Spain
OIL COMPANY WINS PERMIT TO DRILL OFF OF CANARY ISLANDS
08/18/2014
Update Volume
44
Update Issue
24

The Spanish government has given oil group Repsol the go-ahead to begin drilling in the Canary Islands. Repsol, which has long sought approval to tap what may be Spain’s most significant oil source, has been held up by environmental concerns and government delays for over a decade. Now, the industry ministry has granted the company a three-year license to drill in several sites off the coast of the archipelago. While the Spanish government states that its decision was backed by rigorous scientific research, the drilling project has been met with strong opposition.

SPANISH SUPREME COURT OPENS DOOR FOR DRILLING IN CANARY ISLANDS
06/30/2014
Update Volume
44
Update Issue
18

Last week, the Spanish Supreme Court rejected environmental appeals against oil drilling off the Canary Islands. Spain had granted exploration permits in the region in 2012, but they were put in hold due to environmental concerns. Now, the Supreme Court has opened the door for businesses such as Spanish oil company Repsol to move forward with exploration plans. The court’s decision angered islanders—who are concerned about the potential impacts on tourism—as well as environmentalists, who fear damage to the Canary Islands’ unique ecosystems.

SPANISH GOVERNMENT GETS BEHIND FRACKING
04/07/2014
Update Volume
44
Update Issue
10

Spain’s national government has opened the door to fracking even while regional and local authorities maintain opposition to oil and gas development. With a hurting economy and an unemployment rate of 26%, the government hopes to lessen what consumers pay for heating fuel—which currently stands at about triple the U.S. price. Over the past few months, the People’s Party-led government has changed a law in an effort to foster shale exploration and has sought to wrest control over land use from anti-fracking regional authorities.

ILLEGAL FUEL TAX IN SPAIN COULD COST THE COUNTRY BILLIONS
10/28/2013
Update Volume
43
Update Issue
30

A fuel tax in Spain could end up costing the Spanish government billions of euros. In 2003, Spain implemented a “health cent” tax on the sale of hydrocarbons in order to generate revenue to help finance healthcare spending. Last Thursday, Advocate General Nils Wahl, an adviser to the European Court of Justice, said that this tax is illegal because it does not comply with the regulations the EU sets on the levy of additional indirect taxes.

SPANISH FISHER IN BRITAIN RECEIVES RECORD BREAKING FINE
07/30/2012
Update Volume
42
Update Issue
21

A British judge ordered fines and penalties totaling a record-breaking $2.5 million against a Spanish fishing company, its British subsidiary, and two skippers for fishing illegally in UK waters. The company was accused of "flagrant, repeated and long-term abuse of the regulations" in endangering two vulnerable species, ling and hake, and damaging the livelihoods of local fishermen by putting cheaper fish on the market.

FRANCE AND SPAIN END BLUEFIN SEASON; US FINDS RADIOACTIVITY IN TUNA COMING FROM JAPAN
06/04/2012
Update Volume
42
Update Issue
16

France and Spain banned bluefin tuna fishing for the rest of the season after the industry exhausted its quota more quickly than anticipated. Vessels that use sonar to locate the fish have become so efficient that they can fill a season's quota in just 10 days, and the limit was reached within the first two weeks of this year's season. Small-scale fishing for the tuna, using hooks, nets, and traps, will be allowed to continue for the moment. In the Pacific, bluefin found off the coast of the United States carried radioactive contamination from Japan's crippled nuclear plant.

FISHING OBSERVERS FACE INTIMIDATION AND BRIBERY
05/21/2012
Update Volume
42
Update Issue
15

European fisheries observers on Portuguese and Spanish ships have been intimidated by crews, according to an investigation by the Guardian. There are independent observers on board every fishing vessel operating in the Northwest Atlantic Fishery Organisation, monitoring compliance with quotas for five months at a time. More than 20 current and former observers said they had been put under surveillance, deprived of sleep, had their official documentation stolen, and been threatened with being thrown overboard to hide overfishing.

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