FROM THE FIELDS, TO THE COURTS! The Local Councils taking their battle against shale gas to court

The fight for the exploration of shale gas is moving from the fields to the court rooms, as several local councils from the county of Vaslui have asked for the exploration of shale gas not to take place in their region.

There are currently 11 lawsuits filed by the local councils with the Court of Vaslui and which are intended to prevent the communes in question, Nicuşor Dan, the president of the "Save Bucharest" Association. The courts only ruled in favor of the local councils in one of the eleven lawsuits, claiming that there is no legislation for the exploration or the exploitation of shale gas, the president of the aforementioned association says.

The requests filed by the local council were challenged in court by the prefect of the county of Vaslui, who won ten out of the eleven lawsuits, Nicuşor Dan also said. He also explained that all of these lawsuits would go to the first appeal stage, and be tried by the Court of Appeal of Iaşi.

These are not the only lawsuits that concern the exploration or exploitation of shale gas in Romania, as four other NGOs are requesting in court the cancellation of the agreements between the ANRM and Chevron.

The Government wasn't "spared" either, after it was recently taken to court by the representatives of the Liman Commune (in the county of Constanţa) together with the National Agency for Mineral Resources and American company Chevron. The lawsuit was demanding the annulment of the act by which the American company was granted the lease for the exploration of shale gas in the Vama Veche region.

The associations that have taken the Government, Chevron and the National Agency for Mineral Resources to court are "Save Bucharest", "Euro-Agora", "România Dreaptă", "Greenpeace România" and "Pro Vulcan".

Also, the representatives of several NGOs in Romania claim that they will continue their fight against the exploitation of shale gas in Pungeşti, and they announced that in the coming period they will go to the area to join the people's protests.

On October 3rd, American company Chevron obtained the authorization of construction for the placement in Vaslui of the first well placed in Romania for the exploration of shale gas, after it received all the necessary permits from the authorities for prospecting the soil in the perimeter of Siliştea.