Jp Morgan, wind farm landing on the Gulf of Angels | L'Unione Sarda
The approach is always the same: benefactors landed in Sardinia to bring wealth and prosperity, work and money. They even play victims, in their tone of voice and in their words: "No one wants to receive us" - says JP Morgan's correspondent in the archaeological capital of the Gulf of Angels. In Pula, a tourist excellence on the coast raped by the Saras chimneys, the owners of Renantis, the bankers of the powerful JP Morgan, the largest investment bank in the world, all "in love" with the wind slot machine, sent it in advance. Sardinian.
Jp Morgan's "Sardinian".
The Milanese inflection dominates the Sardinian surname, Fabrizio Puddu from Oristano. He doesn't hide it: "our company belongs to a JP Morgan fund and we are currently merging with another company." He, with the excuse of the Sardinian registry office, would like to convince other Sardinians, the Mayor of Pula, the majority and minority of the coastal municipality, of the validity of the "American" project. The words are salacious to the bitter end, almost a devotion to the Mayor of Pula, Walter Cabasino. In reality he doesn't know what awaits him. He says it openly: "The administrators don't even want to talk to us." In Pula, however, they give him the floor, out of education and institutional etiquette. The pace, however, is shaky, if only because the project to be presented to the administrators of the coastal center is the exact opposite of what they would like you to believe.
«Here, in front of you»
The first confession is without appeal, a condemnation even before starting. The minutes record the words without hesitation: «Our company is working towards the construction of six offshore floating wind farms in Italy». The communication disaster occurs immediately after the premise: «These parks are two in Puglia, one in Calabria and two in Sardinia. Nora one and Nora two. In short, here in front of you, essentially." The room, already cold in the face of a project that no one here wants, turns to ice. If the "Sardinian-Italian-American" diplomacy wanted to try to ease relations with the financiers of the wind, that statement, "here in front of you, essentially", "buries" all hope forever.
An identical email was sent to numerous schools across Italy: students in public squares from Cagliari to Sassari. Crosetto: "Strategy, but there are also idiots and mythomaniacs."
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Jp Morgan, wind farm landing on the Gulf of Angels
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John Lorenzo Porra
Elephant to Nora
Dead and buried, given that even the name of the two projects, «Nora 1 and Nora 2», soon takes on the appearance of an elephantine walk in a glassware shop of history and nature. In short, the symbol of the ancient Phoenician city, a lush tourist attraction of southern Sardinia, transformed in the blink of an eye into a horrendous wind turbine ruin, with the "floating planting" of 93 blades of 15 megawatts each right in front of the Tower of Nora .
93 Eiffel Towers
The correspondent of the investment bank alternates flashes of sincerity, with statements that not even the most galloping imagination could hypothesize: «I won't hide from you that these blades are as tall as the Eiffel Tower, (324 meters ed.) positioned, however, at a distance minimum from the coast of twenty kilometers from the first row of wind turbines, in the case of Pula". According to JP Morgan's algorithms, those cyclopean blades will not be seen from the coast. In reality they all say this, almost as if they had agreed. Even for the "fans" in front of the Nuragic Palace of Barumini or those in front of the Basilica of Saccargia, the Redentore of Nuoro or Mont'Albo of Lula - according to the billionaire state incentive recipients - there is no problem: rest assured they do not see each other.
Nothing is true
Obviously, none of this is true: those blades can certainly be seen, as stated by the visibility studies themselves, attached, perhaps by mistake, to various offshore wind projects. Let alone in that breathtaking scenery in front of the exclusive Nora bay or on the proscenium of the "starry" Forte Village, in Cala Zafferano or on the Tuerredda beach in Teulada. Marine horizon defaced, without appeal, navigability prohibited, goodbye to regattas and circumnavigation of the island, no fishing, everyone out of those sea areas.
Fishing boatsout
The Yankee envoy already speaks as master of the sea and announces the bans. More than a presenter of wind power projects, he has the appearance of a high-seas sheriff: «Professional fishing is prohibited, fishermen with fishing boats, trawl nets... etc. etc.... cannot enter for the simple reason that they can hook the cable, and they ruin everything, basically. At the edge of the park obviously yes, but only an amateur fisherman can enter the shovels, so to speak, they can do it easily."
