In this report we trace the history of the concept of energy poverty and question it. Understanding energy as a social right and not a commodity, in the text we look at different experiences of popular organisation for access to this common good. With this objective in mind, we reconstruct experiences of the struggle for … Seguir leyendo Report: Electricity belongs to the people
September 16, 2021 .- In the midst of political instability, the Government plans to grant oil companies fiscal ease for 20 years through a new law promoting hydrocarbon investments. The draft, submitted yesterday, aims at encouraging fracking, offshore operations, and underground gas storage, widely challenged practices due to their socio-environmental impact. Once more, energy policy decisions … Seguir leyendo Same Old Story: A Hydrocarbon Law with its Eyes on Exports and the Dollars they Could Bring In
A round of tremors beginning on July 16 has its epicenter in the Argentine locality of Sauzal Bonito, a town in the southern province of Neuquén surrounded by a strip of locations where hydrocarbon exploitation involving fracking takes place. The situation could be worsened by the use of more aggressive tech-packs and the increase in … Seguir leyendo Sixty earthquakes in ten days, the reality of an Argentine fracking town
By OPSur / Translated by Terrotorio de ideas .- Aguada San Roque is a small town located 160 km from Neuquen city, in the Argentine Patagonia, and 60 km from the town of Añelo, “National Capital of Unconventional Hydrocarbons”. Some members of that rural community —businessmen and local authorities— dream of tying the place’s destiny … Seguir leyendo Argentina: New Victims of Energy Poverty in the Land of Fracking
This report makes it clear that one of the main processing companies in charge of the highly toxic, hazardous waste produced by fracking repeatedly violates the standing legislation. Moreover, it confirms that successive government administrations have been aware of this situation for years, however they have reissued their permits and hurriedly approved new projects. This … Seguir leyendo Report: The by-product from Fracking at Vaca Muerta
By Víctor Quilaqueo / OPSur.- The announcements and negotiations to increase gas exploration and exploitation shows once again the central role of hydrocarbons in the country’s economic life. In the midst of the pandemic and climate crisis, the “Plan Gas 4” combined corporate expectations with the design of a legal and technical framework. The four-year … Seguir leyendo Southern Patagonia: Argentina promotes extreme energies at the south of the continent
Workers at Total’s Grandpuit refinery, in the Paris region, have been on strike and mobilized for 45 days. On January 26 the workers painted the Total Tower green to denounce the ‘greenwashing’1 carried out by the oil company to justify job cuts. By A Planeta and OPsur .- The strike has been provoked by an unjust social plan and a … Seguir leyendo France: strike at Total’s Grandpuits refinery for a real energy transition
The world is facing a major environmental crisis for which the prevailing energy paradigm—a 72% of which consists of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas)—is mainly responsible, due to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Not only pollution but also unequal access to energy and corporate capture are the central pieces of the global energy matrix that … Seguir leyendo Just Transition: Latin American debates for the energy future
A bill seeking to introduce a one-time wealth tax—the so-called “Extraordinary Solidarity Contribution”—has been preliminary approved by the lower house of the Argentine Congress. 25% of the proceeds are earmarked for gas exploration and exploitation, which represents a third of YPF’s planned investments for 2020. The priority is to reactivate the unconventional play Vaca Muerta. … Seguir leyendo We’ve Been Bamboozled! Fracking and Big Fortunes in Argentina
When the people of Cerro Alto found out that the Chinese company Envision Energy was going to set up a wind farm, the first question that the Mapuche and criollo families asked was if the electricity generated would reach their homes. In that rural area of the Río Negro province, close to the touristy Bariloche, … Seguir leyendo Another Renewable False Step: The Cerro Alto Wind Power Project