Energy is a crucial issue and will become increasingly so, just think of
the developments in artificial intelligence, or more simply the fact
that every aspect of our lives needs energy. The wars in Ukraine and
Gaza have confirmed the geopolitical interests for dominance in this
sector, because whoever dominates energy dominates the world. This is
demonstrated by the two global superpowers: China is a world leader in
renewable energy and, above all, controls the entire supply chain, from
raw materials to chips; In just a few years, the United States has
transformed itself into an oil and gas exporting country thanks to the
controversial technique of fracking. And on the other hand, the
historical assumption on which the industry is based is this: those who
produce the energy almost never own it. This is even more true in
Sicily. In fact, our region is the pivot of national policies that
intend to make Italy the energy hub, that is, a system in which the
State imports every type of energy from Africa - from hydrogen to raw
materials useful for biofuels , from gas to renewables - and then export
it to Northern Europe through Sicily, which acts as a real bridge.
In this scenario, the prospect of differentiated autonomy will
strengthen this colonial model. Italian energy is still based
predominantly on fossil fuels. And the equation is clear: the more
fossil fuels we use, the more we import, considering that there are few
of them in Italy, as the history of Enrico Mattei and Eni also teaches
us, which becomes a global power only when it expands into Africa and in
the Middle East. It was true for oil, it was true for gas, it was true
even more for LNG, liquefied natural gas, which is only export gas and
typically travels via ships. Just in the last few days a historic
overtaking took place: for the first time in Italy the gas arriving by
ship surpassed the gas arriving through gas pipelines. The most obvious
consequence is in the price: if for gas via pipelines the price is
usually established through long-term contracts, for gas via ships the
price is linked to market fluctuations. But there's more. In Italy, in
the energy field, differentiated autonomy has theoretically already been
in place for more than 20 years.
When the constitutional reform was sanctioned in 2001 which
theoretically proposed, in a federalist key, to give more powers to the
Regions, it was established that the matter of energy would be placed
under "concurrent legislative power", i.e. production, transport and the
national distribution of energy, according to the new art.117 of the
Constitution, would have been entrusted to the State for the principle
regulations and to the Regions for the detailed regulations. In reality,
on such a crucial issue, the State has never guaranteed room for
maneuver to the Regions, imposing on them the infrastructures it deemed
necessary. We saw it, for example, in Sicily, when in 2004 in six months
the GreenStream gas pipeline was installed in Gela which brought gas to
Sicily from Libya, ruled by Gaddafi who was a friend of the Berlusconi
government. However, in these 20 years not a drop of that gas has
remained on the island, because this gas was brought to the industries
of Northern Italy through the Snam national distribution network. And
this is what we are also seeing currently: the desire to no longer
depend on Russian gas, defined as "ugly and bad" because it comes from
that bloodthirsty dictator Putin, has been accompanied by the
replacement of that gas with other gas coming from other equally
authoritarians, from Qatar to Algeria, from Egypt to Azerbaijan. This
"new" gas, as we have seen, travels mainly by ship. This is why the aim
of the Meloni government is to build a regasification terminal in Porto
Empedocle (and another in Gioia Tauro), after having installed one in
Piombino in 2023 in record time and another shortly in Ravenna.
According to the study "The state of gas", carried out by the ECCO
climate research centre, the current infrastructure allows the safety
requirements to be met for scenarios aligned with climate objectives. In
no case would further gas infrastructure contribute in a useful way to
the Italian and European energy system. The terminals in Gioia Tauro and
Porto Empedocle, assessed as "strategic and urgent" by the Energy
Security law decree, are in fact not used in any scenario either to
cover demand or to free up volumes to be exported abroad. In the
meantime, however, the Argo-Cassiopea gas pipeline, also owned by Eni,
will be finished this year and this gas will also not remain in Sicily.
The municipalities involved - Gela, Licata and Porto Empedocle - were
satisfied with the royalties. And Mazara del Vallo seems to want to do
the same, where the Transmed gas pipeline from Algeria has existed since
the 1970s, which from 2022 has become the most important energy
infrastructure in Italy given that a third of the gas consumed in
national level. An identical, if not worse, scenario looms with the
invasion of photovoltaic and wind power plants of which our island is
the victim: in 2023 more than half of the photovoltaic projects at
national level were authorized in Sicily.
And so, faced with such a scenario, the perspective must be reversed.
The energy assault by the state and multinationals, which would probably
be strengthened with differentiated autonomy, must turn into an occasion
for conflict. Placing on the one hand the redistribution of energy
towards the territories that produce it and, on the other, demanding the
elimination of electricity and gas bills. If Sicily already has, and
will increasingly have, a central role in the production of energy for
the whole of Italy, then the island must be guaranteed the best and most
adequate conditions so that we can move from exploitation to valorisation.
