Local attempts to block the proposed installation of high-tension overground cables and heavy-duty wind generators in the Regional Unit of Chania, in view of the damaging effects it is feared they will have on the countryside, are gathering force. As reported in Haniotika Nea, meeting on Saturday 29th June at the stone theatre in Macheri, Apokoronas, the Municipality’s cultural associations decided to create a “fighting committee” to organise demonstrations and awareness-raising activities, informing citizens of the severe consequences of these developments to the environment and to public health.
Addressing the meeting, the mayor of Apokoronas Haralambos Koukianakis spoke of a “criminal” project, stressing that the pylons and the wind generators are indissolubly linked, the plan being to get the issue of the pylons passed first, and then the wind generators. Regional councillor and head of the Popular Rally of Crete Alekos Marinakis emphasised that the only possibility of averting the plans for the pylons and wind generators is for the people to resist, and he referred to the severe environmental and public health consequences of the project.
Head of the Popular Rally for Apokoronas Nikitas Melissakis spoke of an “onslaught by monopolies which are indifferent to the destruction of the environment and of people’s health” while, speaking for Chania MP Pavlos Polakis, Antonis Kiopes spoke of the destruction of the countryside and of a project “which has no relation to the needs of the inhabitants”.
The head of the Vamos Cultural Association Giorgos Hatzidakis suggested that the new movement should organise a major awareness-raising event during the summer in Chania, while SYRIZA party member Vasilis Kasselakis declared that there cannot be a Green Transition without any rules, and these need to be: respect for the environment, the health of the citizens, and the agreement of local communities.
Legal adviser to the Municipality of Apokoronas Manolis Nikoloudis mentioned that as soon as the Environmental Impact Assessment is approved, the issue will be taken to the Council of State. A member of the Western Crete branch of the Technical Chamber of Greece, Vasilis Kontezakis, presented technical details of the project and analysed the heavy environmental footprint which the project would have, describing the Regional Environmental Committee as not up to the demands of the situation.
Also speaking against the pylons and the heavy-duty wind generators were a former SYRIZA MP, representatives of local cultural associations, the Women’s Association of Litsarda and others.
Citizens in defence of nature
As Haniotika Nea further reported on 11th July, the committee created at the meeting on 29th June is now taking its first steps in the effort to combat the proposed alternative energy installations in Apokoronas and on Levka Ori. In a press release published on 10th July, the committee states: “Through the Apokoronas Initiative we wish to express our opposition to the unprecedented onslaught of large economic interests from the energy sector in our area, which see Crete as an ‘investment portfolio’, as well as our decision to fight to annul their plans.”
The Initiative warns that “the people of Apokoronas have nothing good to expect from these so-called ‘developmental’ and ‘green’ plans which, wherever they are applied, constitute major interventions of an industrial nature which cause damage both to an area’s natural environment and to the familiar means of livelihood of its people. The power-line pylons which will cross the villages of our foothills, as well as the wind generators which they want to plant on our mountains, are ruthless interventions which despoil the countryside. And although they are costly investments, they are being chosen at this moment, not to serve our needs but because some big investors have sniffed out a promising field for profit and nothing else.”
A catastrophe in waiting
The Initiative maintains that “these works create barren areas by concreting over of thousands of stremmata of land, cutting down trees to drive through roads and widen existing ones, and disturbing wildlife ecosystems. They destroy the microclimate of the affected areas, since the operation of the wind generators prevents dew and frost formation, which are necessary to prevent the advance of desertification. The levelling and concreting of ground to a depth of hundreds of metres [sic] reduce the penetration of rain, hail etc, into underground basins, hindering the circulation of water with unforeseen consequences on the valuable natural resource of water.
“These works change land use (30% are within protected biodiversity areas, 10% within wildlife refuges and 61% within forested areas), and apart from their deleterious effects on the environment, they will adversely affect the inhabitants’ traditional activities (beekeeping, stock raising, crop growing, etc) and will repel low-impact forms of tourism (mountaineering, caving, hiking, etc). Activities which are supported by a special natural and man-made environment and by tradition, and whose loss will leave only one road to economic survival, that of industrialised mass tourism with identity bracelets.
