Aragon refuses to seek European funding to unite the ski resorts of Formigal and Astún in the Huesca Pyrenees. The Provincial Council of Huesca (DPH) has given up moving forward with an action that would involve the construction of a cable car more than eight kilometers long that would pass through the Canal Roya, an eco-friendly glacial valley in the Pyrenees at the foot of the Anayet of value and culture. The national company refers to a lack of time due to the delay in the start of the proceedings, but continues to support the lawsuit. The investment totaled €26.4 million, the largest part of the €33 million the region had requested from European recovery funds for sustainability, which will now be reallocated to other initiatives.
The cessation came after the project sparked strong social rejection and large-scale protests and protest rallies involving the big five environmental organizations. It is a paradox, critics of the project point out, that money earmarked for sustainability and biodiversity conservation is being used to destroy a natural area, while also ignoring reductions in snowfall due to climate change.
The President of the Council, Miguel Gracia (PSOE), closed the project with “sorry” but assured that due to the impossibility of meeting the deadlines it could not go ahead as the procedure had not yet started. “We do not have an environmental impact statement, nor the start of the drafting of the plan of general interest, there is no availability of land, the schedule is not credible, there are no reports, among other things, we cannot cope with rope transport without changes in the law. Other issues” , Gracia said at a press conference.The provincial government blames the lack of cooperation with the Aragonese executive, which is governed by Javier Lambán, also a socialist, as the culprit for the delay.After the resignation of the deputation to the funds, Lambán did not want to, given the elections just around the corner embarking on controversy, pointing out that “if the people of the mountain are unaware of the merger of the stations, the project will remain parked. And if they bet on it, we will support it. We’ll see what happens in the future.” happens.
A future that environmental groups want to secure without harming the environment. They consider the renunciation of acting to be “a success”, but are aware that it can be revived at any time. “It’s a victory because the Canal Roya itself was saved, but also because it shows that something can be achieved if society organizes and protests,” says Paco Iturbe, spokesman for the Platform for the Defense of the Mountains of Aragon. For him, the Council President’s arguments that the project could not be implemented on time are “an excuse”. “Three months ago, did you expect that the deadlines would be sufficient and now you don’t?” he asks. The reality, he affirms, “is that these funds are not intended for mega-projects and for this reason three years are set aside for their implementation and, knowing that this was not enough, they wanted to declare it of general interest to the Edit to shorten.” times.”
Distrust leads Iturbe to take on the task of trading with “a certain caution”. “It’s not the first time attempts have been made to destroy the valley. Every now and then it comes out again. We’re used to these government things.” The threat would go away if a protected space was declared. A petition joined by Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO/BirdLife and WWF, calling for an accelerated creation of the Anayet-Partacua Natural Park proposed more than 15 years ago, which would integrate the corridor of the Canal Roya -Tals and would ensure its actual protection in the future.
Ricardo Magán, spokesman for Greenpeace, warns against monitoring the use of these funds when deciding which projects to use. “The problem is that the European Union checks them as soon as they are issued. If Canal Roya has been given the green light and then it is decided that the investment is insufficient, who will return it? “It would be necessary to resort to public funds,” he says. And in Canal Roya it was “white and in the bottle” because the projects cannot harm biodiversity and thereby destroying a natural corridor.
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However, for the President of the Deputation, connecting the Aragón Valley to the Tena Valley is the best way to ensure the future of the territory. “I have always defended it, here and elsewhere, because in Aragon a snow plan is necessary in a future restructuring,” he assured. The redistribution of funds in favor of other projects should not mean that the process of merging the broadcasters is stopped. “A participatory process is needed, using a similar model to the debate on water management in Aragón, as suggested by the municipalities, and to see what is happening with the snow and the ski resorts,” he added . “Whoever governs this autonomous community, that will be the PSOE, has to put it on the table the next day.”
As there was fierce opposition in the streets, the consensus the project had initially aroused gradually lost supporters. At the end of April he suffered a severe blow. Jaca City Council, through which much of the infrastructure runs, initially supported the connection but voted against the connection in the last plenary session of the legislature, following a proposal by CHA and Más Jaca-Podemos, the PSOE’s government partners. However, the Socialists have tabled an amendment making it clear that they are not against the linking of the two valleys, but against the current project because there is not enough study or citizen participation.
In addition, Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO/BirdLife and WWF traveled to Europe to expose the environmental issues of the Canal Roya project. “It has been confirmed that it will wreak havoc in the valley, that it violates the principle of transparency and consultation, and that it does not cooperate in the fight against climate change due to the excessive use of energy in snowmaking,” they said. After the visit, the European Commission contacted the Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism to request information on a project that is now dead but not forgotten.
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