Shale Gas in Romania: Ponta Government Ministries Take Varying Stances
The Vice Prime Minister of the Romania, Liviu Dragnea has said that the nation must adopt a pragmatic stance on shale gas development.
Dragnea took part in several debates regarding shale gas exploitation in Vaslui County. He stated that shale gas could supply the necessary resources for Romania’s development but the most important aspect should be the protection of the people against any risks, including the risk of poverty.
“We must have a pragmatic position. We have information that underground there are these natural resources (shale gas) in sufficiently large quantity so that to help the areas where they will be extracted as well as the national economy. We have two choices: the one in which we allow, in the first stage, the verification of the information to see if they are correct and the one in which we say “no” from the beginning. Then, if these potential resources are not used, I wonder from where will we find resources for development? The first thing that should be concern everyone is the protection of the people against any risks, but we must think, openly and seriously, about the protection of the people against poverty,” said Dragnea.
Dragnea's message was directed towards inhabitants of Vaslui County, a focus for protests against shale gas exploitation. In this context, Dragnea feels that the people must be “correctly” informed by persons with “authority” on the topic of shale gas exploration and exploitation in Romania.
“I know that shale gas exploitations were made in United States of America and I only saw that the price of gas was significantly lowered and this means that the industry developed very much. The people paid less and the American economy was greatly helped by shale gas exploitation. In the end, why couldn’t we try? The opinion of the people matters but we must consider very carefully how informed and competent the people are and, especially how correctly and faithfully they are informed. To see very clearly who maintains and who tries to inform or miss-inform the people one way or another. It is very simple: we can keep the shale gas in the underground and above ground to have the same lack of money”, concluded Dragnea.
Regarding the topic of shale gas, the Ministers of Ponta Government have formed their opinion on the matter through the point of view of their respective Ministries and do not present a united point of view as a government. Thus, the position of the Vice Prime Minister, is not entirely shared by the Environment Minister Rovana Plumb. Plumb feels that a decision regarding exploitation in Romania must be made only after the European Commission publishes the expert studies that are being made at European Union level and the impact analysis, documents that will be completed in 2015.
A similar opinion is shared by the Delegated Minister for Water, Forests and Fish Farming, Lucia Varga who said in Oradea: “What can I say about shale gas use? I know there are many concerns on this topic. I, as authority, must make an informed decision. As such, I cannot say they have an influence on the environment or otherwise because I have seen neither pro or against reasons, depending on interests”
Varujan Vosganian, Economy Minister considers that: “Any action is economically efficient only if they have the environmental permits. In shale gas case we must have some elements to see if the debate is worth it. We could have an exploration activity to know our status in Romania so that, latter, to proceed to exploitation with new technologies.”
A more nuanced opinion belongs to Constantin Nita, delegated Minister for Energy: “We have not exploited anything. There is only an exploration permit, that does not mean exploitation so we will know if we have it and then to see what we do with the respective resource. I am not an expert but I think that in USA there are waters, there is environment and there are nongovernmental organizations. There they did not object to shale gas? Our expert teams from the Academy, who are experts in geology, will tell us if this fracking method creates problems for the environment.”
Silviu Molnar