A Bomba, con affetto

Oggi e' stata resa ufficiale la presentazione della VIA da parte dell'americana Forest Oil di Denver, secondo la quale questi signori vogliono venire sul lago di Bomba, trivellare 5 pozzi, mettere oleodotti un po dappertutto e costruire una raffineria, una specie di centro oli.

Notare che gli americani hanno almeno il buon senso di chiamare le cose per nome: RAFFINERIA e non centro oli - lo scopo e' esattamente lo stesso, togliere lo zolfo dal gas del lago di Bomba.

Ci sara' da lavorare anche qui, e ci sara' anche qui da scrivere le solite lettere, le solite osservazioni. Con calma e con amore, faremo tutto anche qui.

Intanto, ringrazio Massimo Colonna e tutto il gruppo dei cittadini di Bomba che hanno inziato con le attivita' informative, divulgative e per dire no a quest'altra usurpatrice della nostra natura che da Denver crede di poter fare quello che vuole. Il sito di Bomba e' qui e il gruppo che lo cura si chiama Gestione Partecipata del Territorio.

Sono stati bravissimi a scovare carte, documenti, ad analizzarli e a renderli di dominio pubblico fra i cittadini.

Ho pensato un po a cosa potevo fare di utile per il lago di Bomba, per Massimo, per l'Abruzzo, e cosi' invece di stare qui a scrivere quanto siamo bravi e belli, e quanto e' cattiva la Forest Oil, ho preso e scritto al Denver Post.

Mi risponderanno? Decideranno di parlare di questa storia? Sara' utile? Non lo so, ma per adesso mi e' sembrato utile e un buon tentativo. Vediamo.

Ecco allora in fondo, la lettera che ho scritto al Denver Post. La mandero' domani se ci riesco. Se avete commenti, idee, siti con foto del lago di Bomba, o se c'e' qualcosa che dovrei scrivere, ditemi che aggiungo.

Ciao a Bomba, e mi raccomando il 18 aprile tutti in massa a San Vito Marina. Come dico sempre, se a Vasto gli interessa di Ortona, e se a Casalbordino gli interessa di Pineto e se a Bomba gli interessa di Rocca San Giovanni, e allora non c'e' nessuno che ci ferma.


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Dear Denver Post Newsroom,

My name is Maria D’Orsogna, and I am a physicist and math professor at the California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles.

I am writing to you because Forest Oil Corporation, an oil company based in Denver, has put forward a plan to drill an environmentally sensitive area of Abruzzo, Italy - causing quite a stir among locals.

I lived in Abruzzo for about 10 years and am now one of the main activists behind the strong no-drilling campaign to save Abruzzo from turning into a giant oil field. I thought this story might be of interest to you since Forest Oil is based in Denver.

Perhaps you have heard of Abruzzo, perhaps not. It is where the Montepulciano wine is harvested, and a beautiful, yet relatively unknown, non-mainstream part of Italy. Many travel reports describe it as a wilder version of Tuscany. According to the UK newspaper The Times, traveling in Abruzzo is one of the 10 best adventures of a lifetime in the whole wide world.

The area Forest Oil intends to drill is right outside a beloved recreational area, right off an artificial lake called Lago di Bomba. It is nested between mountains and just a few kilometers from the Abruzzo National Park. People visit us for water sports, sailing, trekking, fishing and swimming. Indeed, the area’s main source of income is tourism and wine-making. I’d say that drilling this area would be as if someone were trying to drill Lake Tahoe.

The area is morphologically very fragile and subject to frequent mudslides. An existing dam is continuously monitored and all previous drilling attempts, starting from the 1960-s have never been put in practice. They were deemed too dangerous since they carried the possibility of destabilizing the terrain. In Abruzzo, oil and gas reserves are deep, scarse and of low quality – laden with sulfuric impurities and classified as sour gas and oil.

Forest Oil intends to drill several oil and gas wells, a thick pipeline network and a refining plant right off the lake. In my opinion, drilling the area would inevitably take away its charming character, destroy tourism and intrinsically change our way of life. We are happy the way we are now.

Within the region of Abruzzo, every and all major social, political, economic, religious group has expressed negative opinions related to this project, from the Catholic Church to the union of winemakers. We are trying the best we can so that the central government in Rome denies authorization to this Denver based company. In Italy, it is the Ministry of the Environment that decides on these matters.

I hope you can make this story known to Denver residents, to let them know what we are trying to save, why and why our environment and way of life is so important to us. If you’d like to know more about this story, please do contact me at your best convenience.

Sincerely,


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A few links: This is the statement put forward by Mr. Ronald Brown, a spokesperson for international relations at Forest Oil:

http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/abstracts/html/2008/rms/abstracts/brown.htm

Lago di Bomba images:

http://www.itineraridipesca.com/immaginibomba.html

Citizen activist websites:

http://www.gestionepartecipataterritorio.it/index.php?page=asseblea-pubblica

The London Times:

http://www.gestionepartecipataterritorio.it/index.php?page=asseblea-pubblica

In English
http://www.savethemontepulciano.blogspot.com