Line fishing
The story is "idyllic", almost "romantic", complete with a fisherman armed with rod, line and boat in the midst of that "relaxing rotation of blades" waiting for the happy catch. In short, cheap fairy tales. The ban for professional fishermen is exhaustive, without appeal: everyone out, don't touch the cable. And it is precisely on that ground connection of the "electric current" produced by the American wind in the Sardinian sea that yet another diplomatic slip-up takes place. The dossier reads: clash declared between JP Morgan and the oil giant still owned by Moratti. The spokesperson for the wind bankers says it in “camera caritatis”: «Saras is about to become, if it isn't already, one of our competitors in renewables. Once a park is authorized, however, it takes three-four years for its construction. It's not like Saras is closing the refinery out of the blue, in any case it will be one of our competitors in the near future, so it's obvious that they too have raised their concerns, of course. We meet everyone as you have understood. However, they never wanted to meet us."
Door in the face between neighbors
A sort of door slammed in his face by the oil "next door", given that even the Morattis, here, in the Gulf of Angels, have always considered themselves masters of the house, if only for the environmental havoc that was allowed to them. In the American landing in Nora, however, the traditional chapter of phantasmagorical promises is not even missing, complete with Apulian steel and Sardinian labour.
The Port of Shovels
The man from Renantis says: «A very large quantity of steel will be needed. In Italy we have Ilva, the steel would be produced in Taranto, loaded onto Fincantieri ships and taken to Sardinia. The semi-finished blades, made of steel, are brought to the island and assembled in a port that we are choosing. There is an important and advanced project in the port of Oristano. The blades, probably, that is, almost certainly, will be assembled at the port of Oristano and from there, then transported to the site. Around 400 jobs, and we are talking about workers or specialists paid rather well, I would say." In short, they do and undo as they please, choose ports and decide in other people's homes how to manage development and infrastructure.
Amazing work
If for the Port of Oristano there are 400 cheap "promises" of jobs, for Nora's stage the "amazing" promises are quadrupled: «Every park – says the man sent by the Americans to the astonished audience of administrators - generates 1200 temporary jobs, where by temporary we mean the three years for the construction of the park and another 300 from the moment the park goes into operation. Another 300 permanent jobs let's say. For the duration of the park. A wind farm of this type lasts 30 to 35 years." Work for everyone, therefore, as if every wind turbine were an employment office of ancient memory. If the promises of "jobs" are not saved, for everyone and more, the answer on "discounted" or "free" electricity ” makes JP Morgan's safes harden in a flash.
Energy discounts? We do not
The answer is from acrobats who suffer from vertigo. They look for support from Saras' potential "neighbors": «The population tells us: but what are you giving us? The theme is: we have Saras and petrol costs more in Sardinia than in the rest of Italy, the same is true for electricity. The question is always the same: do you give us free energy? do you give us discounted energy? The answer is: we produce energy, but we don't distribute it. It is a very very important substantial difference." In short, "they", the Americans of JP Morgan, earn plenty with "our" sea and "our" wind, but they don't want to hear about "discounts" for electricity. The American in Sardinian sauce, however, does not give up the virtual image of the rotating dollars, as if the sea of Nora, the ancient history and its unique and exclusive landscape, were barterable in exchange for perks and funding for village festivals. The "generous" expression of the JP Morgan correspondent is engraved in the report: "We, however, are about to talk about the refreshments calmly."
The Mayor's NO
Walter Cabasino, Mayor of Pula, a doctor of all people, has innate Anglo-Saxon phlegm, a gentleman with a straight back. America's messenger let him speak with the aplomb of someone preparing to explain how life works in these parts. The coastal mayor is tactfully frank: «As I have already told you and repeated: we, as a territory, have already expressed our opposition to this type of project. Anyone who wants to move forward with these plans must know that they will not be welcome in our area."
«We have already given»
Non-ideological opposition, but reasoned and explained: «Sardinia and we have already given a lot in terms of servitude, we have military ranges, heavy industries that others did not want. The Island has already given too much, both to the national and international communities. In the workplace, I would like to tell you that we are used to and burned by atavistic promises, expectations that have remained largely unfulfilled. We have made clear and clear choices for our territory, for us the environment, landscape, history and culture are indispensable strong points in our development strategy. We do not intend to question it or put it at risk for any reason." Loud and clear message: you are not welcome, the Gulf of Angels cannot be touched.
