The joint legal action has been addressed to the Minister of Territory and seeks the immediate suspension of the environmental authorization, published on December 24. The local councils in Ponent argue that the region already bears an excessive environmental burden and express their “disagreement and discomfort” with the current design of the macro-plant implementation.
“"The constant movement of 30,000 trucks a year, transporting remains of feces and carcasses, jeopardizes the viability of many livestock farms in Ponent."
The mayor of Bellpuig, Jordi Estiarte, denounced that the current deployment of the biogas factory, promoted by the firm Copenhagen Infraestructure Partners (CIP), is the largest in Spain and poses a “danger to livestock biosecurity” in an era where pandemics are commonplace. Estiarte also lamented the lack of “dialectic and prior information” surrounding the project's design.
The lawyer representing the councils, Esther Sancho, indicated that the five appeals for reconsideration challenge three key legal assumptions to request the suspension, including the need to guarantee the purpose of the appeal and the appearance of good law. Sancho confirmed they have a technical report from the Pobles Vius platform warning about the increase in infectious diseases in livestock resulting from the project.
The Department now has one month to respond to the appeals. The municipalities have called on the remaining town councils in Ponent to join the initiative and warned that, if the precautionary measure is dismissed, they do not rule out taking the case to court, as they did previously with the approval of the Special Urban Planning Plan.
