There can be no wolves and deer without the forest. Yet there are those who contemplate cutting down an entire forest to install gigantic wind turbines. The recent rejection by the Calabria region of the wind farm project in the nearby municipality of Monterosso (see Extraterrestrial of February 23) has given hope to the population of the area who do not want to give up.
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Calabria, in the beech forest the blades no longer turn
The mountain of San Vito sulle Serre Vibonesi is one of the few not to be invaded by towers. In Calabria “wild wind power” is a plague that is difficult to eradicate. Thousands of shovels have been planted from the north to the south of the region. Only the fight will be able to sow grains to stop the oiled mechanism. The organizers of the march are convinced of this. A network of 30 social and ecological acronyms, all walking on the mountain to defend it from the invasive project which this time would occupy the territory of San Vito allo Jonio.
Appointment on March 19, with trekking shoes in the Lake Acero area. To then climb the tortuous side of Passo Napoli which climbs up from San Vito. And after an 8-kilometre walk, you can reach the summit by crossing those paths that would be canceled by the wind farm project. The sensitivities and eyes of the committees for the commons are focused on the pending proceeding at the Environmental Impact Verification and Strategic Evaluation commission of the Ministry of the Environment. The proposing multinational company, Parco Eolico San Vito srl, has in fact requested an extension of the 2007 environmental compatibility decree, which suspended the mandatory assessment of the project for a 35-blade wind farm in a wooded area subject to civic uses. The request to proceed without evaluation was presented in the Calabria region which realized that it could not grant the extension. In cases like this it is up to the ministry alone. The plant has a power of 30 megawatts. «We of the WWF – the delegate Angelo Calzone explains to the manifesto – presented observations to the commission and annexed the provisions, one regional and the other from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, which reject an application for a smaller wind farm, that of Monterosso, and a much larger one that was to be built in the same area. This should be enough to convince the EIA commission”.
The area where the new plant should be built is adjacent to the areas on which these two bodies have already pronounced themselves. «The EIA for similar types of plants – continues Calzone – is required by law. Moreover, compared to 2007, everything has changed. Many wind farms have sprung up, and a preventive evaluation has been imposed for each one. In this case, the dimensions of the plant would be greater». «An action of the people, which involves institutions, citizens, associations, is necessary», Calzone’s appeal. «We need to prevent lobbying pressure on the commission. Even the Parco delle Serre institution is against it. Here they would cut hundreds of trees, compromising an entire ecosystem.
Other wind farms already exist in the same area and there are numerous projects awaiting authorisation: the Elettro Sannino park of Wind, the Fossa del Lupo wind farm, GamesaItalia “Serra Pelata”, the South San Sostene wind farm. The danger of “high cumulative impact” on fauna and biodiversity therefore increases. All this does not bring a penny into the pockets of the Calabrians. “In a region like Calabria, battered by hydrogeological instability and already a super producer of energy, with a surplus of as much as 180% – asks the WWF delegate – it makes sense to devote oneself to further energy production through the massacres of trees and soils which generate further instability?».
