The debate on the implementation of renewable energy continues to divide the left. The approval of large projects such as the Magda in the interior of Castellón against the criteria of the citizens of the area and the reports of the Generalitat Valenciana, have only deepened this division.
In this sense, the spokesman for Compromís in Congress, Joan Baldoví, announced yesterday that he has registered a series of amendments to Royal Decree-Law 20/2022, which is being processed as a bill, to eliminate the articles of this regulation that establish the exemption from environmental evaluation and public participation for macro-projects for the implementation of renewable energies.
With this movement, Compromís once again shows its discrepancies with the PSOE's way of proceeding, now at the national level.
In a statement, Compromís explains that the also Compromís candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat has worked on these amendments with Graciela Ferrer, deputy in Les Corts Valencianes, with the aim of recovering the state regulations prior to 2022 regarding environmental guarantees, territorial and democratic for the authorization and implementation of this type of large energy projects and "thus reverse the drift of social injustice and territorial imbalance generated by the legislation imposed" by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.
As Baldoví explained, “the approved decree-law included a whole set of social and economic measures that we had been demanding to deal with the social and economic crisis that citizens are suffering, as well as the extension of the social shield measures in force until the date, that is why we consider it positive and a priority”.
"However, - added the deputy - it also contained a poisoned candy: articles 22 and 23 that eliminate the environmental impact assessment, the possibility of allegations by those affected and local and regional administrations and facilitate the declaration of public utility, which allows forced expropriation, for the benefit of the promoters of macro solar or wind power plants”.
From Compromís it is stressed that the implementation of renewable energies is urgent and must benefit the whole of society, and for this reason, "it cannot be done against the people who live in the most disadvantaged territories to benefit the business and speculation of the companies of the energy oligopoly, the large owners and the vulture funds". “In the name of the acceleration of renewables we cannot sacrifice the territory, biodiversity and democracy. We cannot return to the Francoist governance model to promote the energy transition”, settled the regional deputy Ferrer.
For this reason, Compromís has presented amendments to suppress articles 22 and 23 of Royal Decree Law 20/2022 and articles 6 and 7 of Royal Decree Law 6/2022, which allow the authorization of the installation of renewable energy macro-projects of more than of 50 MW (those that potentially have the greatest environmental impact) is not subject to an environmental evaluation process or requires public participation and its approval is produced by administrative silence. “We want to reverse the situation of environmental, social and territorial defenselessness of the rural environment before the photovoltaic and wind macroprojects that were imposed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine”, remarked Baldoví.
