Mount Orvilos in Serres: Request to install wind turbines on burnt areas rejected

Here it is already Mount Orvilos in Serres has been burning for a monthand the state mechanism has an explanation for its indifference: after all, there was a request to install wind turbines on the burnt areas, which was rejected!

The documentary testimony of Councillor V. Roko in the Regional Council of Central Macedonia sheds a lot of light.

Vasilis Rokos: “Questions about the catastrophic fire in Orvilos Serres”

In particular, regional councilor and head of the SYN-work faction Rokos methodically provesthat in any area where in RAE an application was submitted for the installation of wind turbines and was rejected or RAEor forestry, then a fire broke out. Non the basis of some legal “windows”, and also the CE decision in 2012 and the corresponding “changes” in legislation in 2014 it became possible to finally install wind turbines, despite the fact that these areas were forested! As V. Rokos explains:

«Growing concerns about the link between wind turbine applications and fires in specific areas such as Serres and Athensraises serious questions about licensing procedures and impact on the environment. The data shows that in areas where applications for wind farms have been rejected, there is an increased fire activity, which may indicate a relationship between denied permits and the desire to clear land to facilitate installation wind turbines. According to the information collected, it is observed that, Despite the RAE's refusal to issue permits, fires continue to occur in exactly the same areas.

…Fires happened in Orvilos and Menoikio. In these areas, despite having permission from the RAE, they were rejected by the forestry department due to the lack of a large gap in the dirt road that could accommodate trucks to install massive wind turbines, as this required cut down a lot of trees.

Coincidentally, fires broke out in both areas, and already 5 days there was no air assistance from the fire service, and the fire has been raging for 26 days (it is now on its 29th day). … At the same time, fires broke out in the Athens area, where no applications were approved, raising concerns about environmental policy and permitting. The fire broke out on a site where an application had been submitted for the construction of wind turbines (referring to Varnavas).”/.

In the documentary, the regional councillor also lists the rejected applications in these areas and which companies submitted them. He continues: “Dear Minister, do you by any chance see that where applications were rejected for the construction of wind turbines, fires broke out?n also refers to the legislative framework, to the fact that it was formulated in such a waythat a wind turbine could be built in an area where the application was rejected and also declared treeless after a fire. If you read carefully, you will understand that Numerous and repeated coincidences lead to the Law of Probability working to the highest degree.

«By virtue of the Executive Law 998/1979, in pursuance of the above-mentioned constitutional requirements and the provisions of Articles 24 and 117 of the Constitution, and in particular paragraph 1 of Article 38, forests and forest areas destroyed by forest fires, must be declared subject to mandatory restoration.

In accordance with Article 45 (1) to (3) as amended by Article 36 of Law 4280/2014 changes to forests and woodlands are not permitted. However, according to paragraph 3, provides an opportunity for the construction of renewable energy sources and storage stations. Article 24(1) of the Constitution expressly enshrines the principle of sustainability.

Following a constitutional revision in 2001, it was established that “it is prohibited to change the designation of forests and forest areasexcept where it is of paramount importance for the national economy, agricultural exploitation or other use in the public interest.

Furthermore, Article 117(3) of the Constitution states that “State or private forests and woodlands destroyed by fire or otherwise deforested shall not lose the character they had before destruction. They must be declared forcibly. restored and must not be used for any other purposes.”

The State Council in 2012, by plenary decision 2499, amends the case law, contrary to the case law prior to 2011, as it rules that “the purpose of the provision of Article 107(3) of the Constitution, despite its absolute wording, was not to completely prohibit any interference in the reclaimed lands, even for purposes of greatest public interest for which it would be permissible to carry out the project in an existing forest, for the protection of forest ecosystems from land development…”.

Thus, in accordance with Law 4280/2014, The siting and installation of renewable energy projects is also permitted in forested areas, “as long as these projects do not represent a change in the intended use forests”!!!

Finally, by the Council of State decision 1429/2022 on the case concerning the siting of wind farms in the Cyclades It has been confirmed that the installation of wind turbines is not prohibited in Natura sites, with the exception of priority habitats, absolute protection areas, and Ramsar wetlands, cores of national parks and declared natural monuments and aesthetic forests.

In 2004, the CE ruled that in order for the installation of wind turbines in forests to be compatible, this activity must be included in the land-use plan. In the transitional phase, the installation of a wind power plant was only permitted if a comprehensive study had been carried out at the regional level to take into account the energy needs and impacts of installing wind power plants and to determine the region's carrying capacity in this area.”

To put it in very simple terms, so that everyone can understand it. Can a request to install wind turbines in an area be denied because it is covered in forest? Mysteriously, that area will catch fire, burn to the ground in an equally mysterious way (since the state apparatus is almost always unable to control and extinguish it after the results), and eventually a proper legal basis will be created for installing wind turbines in the burned area.

Bingo.

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