Balearic Islands in Spain vote to halt offshore prospecting for hydrocarbons

The regional government of the Balearic Islands off the east coast of Spain voted late Tuesday in favor of a proposal to ask the Spanish central government to modify the 1998 Hydrocarbon Law and to prohibit offshore exploration and drilling for hydrocarbons. The aim of the vote is to ensure no prospecting takes place which would affect protected zones or in areas where there are large number of tourists. Popular Party representative Miguel Jerez appealed for Spanish Congress to give their support to the decision taken in the islands. He said that further prospecting was "inadmissible and impossible to accept for the island economy, which depends to a large extent on the tourist industry, which attracts millions of foreign visitors every year."