The PPdeG deputy Gonzalo Trenor has pointed out that those affected still have time to submit allegations against the project that foresees the installation of a waste plant in Cacheiras, in the municipality of Teo (A Coruña), after the BNG has denounced an alleged "concealment".
The issue was addressed in a parliamentary commission attended by representatives of the neighborhood platform, located in another room of the Galician Parliament. The BNG's proposal, which called for "channels of dialogue" and to restart the environmental assessment, was rejected by the vote against of the popular group.
During her speech, the spokesperson for the Bloque, Saleta Chao, censured the "refusal of the minister --of Environment-- to meet with the platform", something she interprets as "absolute contempt for the self-organization of the neighbors".
In her presentation, she explained that until the environmental impact report was issued last December, "things happened" and that "first of all, the neighbors were not taken into account as interested parties in the processing at any time, despite the evident proximity of many homes".
Furthermore, she pointed out that "there was a level of the administration that did not respond, the local administration, to no one's surprise, given the mayor's statements".
Given a concern that she considers "logical and reasonable", she also denounced that "the location is possible due to a backdoor modification, through the 2023 accompanying law, which facilitates the implementation of this type of facility on rural land". "It allows it to be set up next to houses," she criticized.
Along these lines, Chao insisted that "there are houses 50 meters from the site and the access roads are those of a rural area".
Meeting with the Xunta and neighborhood complaints
The nationalist deputy alluded to the meeting to which the platform was convened on the 24th, in which, as she recounted, the Xunta "pulled an offer out of a hat to see if it would calm things down".
"They decided to open a period for neighbors to submit written requests to be considered interested parties in the procedure," she indicated, warning afterwards that "to this day they have not yet received a response to their requests".
PSdeG support for the platform
In his turn to speak, the socialist Aitor Bouza expressed his support for the neighborhood platform and the initiative debated, launching reproaches at a PP that he sees as "very comfortable on the carpet." "If they got closer there, they would see the impacts," he pointed out.
He also underlined that the platform "was constituted by the neighbors" outside of political parties and in the face of the "negligent action of the Xunta."
Defense of the procedure by the PP
For his part, Gonzalo Trenor defended that "the administration has to analyze all the projects that are presented to it" and that these "are studied by technicians with the utmost rigor, with the utmost professionalism and taking into account the environmental point of view."
In relation to the Cacheiras waste plant, he recalled that "the environmental document was available to the public without any written submission or objection being received in this regard," which is why, from "respect" for "any initiative or position," he highlighted that "until now the procedure was correct."
Regarding the content of the BNG's proposal, he referred to the first point, which called for establishing new channels of dialogue, to reply that "they already exist" and mention the meeting of April 24. "They were explained the status and the different mechanisms for participation and access provided for in current regulations," he stated.
Currently, he explained, "we are awaiting the completion certificate to be submitted by the developer so that the Ministry of the Environment, through the Directorate General for Environmental Quality, can issue the final waste authorization."
"Until this resolution is final, any person or company that has the status of an interested party can still submit objections; it is important because we are no longer in the public exhibition period," he emphasized.
"That is why they were told that they could submit objections as interested parties and in that meeting they were informed that they could request it," Trenor reiterated, before specifying that "requests are being made to the people who requested recognition of that status so that they can prove it" as interested parties.
Regarding the second request of the initiative, to restart the environmental impact assessment procedure, the popular parliamentarian replied that it is "impossible" because "there is a law that says how it has to be done" and "it is a regulated procedure."
If that procedure were modified, he has warned, "it would be a mistake on the part of the administration that would cause the company to be able to claim from the administration afterwards."
Accusations of "intent" in the processing
In the final reply, and in response to these explanations, Saleta Chao has lashed out against what she interprets as "intent in the concealment of the opening of this procedure."
She has lamented that the City Council "decided not to object" and that only "when the neighbors come down on her does she say --the mayor-- that she does not agree with the implementation at this point." "If she did not agree, why did she not object?" she has questioned.
In this regard, she has concluded that, in her opinion, "what happened from 2024 until today was the deployment of a strategy of concealment to hide what was being done about this plant."
In her opinion, the PP "has a problem" because "there are many affected neighbors and it went wrong for them," since "they found out and are mobilizing." Faced with this social reaction, she has reproached that the popular ones are "disdaining" them.
"Let the minister show her face, let her receive the neighbors, because in the end that is what the Galician government has to do, look out for the interests of the entire population. If they vote against it, they will be exposing themselves," she has concluded.