Immediate suspension by legal imperative

1996/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

The car of the National Audience, of 6 March, partially recognizes the resources interposed by the Coordinator of Itoiz and, in passing, excludes those presented by the Government of Navarre and Madrid.

As you will remember, the Court decreed in September 1995 that the construction of the Itoiz reservoir was illegal and in January 1996, in relation to the payment of an endorsement amounting to 24.000 million, ordered the immediate suspension of the works. Faced with this new situation, the Itoiz Coordinator filed an appeal that will be mentioned later and which has been analysed in the final decision of the Audience.

First, the decision of the National Court admits that the endorsement is in half. Therefore, the request of the Government of Navarre to increase the amount of the guarantee has not been taken into account. In addition, the Audience has published the following statement especially interesting for its possible impact on the resolution of the problem: "The regions of Txintxurrenea, Iñarbe and Gaztelu cannot be flooded above the level determined by the Special Protection Zones regulations. In addition, these protected areas will not be able to carry out deforestation, reduction of plant layers, changes in population or actions derived from the flood.”

Its reading is not difficult. The maximum height of the reservoir without presentation is 506,8 regardless of the height you want to give to the wall of the reservoir. Consequently, the maximum volume of the reservoir will be 9.7 Hm3, which means 2.3% of the expected.

If the car of the Audiencia Nacional is read more carefully, it is observed that covering the protection zones with water could cause irreversible damage. This makes direct reference to a possibility foreseen by the Government and pending approval by the Parliament, that is, taking as criterion the value and usefulness that these areas can have in the future from the human point of view, fully enables the possibility of modifying the Law of Protected Spaces. In the case of the National Court, he explained that with this car, reaffirming what he said in the previous one, the modification of the law will imply a fraud, that is, that although the function of the Administration is to protect the interest of society, it must always be done respecting the constitutional and legal principles.

It is considered, therefore, legal as requested from the beginning by the Coordinator of Itoiz, since the main modifications were and continue to be the non-involvement to the environment and the prevention of the damages that the project would cause to the inhabitants of the valley of Irati. In any case, it is necessary for citizens to know that the work can go ahead for the involvement of the institutions involved. In this sense, we want to call the human sense, asking that in a far-fetched project contrary to the law no more public money is spent, so that these resources adapt to the needs of all Navarre, understanding that the needs we have of the use of water can be resolved in a more effective and economically viable way in the short term.

We believe that the only solution to this problem is the immediate cessation of work. Together with this request, the Itoiz Coordinator wants to reiterate its opposition to the project. Relying on reason and law, we will continue to vindicate our opposition to the reservoir in all forums, as we have been doing so far.