• Environmental NGO calls for immediate halt to Gas Natural Fenosa drilling
• Petition launched to save UNESCO World-Heritage site from gas project
In the first five days of a petition drive to stop a natural gas drilling and storage project in the Doñana natural wetlands area of southern Spain, Greenpeace España has gathered nearly 8,000 signatures of support for an open letter it sent on 3rd November to the president of Spanish energy giant Gas Natural Fenosa calling for a halt to the project.
In the letter to Fenosa president Rafael Villaseca, Greenpeace pointed out that the Doñana wetlands preserve is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and said that the Fenosa gas drilling and storage project in the Doñana area places the narrow economic interests of Fenosa and its shareholders above the general economic interests of Spanish society and the environmental values represented by the Doñana preserve itself.
The 209-square-mile Doñana wetlands preserve lies within the estuary of the Guadalquivir River in Andalucía and is a stop-off point for an estimated six million migratory birds each year and home to thousands of species of wildlife, including endangered species such as the Iberian lynx, the Imperial eagle, black storks, the Iberian mongoose and others.
The Greenpeace letter and petition already signed by nearly 8,000 supporters calls on Fenosa to immediately abandon its gas extraction project in the Doñana wetlands area, to desist from pressuring the Spanish government to authorise energy projects simply for the benefit of the company and its shareholders and to adopt an energy plan and policies that help Spain transition away from fossil-fuel dependence and toward 100 percent reliance on renewable energy resources.
► Read More in Spanish at 20minutos and Noticias Press …
► Read Greenpeace Press Release in Spanish, here …
► Sign the Greenpeace petition to stop natural gas drilling in Doñana …
