While the issues of the overhead power cables in Apokoronas and the wind farms in various parts of the Nomos of Chania may have temporarily faded from the headlines, representatives of the local populations who will be affected by what they have dubbed “pharaonic projects” have nevertheless remained active in drumming up support for their opposition.
With regard to the high-tension power cable, which the grid management body ADMIE plans to run on 35-metre-high pylons across the countryside from Chania to Damasta in Heraklion, it may be remembered that at a meeting of local representatives with ADMIE on 13th March a moratorium of two months was agreed, during which the company would engage in consultations with the affected municipalities and hear alternative proposals for specific points of the planned route.
With the two months having expired a week ago, and no doubt having little confidence that the consultations will have produced the wished-for result, the mayor of Apokoronas, Haralambos Koukianakis, has addressed an open letter to the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appealing to his professed love of the Cretan countryside and its mountains and asking for his intervention on this vexed issue. In doing so he has laid bare the inherent contradiction in “green” policies which aim to save the planet while simultaneously trampling on the rights of local citizens to enjoy the natural amenities of the area in which they live. The following is the text of the mayor’s letter.
A letter to the Prime Minister
“Dear Prime Minister, I am addressing this letter to you, knowing your genuine sensitivity towards and keen interest in environmental issues, as well as your special affection for the Lefka Ori and the beauties of the Cretan countryside.
“We believe that the respect that you and your family nurture for the Cretan soil will show the way for the necessary decisions to be taken to protect the environment and head off the plans for placing electricity pylons and an overhead high-tension cable throughout the length of the Municipality of Apokoronas.
“This plan, in the event of its unforeseen acceptance,
a) will bring about an irreparable environmental disaster, as is confirmed by, among others, the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece, while
b) being fraught with extreme danger for public health, according to the Medical Association of Chania, while also
c) wiping out the mild forms of economic activity which are characteristic of the area – stock raising and beekeeping.
At the same time such a crucial intervention in our area’s environment
d) will drive both locals and visitors away from the 12 hiking routes 130 km long which have been created by our Municipality in collaboration with the Region of Crete, which as well as showing off the area’s splendid caves (Gourgouthaka, Leon and others) will also further alternative tourism, which makes a decisive contribution to the residents’ livelihood. The above will inevitably lead to the residents leaving the afflicted areas and the decline of Apokoronas.
“We believe that you could put a definitive end to the threatened disaster and effectively mollify the indignation which has been created among the residents and friends of Apokoronas, who are of the view that the project planned by ADMIE could be carried out in other ways, i.e. by a subsea or underground electric cable. The resentment of the residents of Apokoronas is made worse by their knowing that in other cases the said alternatives have been implemented, without putting citizens’ lives and activities in danger.
“We are confident that the values which you espouse and which are reflected in the establishment of ‘Untouched Mountains’ will be applied in this instance also.
“We believe that your position with regard to the Untouched Mountains will prevail, as you expressed it in January 2022 during the presentation of the initiative in question by the ministry of the Environment and Energy, namely that ‘We are establishing a state of increased environmental protection for six virgin mountains, including Lefka Ori, where essentially every intervention that will spoil their character will be banned.’
“We would point out that the Untouched Mountains or Roadless Areas, according to a study by the Department of Biological Applications and Technology of the University of Ioannina, which was carried out with resources from the Green Fund … contribute to the preservation of biodiversity, prevent the intrusion of alien species, provide migration routes and stopovers, sequester carbon and reduce the effects of greenhouse gases, preserve ecosystem connectivity and integrity, and offer recreation, education and scientific value. At the same time, based on the same study, there are proposals to ban the cutting of new roads and the creation of other artificial surfaces, as well as automatic incorporation into a state of maximum protection.
“Amongst other things, the legislation on Roadless Areas and the general preservation of our natural environment are accelerating progress towards the following goals:
a) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12, 13, 15;
b) Global Biodiversity Strategy, goals 3,4,5,11,14,15;
c) European Biodiversity Strategy 2030, goal 2.2.3;
d) National Biodiversity Strategy, goals 2.1, 3.3, 5.1-5.8, 6.2, 7.2, 8.2 ;
e) National Priority Action Programme, goals G.2.c, G.2.a;
f) National State of the Environment Report SEBI13;
g) European Landscape Convention, ratified by Law 3827/2010.
“Therefore, the planned erection of oversized pylons along the whole length of the Municipality of Apokoronas, each of which requires the cementing over of hundreds of square metres, and the installation of an aerial high-tension cable, are very far from the spirit of Untouched Mountains and the above goals.
“Your late father Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of our country, considered the protection of the environment a basic requirement for ensuring sustainable development and social progress and took every opportunity to express his love for our mountains, which he has also passed on to you. That is why his last wish was the ‘Resurrection of Lefka Ori’, through the strengthening of people’s bond with the freedom and the strength which they can derive from contact with the mountains.
