The second Services Conference on the hypothetical construction of a biomethane plant proposed by A2A and supported by the Municipality of Cremona has recently ended. The Province, having consulted the bodies involved who agreed, declared the additions presented by A2A insufficient to allow the examination and approval of the project and, pursuant to art. 27 of Legislative Decree 152/2006, if A2A wanted to persist in building the biomethane production plant, it would have to start the practices from the beginning.
From the new documentation it emerged that A2A had decided not to carry out the health impact assessment requested by ATS Val Padana, citing the non-mandatory nature of the document, therefore not guaranteeing the health safety of the plant. For this reason, and for many others, the Municipalities of Bonemerse, mayor Luca Ferrarini and Gerre de’ Caprioli, mayor Michel Marchihave filed a health refusal for construction.
“At present – declare the mayors Ferrarini and Marchi – it was not possible to ascertain that a plant like this, in the context in which it is hypothesized, was not harmful to health and the environment. We care too much about our citizens and our territory to indulge and bow to private interests without raising our voices.”
In addition to this, new observations were presented including a detailed legal opinion drawn up for the two Municipalities by the lawyer Cristina Mandellian expert in environmental matters, who found various causes preventing the continuation of the procedure and the issuing of the authorization provision.
“We are very happy – continue the two first citizens – with this result and with having been there from day one, as all our concerns have been taken up by the various bodies. It is encouraging to think that the verification procedures that regulate these areas can actually analyze the real situation and sometimes say a no, which is not the result of nimby syndrome, as they told us, but a motivated no aimed at protecting our communities, our health, for a true ecological transition far from speculative logic”.
The mayors of the two municipalities bordering Cremona rejoice, while the mayor of the capital remains silent, Gianluca Galimberti. and his deputy Andrew Virgil. An embarrassing and deafening silence, given that the plant is planned in the municipal area of Cremona, in the San Rocco area.
“Today’s services conference which rejected the project for the construction of the biomethane plant in the Po and Morbasco park, confirmed the reasons that we have shared since the beginning of this electoral campaign alongside the citizens, the mayors of Bonemerse and Gerre de Caprioli and of the BiometaNo committee. I would like to thank the mayors who courageously expressed their positions to protect their citizens; a collaborative relationship began with them which I hope to be able to continue and consolidate in the future. Furthermore, I thank the forces of the centre-right who in recent years have highlighted in the city council all the critical issues that the technicians have confirmed today – declares the candidate for mayor of the centre-right in Cremona Alessandro Portesani – . We welcome the rejection of this project, which however does not exclude A2A from presenting a new process. Today’s services conference itself was in fact limited to archiving the initial procedure because the additions, sent by the multiutility, had distorted the original project. A2A is in a position to present a new project which will in any case have to pass through the scrutiny of the interested Municipalities starting from the Municipality of Cremona. If the centre-right coalition were to win, as we have declared several times, we will continue to express, in every forum, our opposition to the construction of this plant in its current location. On the contrary, we are certain that if the left were to ever win the elections, it would already be ready to accept a new project in an uncritical and totally subservient way.”
“We are in favor of biomethane plants, but only where they are located near farms that produce processing products, which are essential to fuel them. We note that today’s is only the latest blunder of a council that has collected a sensational list of errors and failures” concludes Portesani.
