On March 31 last year, a region in northern Spain quietly granted a concession of land, dubbed Arquetu, for natural gas exploration.

In Cantabria, the Arquetu traditionally was known as a mythological traveler who carries a coffer full of gold coins and lives an extremely simple lifestyle. Having disappeared from Cantabria’s folklore, now the Arquetu is back. Again, he is foreign, and bears riches, but this time he is surrounded by controversy.

Trofagas, which is owned by the California-based BNK Petroleum, was awarded the six-year concession of 24,876 hectares (61,470 acres) by the regional Government of Cantabria. In the new Arquetu territory, Trofagas will drill at least four wells to search for unconventional natural gas using hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking.’

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