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Costa Rica makes small step towards national referendum on oil, gas exploration

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(ICR Archive)

December 2nd, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has accepted a preliminary request towards a possible national public referendum that could potentially open the door to the exploration for oil and natural gas in the country by the State-owned Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE).

 

The request, which gained TSE approval on November 25th, was made by Carlos Roldan of the Costa Rica Institute of Technology’s Clean Energy Program, who believes the State should be able to extract oil and natural gas in areas that are not designated protected areas, so long as strict environmental standards are adhered to.

 

Roldan told Amelia Rueda that oil and natural gas exploration – which is currently prohibited by law and Executive Decree until 2021 – could save the country $1.5 billion USD per year and lower energy prices in the country, should such exploration prove successful.

 

A referendum on the issue isn’t guaranteed, however.  Juan Luis Rivera, legal counsel for the TSE, explained to Amelia Rueda that the request will now pass to the technical services department of the Legislative Assembly for consultation, feasibility studies, legal review, and perhaps most importantly, deciding exactly how the question used in a possible referendum would be worded to voters.

 

After passing through those hurdles, signatures representing at least 5% of the electorate (currently some 155,000) in support of a referendum would need to be collected.

 

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  • Yeims

    Most persons believe that governments are funded by their taxpayers. That’s the way it used to be, but now, most governments are in the business of making money for themselves. I would be against exploring for oil and natural gas because I don’t see how it would help the people all that much. CR discovering and producing its own oil and natural gas — most persons would say that would lower the price of those resources, but I start laughing just thinking about it. More likely is that the supply of those resources would be sketchy and off-schedule most of the time, and cost the public double or more. And it would not lower taxes, either, because the gov’t would take the position that they earned it and it is theirs.

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