The “Geothermal Committee” which unites 30 municipalities in Upper Tuscia, all affected by requests for the exploitation of geothermal resources, turns one year old. A pact of solidarity between mayors of different political orientations who share the belief that the health of the population is threatened by geothermal plants planned in the area.

During this year the mayors have acted, quietly but with commitment and in various ways. First of all, acquiring the knowledge necessary to be able to evaluate problems, then supporting the municipalities that presented legal appeals against the power plants, and also contributing to the drafting of the PER (Regional Energy Plan).

Finally, the municipalities turned to the National Civil Protection: on May 13, the mayors wrote a letter to the head of the National Civil Protection Department, Angelo Borrelli, with copies to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Economic Development, the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of the Interior, the President of the Major Risks Commission, the Presidents of the Lazio and Umbria Regions and the Prefect of Viterbo, along with various senators and deputies.

The aim of the letter was “to denounce the risk of earthquakes of significant magnitude and the corresponding potential for destruction triggered or caused by the development, drilling, extraction and re-injection of fluids into the hydrothermal system in the volcanic area of Vulsino, by the projects for the use of geothermal energy”.

The mayors urged the recipients “to implement every possible intervention to prevent risks and dangers, for the protection, safety and security of the communities and territories they administer”.

The response, on July 3, was not encouraging: the head of the National Civil Protection Angelo Borrelli raised doubts about the claims of the Geothermal Committee, minimising the issues of seismic risk as well as the direct responsibility of the Civil Protection Department regarding prevention.

The mayors did not lose heart. They sent another letter in response, denying the reassuring but superficial statements of the Civil Protection, and underlining that, contrary to Borrelli’s response, “one of the priorities of the Civil Protection is precisely the prevention of risks as sanctioned by the law establishing the National Civil Protection Service”.

Damage caused by the earthquake to a building in Wantzenau (Strasbourg)

An unexpected confirmation of the mayors’ point of view has come from France, from the urban area of Strasbourg, where work for the construction of a geothermal power plant has triggered a series of earthquakes, causing alarm among the inhabitants and minor material damage. It is a geothermal power plant similar to those planned for the Lake Bolsena area, in an area with similar geological conditions. There, on December 7, Josiane Chevalier (the Prefect of the Lower Rhine Department) ordered the permanent suspension of the geothermal works, carried out by the Fonroche company.

The Prefect refers explicitly to the precautionary principle and to the need to protect the population, stating that the project “can no longer adequately guarantee essential security”.

Chapeau, Madame Chevalier!

And here on the lake, what must happen before someone finds the courage to say NO to useless, expensive and harmful projects? Must we wait for serious, possibly disastrous damage? Do we have to get to the point where we, like the person in charge of Fonroche, regret “the unexpected and irrational reaction of the underground”?