Thirty days to oppose. The wind invasion in the Gulf of Angels is upon us. The Port Authority of Cagliari breaks the delay and publishes the request for the concession of spaces at sea for the construction of two gigantic wind farms. An unprecedented plan to occupy one of the most exclusive and fascinating parts of the southern Sardinian coast, a stone's throw from the island of Sant'Antioco and Carloforte. The assault, however, is only just beginning as there are six offshore wind projects which, from Villasimius, passing through Pula, Domus de Maria and Teulada, will involve some of the most fascinating inlets on the island. Citizens, associations and local administrations will be able to object by the first days of May, if they so wish. To do this they will have to send observations and objections to the offices of the Harbor Master's Office to block what is configured as a real devastation of the most precious coasts, from an environmental, naturalistic, archaeological and economic level.
Countdown
It is not known what the real deadline is that the Port Authority is imposing on a procedure which is already convoluted and irrational in itself. The final deadlines for presenting the objections, in fact, had already been fixed in recent months when the offshore arm of the State, which is entrusted with the management of the maritime domain, had published a similar notice of concession at sea in its praetorian register. In practice, the offices of the Ministry of Infrastructure have pursued at least five publications, the one on the Capitaneria website, in the Italian and European Official Journal, in the Official Bulletin of the Sardinian Region and in a regional newspaper. It is not obvious when the real countdown started, but there is certainly that last Wednesday, on the pages of the Sardinian Union, the legal announcements of the Port Authority of Cagliari on the two Sea Wind projects, already announced, were published in the past few weeks from our newspaper. Now, however, the procedure for granting those immense stretches of water has officially started. With the new invasion plan just published in the public announcement, the two smaller islands of Sulcis, San Pietro and Sant'Antioco, are surrounded by cyclopean wind turbines to be placed in the open sea, right next to the Isola del Toro.
Military landing
It is not a matter of a few shovels, but of a real wind forest divided into two large sea areas. The first directly behind the Isola del Toro from which the project takes its name. A devastating impact with the first twenty-four blades, 245 meters high for a power of 12.2 megawatts each, placed in the shape of a barrier right in front of the canal between Calasetta and Carloforte and the second twenty-four a little further west to reinforce the great wall of wind to sea. A settlement designed by the lords of the wind with the awareness that the state would have allocated further substantial incentives, capable of making the deal more and more stratospheric. All this descended on the Sardinian sea with the impetuousness of a real military occupation, as if these multinationals ignored, or didn't care, the peculiarities of the coast.
The deadline agenda
The agenda of the deadlines for presenting the objections is already under the attention of the municipal institutions and the regional administration itself. It is evident that the eventual silence of the subjects involved in the procedure would have the clear meaning of the consent to the project. In fact, it is no coincidence that the State is pursuing a sibylline and deceitful procedure through the Harbor Office to pre-establish, through the concession of water spaces, the indispensable conditions to authorize those wind palisades in the middle of the coastal promontory. In the authorization scheme there is also a conference of services, but, now more than ever, it will be a mere formality, given that the State has de facto commissioned the Region and beyond. For this reason, the passage marked by the state office of the state office in Piazza Deffenu in Cagliari is unavoidable.
Total opposition
Maria Concetta Spada, Mayor of Domus de Maria, didn't think twice about it and wasted no time. Without looking anyone in the face, she was the first to challenge the onslaught of the lords of the wind on one of the most fascinating coasts of the island, that of Chia. His first statements are punctuated in no uncertain terms: "Total opposition". The opposition of the Municipality already filed in the offices of the Capitaneria is detailed and punctual, argued from every point of view. That of the coastal municipality, however, goes far beyond a simple opposition and is configured as the prelude to a real and proper judicial conflict on a wider range. It is no coincidence that the Municipality of Domus de Maria, to counter the Nora Ventu 1 system, the one presented by the powerful multinational Falck Reneweblas, is making use of the great legal experience of Giulio Steri, former lawyer of the state, now freelance. It is he who is dealing with a consultancy that is as delicate as it is decisive for the future of the coast.
An argued No
The passages of the opposition of the Municipality of Domus de Maria are a juridical, economic and strategic manifesto for the protection and enhancement of an immense environmental and naturalistic heritage that cannot in any way be attacked by aeolian invasion at sea. The first element is the very serious contradiction between tourism development, all based on environmental values, and the wind attack. The Municipality writes: "The marine-coastal system of Domus de Maria, which extends mainly along the coast of Chia up to the promontory of Capo Spartivento, is characterized by a high degree of naturalness and a considerable environmental and landscape diversity, recognized by the 'establishment of numerous assets, conservation areas, territorial restrictions and sites of conservation interest subject to protection and protection ».
Two-faced state
A not insignificant reminder: on the one hand the State promotes parks and conservation areas and, then, the State itself authorizes their devastation with wind turbines. The opposition then strikes an emblematic fact: "The socio-economic impact of this offshore wind project would have strongly negative repercussions on the image of the territory and on the development of a community, whose economy is mainly based on quality tourism and on the ecosystem services that derive precisely from the high value of the naturalistic-environmental, landscape and historical-cultural resources of the coastal area of Domus de Maria ».
Attack on the landscape
«The coastal strip of Chia, a place with a strong tourist vocation, - writes the Municipality - is one of the most popular destinations for vacationers from all over the world, who want to enjoy the wonderful environmental and landscape features present in our territory. Offshore wind farms impose a really important cost on the landscape linked to the inclusion of wind turbines which, by interrupting the skyline, create territorial discontinuities by "subtracting" and "altering" the landscape. In fact, - it is written in the opposition of the Municipality - the large wind generators are visible from miles away and constitute an objective modification of the landscape and the surrounding environment ». The conclusions of the municipal act are a real diktat: "This municipal administration reiterates its firm and strong opposition to the construction of the offshore wind farm in front of the coasts of Domus de Maria".
