Oil and gas extraction vs environment and human health protection

In Italy’s Polesine region, plans to resume methane drilling threaten subsiding land between the Po River Delta and the Adriatic Sea. The Italian government has lifted the ban on gas exploration in this area that has been in force since 1961, and the scenario assumes new drilling in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Polesine. It sparks protests from residents, ecologists and local politicians who fear further collapse of their areas. In addition, its biodiversity is the highest in Italy: there are 400 species of birds, lagoons, and marshes.

The authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are planning new oil and gas drilling throughout the country. The 27 plots for sale are estimated to contain 22 billion barrels of oil. Drilling is limited to a small area along the Atlantic Ocean and in the ocean itself. But communities, human rights groups and environmentalist associations warn that drilling will harm the environment and population health. Moreover, more than 12 mining plots for sale are located in protected wild areas.

Shell plc is planning to leave Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, but communities in the region are demanding that the energy company clean up after itself before it leaves. Farmers say decades of oil exploration have destroyed farms, lakes and rivers, and fields are failing to produce crops. Oil spills caused by theft, vandalism and the company’s operational difficulties are also a problem. According to environmentalists, before withdrawing from Nigeria, Shell plc should ensure the safe dismantling of the infrastructure.