Tensions arose Tuesday at the Osilo city council meeting over the Nulvi-Ploaghe wind farm and the mining project. The first aspect is well known: Erg's repowering project involves the installation of 27 new wind turbines, larger than their predecessors, and the dismantling of the existing 51 older turbines.
"These are 180-meter turbines," says Marta Spada of "Osilo Deserves More," "which will have a significant impact on the landscape of our area." Leonardo Pulinas of "Together for Our Future," another minority group, also bringing a motion like the first, attacks: "They should be much further from our viewpoint than the current two kilometers." The turbines will be on the edge of the town, which is however "invaded" by 600 meters of cable ducts and affected by several expropriations.
"The municipality has never been involved," says Marta Spada, leader of the "Osilo deserves more" group. " We would have liked a political stance from the mayor and the administration." Some of the opposition's proposals have received the opinion of a lawyer appointed by the council. There is no room for maneuver regarding the extraordinary appeal to President Sergio Mattarella to halt the project.
"It's unacceptable due to the authorization process," explains Mayor Valentino Canu, "and would expose us to risks in a possible appeal to the Regional Administrative Court." The request to annul the Region's single authorization through self-regulation, however, has a better chance. The motions are in any case rejected.
After the morning session on wind power, another discussion, open to the public, will take place in the afternoon on the "Sa Pedra Bianca" mining project presented by Valmisa srl. The project involves 25 core drillings in five areas of Osilo to search for rare earths, among other minerals . "These operations could divert water flows and damage them, as happened in the 1990s when gold was being mined," Pulinas reports, while Spada wants permission to explore and mine. Currently, Canu states, "we are in the early stages of the Environmental Impact Assessment."
