“The questions are uncomfortable, and the truth of the facts burns”

What are your main concerns over the granting of gas and oil exploration rights to the Spanish company Repsol YPF and the German group RWE Dew?

Mendes Bota: I need to know the exact contractual terms before I can answer that totally, but Secretary of State Henrique Gomes (and Algarvians will do well not to forget that name) has announced that he managed to negotiate much better compensation for the State than the fuel companies had been proposing. One thing is certain: we’re tied by the legs now to these fuel giants with a contract that could extend for another 55 years – and the tactics of this whole campaign altered over the last couple of years.

Instead of talking about crude oil, the talk turned to “natural gas” – as if it was a commodity that held no risks to the environment. With this honey-tongued approach, the fuel companies have got precisely what they wanted. As far as I am concerned, this whole story is about CRUDE OIL MASKED BY GAS!

Do you think there could be environmental consequences for the Algarve? Long-term couldn’t this kind of exploration bring the region benefits?

MB: There has been no environmental impact study to guarantee that in the case of an accident the coastal Algarve – and particularly the natural reserve of Ria Formosa – would escape unharmed. Do we really need more examples of what happened in the Gulf of Mexico not so long ago?! And look at what’s happening in front of Vila do Conde and Póvoa do Varzim – where oil prospecting has called a halt to local fishing for months! What’s to say that the Algarve won’t eventually be turned into a huge drilling field?

What I consider most amazing though is that at a time when the world is trying to base its economies on clean, sustainable forms of renewable energies (to substitute fossil fuels whose harmful effects on the planet are plain to see), Portugal has embarked on a counter-cycle by getting into bed with the oil producing club – without securing any preferential rights or even prices when it comes to buying the fuel. The natural gas or petroleum that is extracted will belong to the concessionary companies, and if we want to buy it we’ll have to pay market prices! The oil lobby worked its story out to a tee. We’ve been suckered!

How do you imagine an oil and gas industry could work alongside tourism – our principal source of income in the Algarve?

MB: Speculation and the thought of property-related perks seem to have motivated certain borough councils. There’s a whole war going on in the background over where deposits for the natural gas should be sited. It’s incredible that anyone with responsibilities could believe that gigantic fuel deposits could possibly be compatible with the Algarve’s golden beaches! Other than the few fortunate landowners who’ll get the deposits on their property – and the municipal tax benefits that ensue - does anyone imagine that Algarvians will get to work on the oil rigs? Or that they’ll be a plethora of jobs on-shore? What will the Algarve get in return? We all know the answer to that: NOTHING!

Talking of prospection rights, what are your thoughts on the threat of open-cast mining for feldspar within the unspoilt countryside of Monchique?

Monchique is one of the Algarve’s richest areas when it comes to culture and the environment. The country may well be on the verge of financial ruin – but crises come and go. Heritage sites, once destroyed, are gone forever. The country may be facing financial ruin, but there are other solutions before the need to disembowel Monchique!