The Lanztransport Cooperative Society has come out to defend the extraction of aggregates that has been carried out for years in a protected area located between Muñique and Soo. “We want to emphasize that we are not committing any attacks or illegalities,” he maintains in a statement, in response to public complaints made by environmental groups.
From the transport cooperative they defend that this space is classified as a “mine area”, and deny that they are committing an environmental “atrocity” or “attack”. “We respect our island and therefore we have the right to defend ourselves against accusations and of course deny some news that accuses us of being exploiters of nature,” they maintain.
For their part, environmental groups emphasize that it is a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA), protected by the Natura 2000 Network, and have warned of the “serious deterioration” and “irreparable damage” caused in this space, with “the destruction of geological strata or entire ecosystems through large earth movements and making holes several meters deep”, which they also denounce are being used as a large “illegal dump”.
However, Lanzatransport insists that this activity is “legalized”, although they admit that there are authorizations that have been pending renewal for years. In this regard, they accuse the administration of having them “paralyzed” and state that they do not know the reason. “We would all like to know why the procedures are paralyzed,” they point out.
In fact, they warn that they will carry out mobilizations if these extensions are not authorized. “This cooperative advocates dialogue and common sense, but given such a dramatic situation for everyone, does not rule out the possibility of carrying out a strike-concentration if a solution to the issue is not given shortly,” they point out.
In addition, they emphasize that in the Plan for the Management of Natural Resources of the Chinijo archipelago that the Government of the Canary Islands has just put out for public display, “that area appears as a mine”, so they insist that there is “no attack or illegalities”.
