Geologist José Luis Simón believes that a moratorium on renewable energy planning is necessary for “good sense”.

Speakers denounce in the Investigation Commission of the Cortes that some companies “have laughed” at the Administration.

The Aragon Environment Award 2022, the prestigious scientist and popularizer José Luis Simón, said this Friday in the Aragonese Parliament that it is “essential” that there is a moratorium on the implementation of renewables in the Autonomous Community in order to plan their installation, and appealed to “good sense” since the way it has been done so far has not been correct to lack a management. He clarified that it is not that there are no planning instruments, but that the existing ones have not been complied with. He said that certain companies have “mocked” the Administration, an idea that was echoed by other speakers at the Commission of Inquiry on the implementation of renewables, who stated that there have been energy companies that have clearly “laughed” at them.

Simón was one of the speakers who participated in another marathon day of the Commission of Inquiry in the Aragonese Parliament, although he was lucky enough to be the first to speak when the parliamentarians were still fresh, as the session lasted for more than six hours during which seven people appeared. The moratorium is something that the Government of Aragon has refused because of the consequences it could have, but José Luis Simón, who is also a member of the Territorial Planning Council of Aragon (COTA), made it clear that at this time it would be the most sensible thing to do because of how badly things have been done up to now. This value judgment based on scientific knowledge was also endorsed by Juan Antonio Gil Kiko, from the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture, and by Carlos González Sanz and Dori Rami Clemente, from the United Platform against the Electric Motorway. During their interventions, they took for granted that other interests have taken precedence, and the DGA has allowed itself to be practically subjugated by some companies of the sector, above the interests of land management and the obligation to protect it as public administrators. Simón assured that the administrations have neglected their responsibility in the development of the deployment of renewable energies because there has been much permissiveness and the right to information and participation of the citizens has been limited. He considered it regrettable that the Geoparks of Maestrazgo and Sobrarbe have been subjected to such pressure and are today “tremendously threatened”, particularly the former, which he said “should be a Protected Area of the Natural Network of Aragon”. He indicated that in 2007 the State Law of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity declared the figure of Geoparks and the Autonomous Community did not do its homework to protect them as figures “in their own right”. For this reason, he assured that it is very easy for the companies to argue that since the regulations have not been developed “this is unprotected land so they can do whatever they want”. He affirmed that this is an example of how certain legislative tasks that the Autonomous Community should have done “have not been done”.

Lack of rigor

Throughout his speech, he insisted on this idea and that companies should be “much more serious and rigorous” with operations of the magnitude of the implementation of renewable energy parks. He estimated that “all the administrations” have contributed to this “disorder”, while he said categorically that the economic compensations “should never be an alibi to justify them”. He added in this regard that “money does not compensate for the destruction of the landscape; just as money would not compensate for the destruction of any historical monument”. He argued that many projects are not such but plans that should be previously submitted to a strategic evaluation and should not be admitted, “but nobody has politically moved a finger”; and he pointed out that it is not that there are no planning instruments, because there was the Spatial Planning Strategy of Aragón and the Energy Plan, “but that the problem is that there is no desire to comply with the instruments” or to implement those that already exist. The scientist was of the opinion that practically everything has slipped through the Administration, as there are things that should not have been processed because they are incomplete and of low technical quality. He assured that geotechnical studies have been missing in the projects and that the volume of earth moved has not been taken into account, nor what is going to happen afterwards with the foundations, for which he gave as an example what has happened with the open pit mining exploitations that have been abandoned without being restored. “In some moments I think that the Administration should feel that certain companies are making fun of it”, said the expert, who considered that a moratorium at this time is “essential” because “if not, we are never going to plan”. Simón said that Aragón is producing energy above the forecasts and “it is time to stop and plan with a bit of sense”, since despite the climate emergency, the “maelstrom” in which the region has been immersed with renewables does not justify everything. Juan Antonio Gil, of the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture, stressed the impact of renewables on biodiversity, warning that humans are also “biodiversity”. Carlos González Sanz, from the Plataforma Unitaria contra la Autopista Eléctrica, considered what is happening with the energy transition to be an “imposture”, since it does not respond to that but to a “substitution of energies”, and advocated for a distributed system. He denounced that the citizens have been robbed of renewable energies and what is being done is to “hinder self-consumption and energy communities”. Dori Rami Clemente, from the same platform, added that the allegations are not being answered and that her impression was that the companies “are laughing in our face”.

“Everything was done in accordance with the regulations.”

José María Giral Monter, former cabinet director of the former president of the DGA Javier Lambán, who was one of those appearing at the Commission of Inquiry, said that everything had been done “in accordance with the regulations and the existing legality”. Giral valued the impulse that had been given to renewables since Lambán became president of the Government in 2015 and the sector was paralyzed, and how at the beginning the impulse given to the sector was a reason for consensus among all the political groups. He highlighted the leadership in which Aragón has positioned itself and considered that “this magnificent opportunity we have” cannot be wasted, and that it was necessary to reach an agreement to make a planning. He clarified that renewables were not his responsibility, acknowledged that the organic structure of the DGA was not prepared for the exponential growth that took place, and that all the members of the Executive accompanied the promoters and mediated with the municipalities as is done with any company that is going to generate wealth. The then Head of the Energy Management Service, Eduardo Pérez, added that they had not received any pressure nor had they skipped procedures. The mayoress of Monforte, Paula Delmás, expressed the lack of protection of a small municipality in the face of the pressures it suffers, and demanded support for the energy communities due to the bureaucracy they face.

Source:

https://www.diariodeteruel.es/teruel/el-geologo-jose-luis-simon-ve-necesaria-por-sensatez-una-moratoria-para-planificar-las-renovables