WRITTEN QUESTION E-1432/03 by Pierre Jonckheer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Open-cast coal mine in northern Leon (Valle de Laciana, Spain).
Date: 2003-04-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Castile-Leon, coal mining, environmental impact, environmental law, environmental protection, impact study, mining operation, project management, protected species

C 78 E/32

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

(2004/C 78 E/0032)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1431/03

by Pierre Jonckheer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(24 April 2003)

Subject: Open-cast coal mine in northern Leon (Valle de Laciana, Spain)

On 14 June 1999, the Department of the Environment and Regional Planning for Castille and Leon
adopted the environmental impact statement for the exploitation of the Fonfría open-cast mine in view of
the measures proposed in the environmental restoration plan and monitoring plan, with it being
understood that these measures would help improve the current state of the environment and leave the
landscape much the same as it was originally. This approach is inadmissible because it fails to take into
account many factors.

In particular (1):

(a)

extraction estimates for the mine are for 18 579 705 cubic metres, 3 500 000 cubic metres of which
will be deposited on two slag heaps. Slag is currently being tipped in the Fonfría watercourse, as a
result of which the spring itself has disappeared under the waste, despite the fact that it was supposed
to have been protected under the corrective measures proposed;

(b)

the northernmost slag heap juts into a Community-financed area of afforestation;

(c)

(d)

the environmental impact assessment makes no mention of the existence of lakes which are of great
ecological importance or of the various other springs besides Fonfría. Neither is any reference made to
the changes to or the disappearance of various streams or of a large area of juvenile oak trees resulting
from a series of forest fires (in the Orallo mountains);

the environmental impact survey was carried out in isolation, as if this were the only mine in the area,
without taking into account the proximity of other mines (including Feixolín), certain cuttings that
have already been mined out, others which are currently being exploited, cuttings that are in the
process of being authorised and several others at the study stage. The end result will be a large scar
several kilometres long and the destruction of thousands of hectares.

Will the Commission investigate these issues? Does it not think it should order the suspension of mining
activities and require that the environment be restored and the respective European funding repaid (2)?

(1) Detailed documentation on the subject was presented to the European Commission by the Asociación Laciana para
la Defensa de la Naturaleza (Laciana Environmental Protection Association) on 18 May, 9 July and 10 October
2002, file No 2001/4914, SG(2001) A/10264. See also Written Question E-1892/02.

(2) As the Commission itself has indicated, the company MSP has received millions of pesetas from the Regional
Government of Castille and Leon, in line with decisions relating to the ECSC, since the Coal Plan was implemented
in 1998. This aid is completely at odds with the aid received between 1992 and 1996 for LIFE projects for the
conservation of brown bear populations and their habitats in the Cantabrian Hills (ECU 8 625 266, 75 % of which
was paid by the EU).

(2004/C 78 E/0033)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1432/03

by Pierre Jonckheer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(24 April 2003)

Subject: Open-cast coal mine in northern Leon (Valle de Laciana, Spain)

On 14 June 1999, the Department of the Environment and Regional Planning for Castille and Leon
adopted the environmental impact statement for the exploitation of the Fonfría open-cast mine in view of
the measures proposed in the environmental restoration plan and monitoring plan, with it being
understood that these measures would help improve the current state of the environment and leave the
landscape much the same as it was originally. This approach is inadmissible because it fails to take into
account many factors.

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/33

In particular (1):

(a)

the survey does not fulfil the requirements of Decree No 209/1995 of 5 October 1995 since the
members of the drafting team did not have the qualifications required by that decree (biologist or
environmental engineer);

(b) despite the fact that Decree No 108/1990 of 21 June 1990 granted protected status to brown bears in
Castille and Leon and introduced a recovery plan for the brown bear, and that under Royal Decree
No 439/1990 of 30 March 1990 brown bears were declared a protected species in danger of
extinction, open-cast mining has been permitted in the bears’ natural habitat;

(c)

the scientific study commissioned by the regional government of Castille and Leon itself (2) points to
the especially serious effects of open-cast mines in this area, in view of the fact that it forms a bio-
geographical corridor of vital importance to brown bears in the Cantabrian hills. On 22 May 2002,
a brown bear killed a bullock less than 500 metres from the entrance to the mine and less than
a kilometre away from the mine workings;

(d)

the existence of a colony of capercaillie, a species protected under Directive 79/409/EEC (3) in an oak
grove close to the mine was also overlooked, and no reference was made to other types of wild fauna
and flora that are protected under Directive 92/43/EEC (4).

Will the Commission investigate these issues? Has it opened infringement proceedings against Spain for
impact assessments and the protection of
failing to comply with Community law on environmental
habitats and species?

(1) Detailed documentation on the subject was presented to the European Commission by the Asociación Laciana para
la Defensa de la Naturaleza (Laciana Environmental Protection Association) on 18 May, 9 July and 10 October
2002, file No 2001/4914, SG(2001) A/10264. See also Written Question E-1892/02.
‘Critical areas and management units for the brown bear in western Leon (cid:1) a review and proposals’ by
A. Fernández, J. Naves and E. García, 2001, the findings of which have been confirmed by other leading experts in
this field, including Francisco J. Purroy, Chair of Animal Biology at the University of Leon.

(2)

(3) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-1431/03 and E-1432/03
given by Ms Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 2003)

It should first be noted that the Commission does not have the power to require Member States to suspend
a project which is being investigated. Nevertheless, under the procedural rules which it must follow, the
Commission has adopted every measure possible to ensure that Community law is respected in this case.
In particular, after it had been made aware of the facts set out in these written questions as a result of
several complaints, the Commission asked the Spanish authorities for their comments on the application of
Community law in this particular case.

The Commission is currently examining the reply sent by the Spanish authorities in order to decide what
measures are necessary to ensure that the Spanish authorities comply with Community law, in particular
Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
private projects on the environment (1), as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (2),
and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild
fauna and flora (3). The Commission will take particular account of the points which the Honourable
Member raises in Written Question E-1431/03 when examining the content of the environmental impact
assessment undertaken by the Spanish authorities.

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.
(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.
(3) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.