“Moreover these dystopian works with their frightening dimensions constitute an insult to the indigenous culture (ancient, Byzantine and more recent) which has operated through thousands of years and for generations of Cretans on a human scale, providing them with their primary needs, their independence and a frugal existence.
“Finally, we cannot ignore the professional opinions of medical and scientific authorities who make a connection between the increase in electromagnetic radiation and the increase in cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, mutations and others.”
A call to participate
For all these reasons, the members of the Initiative declare that “We reject the energy industrialisation of Apokoronas, of the Nomos and of Crete, without qualifications. Through the ‘Apokoronas Initiative against the pylons and wind generators’ we have begun a struggle to inform our fellow villagers and the inhabitants of our Nomos.
“We stand beside all those bodies who seek to achieve their own aims and we will reinforce the common front of resistance. We call on all the area’s inhabitants to inform themselves at the open meetings which will be taking place in the villages and to participate in the coming struggles. We call on every citizen, both man and woman, to become part of a great human shield of struggle and resistance, taking part in the working groups which we have started and creating others, giving the message: No to crippling development. Windmill-free mountains. We won’t sell out our sea, water, earth, air. Enough is enough!”
Environmental Committee says no to wind generators
While the grass roots are taking matters into their own hands, there is at least some official support for the general antipathy to the proposals. The Planning and Environment Committee of the Cretan Regional Authority has given a negative response to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the installation of 6 wind farms comprising 48 wind generators with a combined output of 288 MW in the municipalities of Sfakia, Selino and Kissamos. Speaking during the course of its meeting on Tuesday 16th July, the Committee’s chairman, Deputy Regional Governor Nikos Xylouris, stated that the Committee’s rejection of the project on the basis of the report was unanimous.
Comparison with the pylons
Following the end of the session, Regional Councillor Giannis Manousakas Vladas, from Chania, explained to Haniotika Nea the reasons for the negative opinion, as against the positive opinion which had been issued in the case of the pylons planned by ADMIE.
He noted that “the wind generators are situated in NATURA areas and in an earlier decision which we had taken as Regional Council we said that we are against the siting of giant Alternative Energy Systems in NATURA areas.” He drew attention to the substantial environmental damage which the ancillary works would produce, as presented in the EIA.
Asked why there had been a different majority decision from the Regional Council on the issue of the high-tension pylons, he replied: “There is a difference. On the previous occasion when we voted for the high-tension pylons from Damasta to Xylokamara we did not say yes to the plan, we said yes to the project. That is to say, to the necessity for the project. We did not say yes to the study submitted by ADMIE.
“We said that we agree with the necessity of the work on the basis that they should examine the conditions which we set: that the case should be considered for laying the whole cable underground and that ADMIE should bring us a comprehensive study, giving reasons why they were not opting for a completely subterranean installation. That ADMIE should also examine the option of an undersea cable and submit to the Committee reasons why they are not proceeding with that solution. And in the event that the two solutions are rejected and they insist on an overground cable, we made it obligatory for them to bury it wherever there is a settlement or buildings along the line of that cable, making laying it underground an inviolable condition.”
Among those present at the meeting was SYRIZA MP Pavlos Polakis, who also expressed his opposition to the wind farm project: “It is not connected with the interests of the majority of the island’s inhabitants, but with the interests of three, four or five large companies who have seen a new El Dorado of profit in renewable energy sources,” he said. Also referring to the issue of the high-tension pylons, he said: “It’s clear that this project, as they want to push it forward, is the cheapest way of connecting with the wind farms in Sfakia if they are installed. Since the cable was laid underground from Kolymbari to Chania, they could do the same here, either underground or under the sea,” he maintained.
(Haniotika Nea, 30/06, 11/07, 16/07/24)