L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano S i n c e t h e b e g i n - ning of the war in U k r a i n e , t h e energy issue has b e e n o n e o f t h e m o s t d e b a t e d i n E u r o p e : with large countries almost fully dependent on Russian s o u r c e s , f e a r s f o r r i s i n g p r i c e s a n d t h e p o t e n t i a l b l o c k o f R u s s i a n e n e r g y imports run high. We are now facing a diffi- c u l t w i n t e r i n I t a l y , w i t h both oil and gas more expen- s i v e t h a n t h e y h a v e e v e r been, forcing many a family to acknowledge the risk of spending the coming season in a cold home. The south- e r n I t a l i a n r e g i o n o f Basilicata, however, found a solution to help all its resi- dents: it will pay for their winter gas supply. The pub- lic was informed of it at the end of August. This beautiful area of our South is known especially for Matera, which has been the cultural capital of Europe and Italy, and its beautiful sea: however, on this occasion, it becomes an example of institutional sup- port to its citizenship during a very difficult economic and psychological moment. Let's look at the initiative in more detail. The region's p r e s i d e n t , V i t o B a r d i , signed a law ensuring the "free supply, via reimburse- ment, of the 'energy' compo- n e n t o f g a s p r i c e s w h e n acquired for domestic use by residents of the Basilicata region, by regional public administrations, except eco- nomic public entities and subsidiary companies, and by local regional entities." W h a t d o e s t h i s m e a n e x a c t l y ? I f y o u a r e a B a s i l i c a t a r e s i d e n t , t h e region will reimburse the price of the energy on your bill, which means you will still have to pay transport and taxes. Still, it's a good chunk of that bill off, with estimates showing it could be cut in a half. It is an ideal solution, one that, however, h a s b e e n t a k e n o n l y b y Basilicata, and for a very p r e c i s e r e a s o n : t h e region has gas in its under- g r o u n d . T h e R e g i o n e Basilicata reached an agree- ment with the societies – E N I , T o t a l a n d S h e l l - e x t r a c t i n g g a s i n t h e V a l d'Agri, an area between the provinces of Potenza and M a t e r a ; w i t h y e a r l y g a s extractions from the valley reaching 200 million cubic meters, and a regional con- s u m p t i o n o f 1 6 0 m i l l i o n cubic meters, the project seems to have margins to ensure local needs are met. In other words, there is gas for everyone and the region can afford to give it away for f r e e . T h e a g r e e m e n t w a s s i g n e d o n t h e 2 3 r d o f August. The good thing is that you can benefit from the initia- tive even if you don't use gas to keep your home warm because financial support is also granted for the installa- tion of photovoltaic systems to produce electricity and solar panels to produce hot water. Full reimbursement will take place up to a total expenditure of 5,000 euro (5,000 USD). President Bardi explained better what the agreement i n v o l v e s t o t h e p e o p l e of Potenza News: "It's a project still in divenire but there are some established points already, which allow us to state free supply can start in October this year. I h a v e m a d e t h i s r e q u e s t d i r e c t l y E N I ' s C E O , D e S c a l z i , w h o m I t h a n k f o r having accepted and sup- ported the idea. Finding an agreement of this kind isn't always simple." ENI started extracting gas from the Val d'Agri in the 1990s and it o w n s t o d a y 6 1 % o f t h e regional extracting plants. As briefly mentioned, the project is possible because Basilicata has gas deposits within its territory and they are not small: in fact, the region boasts the largest gas d e p o s i t s i n c o n t i n e n t a l Europe, something no other area of Italy can say. This is why, unfortunately, the same project cannot be applied everywhere. T h e i n i t i a t i v e h a s b e e n praised and appreciated not only by Basilicata's citizens but also by people from other p a r t s o f I t a l y , w h o w o u l d approve if a similar project were to be implemented in t h e i r o w n a r e a ; h o w e v e r , there's also been some criti- cism from environmentalists, who have long criticized the intensive use of Basilicata's gas deposits. Legambiente, Italy's most important asso- ciation for the protection of the environment, declared to Il Corriere that "Avoiding with such stubbornness the road of sustainable energy and energy efficiency means getting stuck in the era of fossil fuel, that is, in a time of conflicts, energy insecurity, u n s u s t a i n a b l e c o s t s , a n d e n v i r o n m e n t a l d i s a s t e r s . This is particularly true in Basilicata – Legambiente concludes – where compa- nies of the sector became greedy because of the large profit they have been mak- ing." Regional president Vito Bardi, however, does not agree. During the press con- ference to present the pro- ject, Bardi was adamant that the agreement is, in fact, an important step toward envi- ronmental sustainability: "We'll try to avoid waste and we'll calculate the average g a s c o n s u m p t i o n o f e a c h familiar nucleus based on d a t a f r o m t h e p a s t t h r e e years. This agreement does aim to facilitate energy tran- sition and wants to fight the ongoing depopulation of our region." CHIARA D'ALESSIO People walking the streets of Matera, in Basilicata (Photo: Wieslaw Jarek/Dreamstime) Basilicata, the region that gives free gas to its residents ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES

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