Impact of Corcoesto mine (Galicia) and breach of Community legislation
14.1.2013
Question for written answer E-000329-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Ana Miranda (Verts/ALE)
The Galician government has now approved the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the planned gold mine in Corcoesto. The project, which was the subject of Written Question E-006057/2012, is located less than 140 m from the river Anllóns Natura 2000 network site (ES1110015) and involves opencast mining over an eight-year period, dealing with a volume of 72 million m3 and using 6 800 kg of arsenic to extract 1 095 000 ounces of gold. The ‘Plataforma pela Defesa de Corcoesto’, a group set up to protect the area, has criticised the scale and environmental repercussions of the project, in view of both the impact of such a huge project on the landscape and the quantities of arsenic and cyanide needed to extract the gold. The Galician government is taking no account of local opposition to the project, thereby violating the European public's right to participation in decision-making, and appears to be concerned more with furthering the interests of the multinational company behind the project than protecting citizens. Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the management of waste from extractive industries and the Water Framework Directive both include clear requirements in relation to public participation and transparency.
There is a serious omission in the EIS approved by the Galician government: it does not contain a properly rigorous analysis of the possible direct and indirect environmental impact on a Natura 2000 area. This site will be exposed to a serious environmental risk owing to the destruction and pollution of streams and groundwater, which are fundamental for the integrity of the entire area. The EIS should have included an analysis of the possible negative effects of several years of mining in a Natura 2000 network site, and this omission represents a significant and serious breach of the rules and principles governing environmental impact assessments in the EU.
Has the Commission now taken note of this project? Does it believe that an environmental impact statement may disregard and treat as insignificant the presence of a Natura 2000 network site such as the river Anllóns, reducing monitoring and control to a single paragraph outlining generic action, even though this site is located only 140 metres away from the source of the impact? In case of doubt, should all the relevant guarantees concerning assessment and protection not apply to any Natura 2000 network area which may be directly or indirectly affected by a project, even though it lies outside the actual site of the project, as is the case for the river Anllóns? Will the Commission investigate the environmental assessment procedure and the authorisations granted by the Galician government in relation to the Corcoesto mining project, and will it guarantee full compliance with the requirements laid down by European legislation?
OJ C 229, 17/07/2014