Montalegre, Portugal, Oct. 8, 2024 (Lusa) — The Montalegre PSD reaffirmed on Tuesday its opposition to mining after four draft resolutions calling for the suspension of the Romano mine were ejected in parliament, with the Social Democratic members voting against them.
On Friday, parliament rejected draft resolutions from the BE, PCP, Livre and PAN that recommended that the government suspend or cancel the lithium mining concessions in Boticas and Montalegre. The draft resolutions were voted down by the PSD, PS, CDS-PP and Liberal Initiative (IL) while Chega and the two PS MPs elected for the Vila Real constituency, Fátima Correia Pinto and Carlos Silva, abstained.
The two PSD MPs elected from the Vila Real district, Amílcar Almeida and Alberto Machado, invoked voting discipline and presented an explanation of vote in which they said that they repudiated and did not accept mining in the form in which it was envisaged, because the benefits did not outweigh the problems.
After the vote in parliament, the Political Commission of the Montalegre PSD issued a statement reiterated its opposition to mining in the municipality.
"Our position remains the same: we are against mining in the municipality and we are on the side of the population. We are and will be against it because the future is based on preserving the environment and enhancing our excellent products and services - water, smoked meats, meat, landscape, and ethnography - reinforced by our classification as a World Agricultural Heritage Site, which are incompatible with mines," said the municipality.
It added that it also rejects the idea that the municipality is "a kind of coutada" for the state, which only serves to sell concessions to private individuals.
"First, there were the dams in the 50s and 60s. Then came wind farms and mines. Now we're in the solar energy phase: the Pisões solar-wind power station and the Pisões, Paradela and Salamonde floating parks, the last two adjacent to the Peneda-Gerês National Park," he emphasised.
Regarding the compensation for mining, the PSD pointed out that the "municipality has the same accessibility as before 25 April and receives just over a million euros from the dams, despite having 15% of the country's installed hydroelectric capacity to produce electricity".
"And the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) has yet to start drawing up the Pisões Dam Management Plan but has already approved the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) for the Romano mine, despite its "serious flaws".
Lusorecursos Portugal Lithium's lithium exploration project, the Romano mine (Montalegre), obtained a favourable conditional Environmental Impact Statement (DIA) in September 2023. The company has already said it intends to start mining in 2027.
The Social Democrats criticised the local PS's "subservient and back-and-forth attitude" regarding the Romano mine and, finally, called for resistance against mining.
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