With Resolution no. 569 of 20 May 2024, the Veneto Regional Council, at the request of the Milano Infrastrutture company, took over the EIA procedure regarding the construction of the new Cortina – Socrepes cable car, with a maximum capacity of 2,400 people/hour, departure station in the locality Apollonio and arrival station in Socrepes. The intervention is included in the overall plan of the 2026 Olympic works, Annex 1, “Proposal for a public-private partnership for a new integrated intermodal mobility system in the Municipality of Cortina d’Ampezzo”.
The competence for the EIA, by law, would have fallen to the province of Belluno, but making use of the articles. 16 and 4, paragraph 2, letter. b) of LR 18 February 2016, n. 4 and by identifying the work as “of pre-eminent regional interest”, the transfer of responsibility to the Region was possible.
Everything is OK? Apparently yes.
However, we wonder why this procedure was not also adopted for the structures built for the 2021 World Ski Championships (e.g. the new Cortina-Col Druscié cable car), which were evaluated at the provincial level, despite being equally strategic for the organization of competitions.
Given the time constraints, there was perhaps a fear that the Province would drag out the process and place annoying obstacles in the way of approval. In fact, already during the preliminary Services Conference, hydrogeological critical issues emerged, given that some pylons, the Mortisa intermediate station and the arrival station at Socrepes are designed on a highly unstable slope (risk class L2 and L3): all Cortina are well aware of the progressive sliding of the Lacedel-Meleres landslide, which is increasingly evident, even to the naked eye.
Taking all this into account, we hope that the environmental assessments at the regional level are carried out with the utmost rigor and without being subjected to interferences and considerations that have nothing to do with safety and respect for the environment and the territory.
Coordination of environmentalist associations in the Alto Belluno area