Andrea Turco
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
the developments in artificial intelligence, or more simply the fact
that every aspect of our lives needs energy. The wars in Ukraine and
Gaza have confirmed the geopolitical interests for dominance in this
sector, because whoever dominates energy dominates the world. This is
demonstrated by the two global superpowers: China is a world leader in
renewable energy and, above all, controls the entire supply chain, from
raw materials to chips; In just a few years, the United States has
transformed itself into an oil and gas exporting country thanks to the
controversial technique of fracking. And on the other hand, the
historical assumption on which the industry is based is this: those who
produce the energy almost never own it. This is even more true in
Sicily. In fact, our region is the pivot of national policies that
intend to make Italy the energy hub, that is, a system in which the
State imports every type of energy from Africa - from hydrogen to raw
materials useful for biofuels , from gas to renewables - and then export
it to Northern Europe through Sicily, which acts as a real bridge.
In this scenario, the prospect of differentiated autonomy will
strengthen this colonial model. Italian energy is still based
predominantly on fossil fuels. And the equation is clear: the more
fossil fuels we use, the more we import, considering that there are few
of them in Italy, as the history of Enrico Mattei and Eni also teaches
us, which becomes a global power only when it expands into Africa and in
the Middle East. It was true for oil, it was true for gas, it was true
even more for LNG, liquefied natural gas, which is only export gas and
typically travels via ships. Just in the last few days a historic
overtaking took place: for the first time in Italy the gas arriving by
ship surpassed the gas arriving through gas pipelines. The most obvious
consequence is in the price: if for gas via pipelines the price is
usually established through long-term contracts, for gas via ships the
price is linked to market fluctuations. But there's more. In Italy, in
the energy field, differentiated autonomy has theoretically already been
in place for more than 20 years.
When the constitutional reform was sanctioned in 2001 which
theoretically proposed, in a federalist key, to give more powers to the
Regions, it was established that the matter of energy would be placed
under "concurrent legislative power", i.e. production, transport and the
national distribution of energy, according to the new art.117 of the
Constitution, would have been entrusted to the State for the principle
regulations and to the Regions for the detailed regulations. In reality,
on such a crucial issue, the State has never guaranteed room for
maneuver to the Regions, imposing on them the infrastructures it deemed
necessary. We saw it, for example, in Sicily, when in 2004 in six months
the GreenStream gas pipeline was installed in Gela which brought gas to
Sicily from Libya, ruled by Gaddafi who was a friend of the Berlusconi
government. However, in these 20 years not a drop of that gas has
remained on the island, because this gas was brought to the industries
of Northern Italy through the Snam national distribution network. And
this is what we are also seeing currently: the desire to no longer
depend on Russian gas, defined as "ugly and bad" because it comes from
that bloodthirsty dictator Putin, has been accompanied by the
replacement of that gas with other gas coming from other equally
authoritarians, from Qatar to Algeria, from Egypt to Azerbaijan. This
"new" gas, as we have seen, travels mainly by ship. This is why the aim
of the Meloni government is to build a regasification terminal in Porto
Empedocle (and another in Gioia Tauro), after having installed one in
Piombino in 2023 in record time and another shortly in Ravenna.
According to the study "The state of gas", carried out by the ECCO
climate research centre, the current infrastructure allows the safety
requirements to be met for scenarios aligned with climate objectives. In
no case would further gas infrastructure contribute in a useful way to
the Italian and European energy system. The terminals in Gioia Tauro and
Porto Empedocle, assessed as "strategic and urgent" by the Energy
Security law decree, are in fact not used in any scenario either to
cover demand or to free up volumes to be exported abroad. In the
meantime, however, the Argo-Cassiopea gas pipeline, also owned by Eni,
will be finished this year and this gas will also not remain in Sicily.
The municipalities involved - Gela, Licata and Porto Empedocle - were
satisfied with the royalties. And Mazara del Vallo seems to want to do
the same, where the Transmed gas pipeline from Algeria has existed since
the 1970s, which from 2022 has become the most important energy
infrastructure in Italy given that a third of the gas consumed in
national level. An identical, if not worse, scenario looms with the
invasion of photovoltaic and wind power plants of which our island is
the victim: in 2023 more than half of the photovoltaic projects at
national level were authorized in Sicily.
And so, faced with such a scenario, the perspective must be reversed.
The energy assault by the state and multinationals, which would probably
be strengthened with differentiated autonomy, must turn into an occasion
for conflict. Placing on the one hand the redistribution of energy
towards the territories that produce it and, on the other, demanding the
elimination of electricity and gas bills. If Sicily already has, and
will increasingly have, a central role in the production of energy for
the whole of Italy, then the island must be guaranteed the best and most
adequate conditions so that we can move from exploitation to valorisation.
Andrea Turco
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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