|
|
Enron Mail |
Fiona Grant mentioned to me that you will be speaking at the Eurelectric
meeting in Madrid on Monday and we thought that you might therefore be interested to see the attached note summarising the current PR situation with respect to our power plant developments in Spain. FYI Greenpeace is lobbying the Spanish Government heavily over the next few days in advance of the Bush visit - according to its website, will be calling for the Spanish Government to prohibit the development of power plants by US companies in protest at his policy on Kyoto. -----Original Message----- From: Green, Julie Sent: 08 June 2001 13:40 To: Sherriff, John; Brown, Michael - COO London; Gentilini, Mariano; Shaw, Eric; Soneira, Ignacio; Gentle, Jackie Subject: Arcos/Tordesillas demonstrations This Sunday sees the demonstration in Arcos opposing the development of CCGTs in the region. It is difficult to estimate likely turnout at the event - however the opposition Platform has been placing ads and has organised several buses from outside villages. We are in contact with the Arcos Town Hall to see if they will be issuing official attendance numbers in advance of the opposition group, which can be sure to distort numbers. Our PR consultant is in contact today with local media and will be in Arcos at the weekend to gauge the mood - if the demonstration does not attract many supporters, we will not comment publicly. However, we will assess the situation on Sunday, and if there is a very large turnout, we may set up some interviews for Ignacio Soneira during the afternoon with local press and radio. These interviews will be used to communicate that: Enron continues to believe in the positive benefits of the project for the region; the project has been subject to extensive public consultation; we have obtained our Environmental Impact Declaration and a large number of other permits; different opinions are to be welcomed in a democracy, and in fact the project does have support from many parts of the local community. It is important to note that local politicians are setting great store by the success or otherwise of this weekend's demonstration - one key factor will be the ratio of Arcos residents present versus outsiders. We will be continuing with our ongoing PR activities - adverts, presentations, sponsorships, interviews etc - next week, so that we are not seen to be backing off from the project following the demonstration. Some local politicians are predicting that the level of turnout may in the end depend on the weather. Tordesillas The demonstration which took place a few days ago in Tordesillas did attract a large number of local people (in the thousands). The Tordesillas Mayor has now said that if local people are against the plant, then she too is against the project. Our media response on this issue is that the consultation process is ongoing and that the Environmental Impact Report is due out within the next few weeks. The demonstration and the Mayor's position has attracted substantial local press coverage - the obvious concern is that these latest developments get picked up by newswires (one energy publication has picked up on the situation) and spread through Spain to Arcos. Jackie Gentle and I will be visiting Tordesillas and Arcos next week to discuss the latest developments.
|