Thursday, May 23, 2024, 7:45 p.m.
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Miteco) has publicly blamed the Port Authority of Cartagena this Thursday for having exhausted the deadlines without adequately justifying and in accordance with national and European legislation the environmental and economic reasons that should lead the central government to authorize the construction of the El Gorguel merchandise dock. In addition, he blames him for having generated interference in the strategic environmental evaluation process of El Gorguel, proposed in 2010, until his project was knocked down at an environmental level. This, by promoting in 2022 the “alternative” of the expansion of Escombreras, the second in its history and which has been called Barlomar. The reason is that the regulations on the protection of the Natura 2000 Network force us to analyze the option with the lowest environmental impact and prevent El Gorguel, which would occupy more surface area in this cove near Portmán Bay (La Unión), from benefiting from the regime. exceptional of the European Union for projects of national interest.
«The fact that the promoter [el Puerto] propose a new infrastructure master plan for the development of the Escombreras Dock means that there is an alternative” to El Gorguel, the Ministry says in a statement. And he adds that this alternative “is already being evaluated and has more up-to-date information.” This, in addition, “prevents the application of the exceptional regime of article 46 of the aforementioned Law 42/2007.”
“For this reason, and given the failure to provide the results of the consultation to the European Commission, which has not been carried out, and because there is another alternative already being processed, the procedure for the El Gorguel dock is terminated,” he concludes. the Ministry.
The Port of Cartagena maintains that Barlomar is “complementary” to El Gorguel, that the consultation before the EU corresponds to Miteco and that the declaration of public interest corresponds to the Council of Ministers. But Ecological Transition, which avoids mentioning that the Port of Cartagena is attached to the Ministry of Transportation (directed by Óscar Puente) through State Ports, reaffirms its reasons.
As a result of LA VERDAD’s exclusive about shelving this project and the imposition of strict limits on the expansion of Escombreras, and given the strong controversy sparked by these decisions, the Ministry issued a statement this Thursday afternoon. In the note, released by the Secretary of State for the Environment, directed by Hugo Morán, Miteco insists on the arguments that it conveyed days ago to the Port of Cartagena, in the resolution where it terminates the strategic environmental evaluation of El Gorguel. In it, he recalls that one of the requirements to approve a project is to prove its convenience in the current situation of the Spanish port system. The expansions of the ports of Valencia and Algeciras may complicate the claims of the Port of Cartagena.
The Ministry headed by the third vice president of the Government Teresa Ribera (also a PSOE candidate for the European Parliament) defends its actions and comes to reject the accusations of the Port, the autonomous Government and local and state officials of PP and Vox of acting with criteria political and non-technical and to punish the Region of Murcia. Among other things, the regional president, Fernando López Miras, has requested an urgent meeting with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to discuss what he has described as a “disastrous decision” regarding the El Gorguel macroport.
Environmental veto in 2013
From the department of Ribera they remember that “the Master Plan was initiated by the Port Authority of Cartagena in 2010 and that, after several corrections, in 2013 it was confirmed that the Gorguel dock could affect the Natura 2000 Network, which is why it is necessary to establish of compensatory measures according to article 45 of Law 42/2007,” Miteco recalls.
Likewise, it adds that “the above requires a consultation with the European Commission and that it respond that there are ‘other compelling reasons of first-order public interest’ that justify the approval of the plan and give approval to the proposed compensatory measures; This is to ensure that the global coherence of the Natura 2000 Network is protected. In addition to this, there should be no alternative to the project.
According to the Ministry, the consultation with the community authorities “was never carried out or requested by the Port Authority until recently, when the closure of the file was close.” Source then when «the General Directorate of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of the Ministry, competent to submit the query to the Commission, confirmed that the documentation presented by the Port Authority is deficient; that it does not provide an agreement from the Council of Ministers” on the declaration of public utility of El Gorguel; and that there is evidence of a new alternative being processed, so the requirements are not met and they will not carry out the consultation.”
«In effect, there is another alternative and, in fact, in May 2022, the Port Authority of Cartagena requests the start of the ordinary strategic environmental assessment procedure of the ‘Infrastructure Master Plan of the Port of Cartagena for the development of the Escombreras dock. ‘”, points out Miteco. And he adds that it is “the plan that develops the Escombreras alternative as an alternative for the growth of the port of Cartagena.”
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