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Greenpeace Says No to Pipeline Through Zitny Ostrov
Thursday 11 February 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, February 11 (TASR) - Greenpeace Slovakia said on Thursday that it supports a petition called 'No to The Oil Pipeline Through Zitny Ostrov'.
[Zitny Ostrov is the most important natural drinking water reservoir in Slovakia - ed. note].
The petition is aimed at halting the construction of an oil pipeline between Slovakia and Austria through southern Slovakia. According to the environmentalists, the protection of natural drinking water reservoirs should be a priority for Slovakia. At the same time, they called on the Economy Ministry not to allow the construction of the pipeline in its current controversial form.
On February 8 (Monday), the organisers of the petition filed a request with the Interior Ministry to register a civil association of the same name. They plan to collect 100,000 signatures as soon as possible. According to petition committee chairman Miroslav Dragun, the association has also held talks with some parliamentary parties, which have promised their support, although he refused to say which parties are concerned.
After collecting enough signatures, the organisers intend to send the petition to Parliament, the Government, the president and the European Commission. The petition was launched on February 5 and is taking place throughout Slovakia.
"We can currently observe efforts to amend laws so that they don't block the pipeline construction. Slovakia's goal shouldn't be legislative amendments at the cost of environmental protection but the protection of the most important natural resource we have - drinking water," stated Katerina Ventusova from Greenpeace Slovakia.
"The original route of the pipeline in Slovakia was set to cross the territory of the protected area in Zitny Ostrov. In 2005 this plan was rejected based on an environmental impact assessment," said Ventusova. Slovakia has been looking for an alternative route, but the OMV refinery in Schwechat, Austria is allegedly still counting on the original route, planning to put the pipeline in operation in 2012," added Ventusova.
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