligatory environmental assessment at each stage of exploration and extraction of shale gas, underlined that the EU aims to strengthen environmental protection in extracting shale gas considering the very big and irreversible threat, and she argues that the Polish Ministry of the Environment should also go in that direction, defending the environment, in the interest of citizens and future generations of Polish people. Minister Wozniak responded by saying that, “this is your [Ms. Grzybek’s] opinion, we have a different one.” Moreover, Minister Wozniak suggested, that giving licences for shale gas exploration and extraction using hydraulic fracturing on major groundwater reservoirs is not against water laws, and companies that frack would surely never allow for leaks, since this is against their economic interests – in cases of leaks, gas pressure decreases and the output also decreases. Wozniak also said that he denies information given by the media that suggests that all of the drillings done until now have been faulty: the quality of cement is not high enough to remain intact in such deep boreholes, which causes it to crack during fracking. The Minister did not comment on the fact that licences were granted on some of the richest farmland in the country and that allocating these territories to use for mining and industry is a waste of this rich farmland and will create great economic losses for the region and for Poland, and it sacrifices access to healthy food produced in Poland, which we will now have to import from other countries, instead of exporting it. The four person delegation of residents from Zurawlow also met with Deputy Secretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tadeusz Nalewajka. He expressed surprise at the fact that a licence was granted that covers such fertile land. He promised that he would pass this information on to the Minister of Agriculture, Stanislaw Kalemba. In the afternoon, the protest mowed to “Lazienki Krolewskie” to make their demands known to the Polish, French, and German Ministries of the Environment, who had organized a press conference after a meeting of the Weimark Triangle. Minister Marcin Korolec came to meet the picketers standing at the entrance to the Palace. Next, the protest mowed to Mysliwski Palace, where the ministers were having lunch. As French Minister of the Environment, Philippe Martin exited he was addressed in French for his help in pressuring the Polish government, to acknowledge, on behalf of French President, Francois Holland and French Premier Jean-Marc Ayrault, the unquestionable threat caused by fracking, to the environment and to people affected by exploration and extraction of shale gas, as well as to acknowledge the right of communities to decide for themselves, locally, their fate. Hundreds of leaflets about the protest in Zurawlow were distributed throughout the day on the streets of Warsaw and in the area of Lazienkowki Park. The leaflets informed readers that the licence granted to Chevron is for exploration on three of the largest water reservoirs in Poland and on the most fertile farmland in the country. The soil, black earth, found in the area is only found on 1% of farmland in Poland. In the evening, in the “Zielone Centrum M1” there was a film screening of “Drill Baby Drill,” by Lech Kowalski. After the film, there was a meeting and discussion with residents of Zurawlow. Everyone who was present at the meeting (including Ms. Barbara Labuda, a hero of “Solidarność” and former Ambassador in Luxembourg), expressed deep concern for the environmental threat caused by shale gas exploration and extraction, and shared their incredulity at the indifference of the Polish federal, regional, and local government towards the environment and the local people, as well as outrage at Chevron as well as other extractive companies for their arrogance and disrespect for the law. Not one person at the meeting tried to convince the residents of Zurawlow that they are wrong in their position – everyone present expressed understanding and declared their support for the farmers. There was unanimous support for the suggestion that Lech Kowalski’s film, “Drill Baby Drill” must be shown to as many people as possible to inform the public and to counter the false image of the benefits of mass shale gas extraction in Poland. lechkowalski occupychevron.tumblr/
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 12:23:17 +0000