Leeches in Italy

After decades of drilling power is not Dubai, the Val d'Agri does not have the look of an emirate and the "Basilicata coast to coast" is just a good movie.

To understand the great deception of the oil need to hold on to the numbers. From 25 active wells in the Val d'Agri, Basilicata extracts 80 percent of oil production Italian, 5-6 of the national requirement. The oil companies, Eni and Shell, in particular, aim to rise from the current 80 thousand to 104 thousand barrels per day under an agreement of 1998, more than 25 thousand others that should come out of the improved extraction techniques. With the expansion of the Center oils Viggiano and entry into operation Total Tempa Rossa, in Corleto Perticara, Basilicata would double its oil production to 175 thousand barrels per day, 12% of Italian consumption.

"So between the Lucan grow the attractive power of the totem black." Is the title of a forthcoming book by anthropologist Enzo Alliegro, Lucan transplanted at the University of Naples Federico II. "Oil is a totem, an object ambivalent desired but also feared that redefined the collective imagination. He dreams of wealth, but it is feared the catastrophe. "The illusion of a sudden wealth is called royalty, the share that companies pay to the Italian government for the exploitation of the wells. A law of 1957 defined a system of sliding scale royalties that went 2-22% per barrel in '96 new legislation froze the percentage to 7, later increased to 10. A paradise for companies. That pay much less in Italy than in Norway and Indonesia, where royalties are 80%, or to Libya, 90, while in Canada the local governments complain that found insufficient cashing 45% of each barrel. Little money, but for many Basilicata that in 11 years we saw rain on 669 000 000, 800 if you calculate even those intended to municipalities. A sea of ​​"petroleuro", in appearance, in reality only the crumbs of a big business that enriches corporations and the Italian State.

IN 2010, golden year for Eni (net profit of 6.89 billion), the share of the region and municipalities Lucan, plus 2.10% for the base petrol, was 110 million. Very little compared to what they call the "royalty in disguise", the 42% tax that the state imposes on oil companies: € 450 million for 2010 alone. But it's like 33 billion has been spent Gasoline Fund, to indignant Lucan. It is the story of the card from 100 € to 335 thousand fuel arrived licensed Basilicata. In practice, a pair of full for an average machine. "An injustice, that money had to go to all the residents," said Governor De Filippo. "We returned to Lucan money belonging to him. A revolution, "replied the former undersecretary Guido Viceconte PDL. A real bargain for the Italian Post Office, as each card costs 20 €. Filed this controversy, the worshipers of the optimists "totem oil," estimate that over the next decade will be at least 6 billions in royalties that shall come upon this land. "A myopic view - says Peter Simonetti - deposits can be exploited for another 20-30 years, in the Val d'Agri us to the middle of the cycle. When the wells close what will we do? You have to renegotiate everything with the state and corporations, it is also necessary movements of struggle as we did in Scanzano against nuclear waste. "The buzzwords that you hear in assemblies and municipal councils are open "block drilling, moratorium." "No new wells - says the governor Vito De Filippo - in 1998, when began the extractions could not stand up, but now we want to impose a radical Eni. Or are serious or find a wall. "

Everything is entrusted to a "memorandum", an agreement for the development of the Region and the State. At the heart of the problems of environmental protection and health. Alarming emissions and oil spills. "For 13 years he has lived in complete opacity. Who did the controls, monitoring? The ARPAB, namely the region, he admits that so far has not been done much, we are in the dark. Only now have started four new units and in two years we will have the results of the effects on the land, "says Ennio Di Lorenzo Legambiente. "No new drilling, let's stop where we are and try to understand what has happened in thirteen years," adds Giovanbattista Apples, doctor of the Val d'Agri. Here is the pipeline the largest in Europe. Its lights, the glow of the burning oil, can be seen from the highest point of Viggiano, the basilica where people pray one Our ​​Lady of gold. A little more than 3000 inhabitants, a hoard of 8 million 300 thousand euro in royalties this year alone. Spent to finance the employers who hire unemployed (1,000 Euros a month for three years), aid to families, many public works that feed the cycle of cement. There is a football field, one for the court and the swimming pool is being built. "But I can not predict what will happen in twenty years to human health and the environment," admits the mayor Giuseppe Alberti. "Oil brings money, but it does not solve social problems." The boys Viggiano take the elevator megagalattico the desert and multi-storey car to go up on the square of the basilica. Then come down, walk through the narrow streets of the village. Many of those who can, go away. Others, disillusioned by the oil-totem, dream of escape. They are the "basilisk" of the millennium. Unlike their grandparents told by Lina Wertmuller, not fantasize more about a different Lucania.