Environmental NGOs are urging the European Commission to pursue their complaint about Greece’s approval of offshore oil and gas concessions in a crucial habitat for whales, after the executive body previously said the matter did not need it’s intervention.
“The Greek state is persistently avoiding carrying out the required assessments on marine biodiversity and marine protected areas before approving these programs,” said Francesco Malleto, a lawyer for the NGO ClientEarth. “The hope is that the Commission reconsiders their view and realizes how important it is for them to act.”
Greece has granted several offshore oil and gas concessions recently, mostly in the Hellenic Trench, an area of the Mediterranean Sea that’s a key habitat for many endangered marine mammals, including sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris). The concessions also lie near several Natura 2000 sites, a large network of marine protected areas. That’s according to a 2023 complaint filed with the European Commission by ClientEarth, WWF Greece and Greenpeace Greece.
Currently, the oil companies have been carrying out seismic surveys in the region, aimed at verifying the existence of oil and gas, Malleto told Mongabay by phone.
The NGOs’ complaint alleges that the Greek government has issued offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation permits without “appropriate assessments” of their impacts on marine biodiversity and the Natura 2000 sites in the area. This is in violation of EU laws, the complaint notes.
The NGOs first approached Greek national courts, but “the Greek council of state basically said that everything was fine,” Malleto said. “When national remedies are exhausted, the only way for us is to go to the European Commission, which as guardian of the EU treaties has to take action to make sure that EU law is respected in member states.”
However, the Commission in its response on Aug. 20 said EU laws don’t apply to seismic research activities where there hasn’t been any drilling or “alterations to the physical aspect of a site.” The Commission added that it intends to close the complaint, although it gave the NGOs four weeks to provide additional information.
The NGOs responded on Sept. 20 to the letter, arguing that noise from seismic surveys does physically alter a site. Moreover, the letter says the Commission had focused on a very narrow aspect of their complaint. Their concerns apply to all phases of oil and gas production, from exploration and drilling to storage and transportation of the hydrocarbons. Under EU laws, all these processes are required to undergo comprehensive and scientifically sound impact assessments.
Banner image of sperm whale by Gabriel Barathieu via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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