We learned of the ongoing work between the Abruzzo Region and the Ministry of the Environment promoted by Senators Liris and Sigismondi to cut off large areas of the Special Protection Area and the Site of Community Interest of Campo Imperatore, where the ski resort is located and where they want to spend more public funds to expand the facilities according to a reckless area plan drawn up twenty years ago.
All this is taking place in a National Park and just a few days after the Abruzzo Region’s failure at the Constitutional Court about the cutting of the Sirente-Velino Park. Do the two senators know that the territories in question were delimited in 1995 by a study paid by the Abruzzo Region to various consultants, including several professors at the University of L’Aquila? Do they know that the same region tried to revise the boundaries in 2000 by paying for other studies that, however, confirmed the validity of the perimeter also to avoid big trouble with the European Commission?
Despite the presence of some environmental detractors that should be re-naturalised and the damage caused by existing pylons and tracks, the areas in question are colonised by dozens of animal species and habitats protected at Community level. In short, cement and bulldozers have failed to eliminate the naturalistic values of the site. Work should therefore be done to improve the environmental situation, not worsen it. Will the Abruzzo Region go to Brussels and open a front to reduce protection?
It will mean that we will have to bring to the Commission the documents of the Site Management Plans financed with millions of euros of European funds and kept unapproved for almost ten years now. We will take the opportunity to report to the European Commission on the state of the perimeter of the new Special Protection Area of the Frentani mountains, a procedure that has been the subject of specific requests from the Commission for years. What can we say then about the state of the Environmental Impact Assessment procedures where there are multiple violations of Community law?
