At least 3,500 healthy olive trees earned and a significant brake on the rush of gas prices which threatens to bring our businesses to their knees and therefore the GDP race already in 2022. Once the work is completed, there is nothing better than the facts to disprove those professionals of the “no to great works” who have been looking for years to hinder the construction of the Tap and of the interventions connected to this, shouting outrage to the environment and to the Apulian landscape. The opportunity to come to terms with nature (and with its pretended standard bearers) is offered by the communication with which Snam announced the end of the olive tree replanting works on the Melendugno-Brindisi pipeline section. It is one of the structures serving the “Trans Adriatic Pipeline”, precisely the “Tap”, which was built to connect Italy with the gigantic gas reserves of the Caspian Sea, alleviating the European Union’s dependence on Russian fields. . But we do not leave the “sown”, and go back to the olive trees. The data released by the company led by Marco Alverà leave room for few doubts: the healthy trees planted along the pipeline that crosses the subsoil of the provinces of Lecce and Brindisi were 2,564, to which must be added the more than 900 specimens restored by the Tap consortium in the section of its competence. In all, more than 3,500 healthy olive trees.
A rediscovered treasure for Puglia and its oil supply chain, also made up of small and very small entrepreneurs proud of their “green gold”. All new plants are in fact of cultivars resistant to Xylella Fastidiosa. In short, the bacterium that destroyed the previous tree structures and that still rages in the Region can now be fought more effectively. All to the benefit of the beauty of the Apulian landscape, therefore of its tourism, and of a country like Italy very far from producing the quantity of oil that families and the “Horeca” sector, that is the set of restaurants, would need. and hotels. But let’s make a brief summary of the history of the olive trees of Salento: at the start of the works of the Tap the “plague of olive trees” was already destroying a large number of plants even along the route of the work. At the disposal of the local authorities in charge, these trees were then felled, paying compensation to the owners. To these same Snam he then proposed the replanting of new olive trees of the Leccino and FS17 Favolosa varieties, the only ones authorized in Puglia for this purpose and resistant to the killer bacterium. In short, after years of efforts to save production, Salento has been helped to reconstitute its agronomic heritage precisely by the groups against which the No-Taps have hurled themselves. With a further paradox, because – according to the technicians – among the original trees that have been saved, including the monumental ones, often the ones that have been removed to allow the excavation of the pipeline and placed in areas protected by sheets have often suffered the least. insect repellent pending replanting. Now just completed.
A story that olive trees that should make you think and that fits into reforestation work (over a million trees in 10 years) carried out in Italy by Snam which, together with the Cdp Foundation, has also already created an ad hoc company: Arbolia. To grow, our country needs efficient infrastructures: the TAP, wrote Il Sole 24 Ore recently, has reduced the flame of gas prices by 10%. Without methane pipelines, we add, Alverà would not be able to win the challenge of transforming Italy into the European hydrogen hub and contributing to the goal of zero emissions. Another goal very dear to the followers of Greta Thunberg.
The myth tells that Poseidon and Athena challenged each other for domination over Attica and that the goddess of Wisdom won the favor of the Greeks, making them discover the majesty of the olive tree and its fruits. From which moment the city of Athens arose, a symbol of the culture and progress of the ancient world. So let’s try, at least out of respect for those who preceded us and those who will follow us, not to be too short-sighted today about this really means one environmentally friendly development.
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