“In defence of that link, we ask from you, as regards the means of laying the high-tension cable through Apokoronas, to act in accordance with the values which you have shown that you hold, moving the route of the high-tension cable either under the sea or underground.
“We have confidence in your character, that you will want and be able to achieve the right decision on the above issues, which will secure the viability of our area, the present and the future of the inhabitants of Apokoronas. In this way the words of the ‘Song of the Mountains’ by Kostis Palamas:
‘Mountains of that land, Greek,
transparent, clear, hewn
by knowledgeable hands,
like measured statues one by one’
will continue to ring out proudly across Apokoronas.”
(Haniotika Nea, 14/05/24)
Reactions to wind farms in Sfakia
In the meantime, citizens in the Sfakia area are taking collective action to resist the commercial plans for the installation of giant wind generators in their municipality as well as five other points in the Nomos of Chania. A posting on Facebook announces the creation of the Sfakia Initiative against “wind-powered Heavy Renewable Energy Sources (HRES)”. The announcement states that the Initiative will act as a coordinating body for Sfakians wherever they live as well as all friends of free mountains. The Sfakia Initiative, the announcement says, declares its opposition:
“- To the opening of tens of kilometres of roads and the widening of existing ones which entail clearances and the concreting over of a large part of the area.
– To the erection of high-tension pylons which, apart from further concrete-laying and the tens of kilometres of overground cables, emit increased electromagnetic radiation which is implicated in severe health problems.
– To the blatant and monstrous disturbance to the ecosystem in a sensitive Natura-designated area with an incredible wealth of endemic plants and wild animals and especially of local bird life, which runs an increased danger of collision with the wind generator blades leading to certain death.
– To the diminution of the aesthetic value of an area, a large proportion of whose population gain their livelihood from tourism and specifically from hiking.
– To the silent expropriation of traditional properties on the Madara which have constituted the vital territory of the area’s stockbreeders for centuries.
“The environmental impacts and the effects on the daily lives of the inhabitants will be incalculable and we are resisting because we believe that the planned installation of Heavy Renewable Energy Sources in Eastern Sfakia and more generally the uncontrolled location of wind generators on Greece’s mountains constitutes a choice by economic interests, and by the State which at their instigation has for years now been pursuing a scheme of expropriation of the mountains and the traditional property of the stockbreeders for the benefit of the few. We also consider that the long-term plan comprises a bipolar Europe in the which the poor South will constitute the producer and the rich North the consumer of the valuable energy which has now acquired an investment value.
“We believe in the right of every community to choose whether or not it wants the creation of pharaonic expropriation projects on their territory, especially if the latter has remained unadulterated for thousands of years during which countless struggles were waged for freedom, and we believe that there is another form of green development which is compatible both with the special needs of the areas and the already expressed wishes of the community.”
In addition, the declaration says: “Fully aware of the danger that the province of Sfakia will unavoidably lose its character and its unspoilt beauty through the proposed – environmentally damaging – works, we are setting up the Initiative so that it can contribute to informing the community about the planned installation of HRES in the Sfakia area, can attend the relevant meetings of institutions on the subject, formulate common positions with similar environmental initiatives and coordinate rallying activities expressing its opposition.”
Finally, the statement says, “Since according to article 24 of the Constitution ‘the protection of the natural and cultural environment is an obligation of the government and the right of everyone’, we are uniting our voices in fighting for nature and the land which assures our livelihood, demanding the withdrawal of the plans which threaten them! Free mountains without windmills! Free Sfakian mountains without windmills!”
(Haniotika Nea, 18/05/24)
Is the Green Deal a good deal?
Approved in 2020, the European Green Deal is a set of policy initiatives proposed by the European Commission which aim to make the European Union climate-neutral by the year 2050. An interim target is to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. One major contributor to achieving this reduction will inevitably be the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources, an area in which Greece – a windy country with plenty of sunshine – is a leader.
The high-tension cable linking Chania with Damasta has been generally accepted as a necessary part of connecting Crete with the mainland and reducing its dependence on fossil-fuel electricity generation – the dispute is over the method, not the principle. However, the rush to cover Crete with windmills suggests a different agenda, which is highlighted in the Sfakia Initiative’s statement. It is their belief that renewable energy has become a bankable commodity, with very large sums of money to be made by investors, and that a new form of colonialism is taking shape in which the poor South will be the provider of cheap energy to the rich North.
This will inevitably result in the building of ever larger installations, which will have a detrimental effect on the lives of the inhabitants of the areas where they are located. The scale of capital investment involved in the major transformation implied by the Green Deal requires the participation of private-sector interests, and there is a danger that, sooner or later, the demand for profit will trump the citizens’ demands for their interests to be considered.