Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Residents refuse to give up
The residents’ platform opposed to the propane gas plant in the La Cruz Santa neighbourhood of Los Realejos, in the north of Tenerife, is refusing to give up, and this weekend held an information meeting that filled the famous casino in this district bordering La Orotava. They did so not only to set out the details of Disa’s project, already endorsed and published by the Canary Islands Government in the BOC (the Canary Islands Official Gazette), but also to try to resolve the doubts of many locals, explain in depth the dangers and risks of the installation, raise anonymous funds for their cause and thank everyone involved in the fight for their selfless work, including the residents who have put banners on their homes and the parish of the neighbourhood itself.
Signatures and council support
Although there is a degree of resignation because the works are continuing and they fear there will be no turning back, the opposing residents also thank the 6,150 signatures collected so far and the unanimous support of Los Realejos Council, just as happened with the La Zamora area, the first site where the company proposed siting a plant that the Government justifies as a way of dealing with potential energy blackouts on the island. Although there have been previous meetings, Friday’s was the best attended and has demonstrated, according to what the platform told this newspaper, the unity that exists and the determination to keep fighting an installation they see as a pure contradiction, with many drawbacks, in supposedly times of commitment to clean and harmless energy, which they say is not the case here.
The regional government’s position
Meanwhile, the regional Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy maintains that it is an essential plant for the present and the future. The company, for its part, and as it did when responding to a local resident’s objections at the time, argues that the choice of land and its location respond “to the criterion of minimum possible impact”, as well as to technical reasons “such as proximity to electricity infrastructure, accessibility and safety”. It also stresses that neither the island nor the local planning rules prevent its installation, after the local PGO (General Plan) reclassified that area from rural to industrial. It further maintains that the plant “complies with all the measures necessary to make its installation compatible with the surroundings” and says that it “does not generate any impact on nearby homes, businesses or plots”, and therefore stresses that its installation is “completely viable”. In addition, it replies that all the necessary documentation is covered regarding “acoustic targets, air quality and vulnerability to serious accidents”. In this respect, it emphasises that it complies with the regulations and has the relevant documents and reports under the authority of the competent body.
Blackouts and energy emergencies
The residents’ platform, for its part, considers it incoherent to commit to this polluting energy in the middle of the ecological transition, but the company argues that the plant is essential to deal with the energy emergencies that, as in other parts of the islands, could occur in this part of Tenerife, in line with the energy emergency declared by the Canary Islands Government, with its use limited to that purpose in urgent situations. In this respect, Disa recalls the five blackouts that have occurred in the last five years, “which highlights the weakness of the current system. This situation requires adopting, in the short term, pragmatic and technically viable solutions that make it possible to reinforce the guarantee of supply and the stability of the archipelago’s electricity system”. Of course, the company’s arguments do not convince some of the residents, as was once again evident on Friday.
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