Posted on June 12, 2022
We receive and publish the press release of the Piombino 5 Star Movement
We learn with extreme disappointment of the appointment of the President of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani, as commissioner for the Piombino regasification plant. A few days ago we had the opportunity to express our opposition to this project directly to Minister Cingolani, deeming it necessary, as a political force of the Government, to attempt the path of dialogue with the institutions, but already at that time we seemed to understand that the margin for reflection was small. With this appointment, however, the Government openly certifies that the port of Piombino is the final destination of the second regasification vessel, making it extremely difficult for us to travel the path of conciliation. We would therefore like to reiterate that we will try every useful way to prevent this project from coming to fruition, as we would like to explain the reasons for our NO. Reasons that are certainly not linked to the search for a few more votes, but come from the desire to protect the territory that elected us. The first reason, which cannot be waived in any way, is safety. Someone has to explain to us why, after a process that lasted 14 years (2002 – 2016), which was attended by the Regional Technical Committee, the Ministry for the Environment and the ARPAT, it was decided to guarantee the safety of Livorno citizens by locating the regasifier 12 nautical miles from the coast, while in Piombino it is installed in the port.
What would happen if a major accident occurred in the second port of Italy for passenger traffic? Risk of an accident which, however low, can never be 0. Who will take responsibility in the event of an accident? The government? The Ministry? The commissioner? The second reason is that Piombino has been a complex industrial crisis area since 2013, well before the pandemic, with one of the worst economic and social situations in our country. In this long period nothing has moved from the point of view of economic revival, but at least the port infrastructure has been developed. Infrastructure that risks seeing the use of the new areas blocked for the entire period of stay of the regasifier in port (2/3 years), while it remains to be understood how the presence of the future offshore regasifier would affect ship traffic. Finally, but not in order of importance, it should be emphasized that ours is an already highly polluted territory, and certainly does not deserve to see the 1.5 tons per month of sodium hypochlorite needed to keep the pipes clean. of sea water withdrawal functional to heat exchange with liquefied gas. We are well aware that the Government’s action is dictated by the need to diversify the sources of supply and to free ourselves from dependence on Russian gas, but without delving into geopolitical issues that would put a strain on the reader’s attention span, it is worthwhile to underline that Piombino already contributes to cover part of the national energy needs with a wind farm and a photovoltaic field soon to be built. The Piombino regasification plant would supply the national network with 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which may seem like a lot, but if compared to the national requirement which is 75/80 billion, they take on a decidedly different value.
Piombino 5 Star Movement
Leave a Reply