[ad_1]
This week, a safeguards judge resolved the prosecutor's office's requests for five precautionary measures to end the environmental and social damage caused by the unforeseen in Hidroituango. At first glance, the decision did not take into account what had been established by the judiciary, such as the collection of the bucket of water and the removal of polluting debris. However, the judge went further and paved the way for a re-examination of the project in the background.
Although the Office of the Prosecutor has requested the removal of this plant that contaminates the Cauca River, as well as the waste generated by an asphalt plant, the collection of excavation materials, the protection of the health of the inhabitants, the right to inform the affected populations and their food security, the togado has taken up the spirit of each of these five points and summarized them in two measures:
First decreed "Protecting the rights to life, health, the minimum vital, the environment, dignity, public health and human dignity in the context of disaster and human dignity decreed by the government of Antioquia ". These are a lot of rights in a package and without any pragmatic instruction. However, it is the constitutional floor that supports the next measure.
Read also: Prosecutor's office calls for immediate action against environmental damage caused by Hidroituango
The second measure consists in forming and developing a technical table to carry out a study badyzing the rock structure where the works are located and the stability of the ground. In white money, this means that the study would determine whether it is viable or not, from an engineering point of view, to continue the project.
This new technical mission will be composed of the Office of the Attorney General, the Attorney General, the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Government of Antioquia, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Anla (National Environmental Licensing Authority), public enterprises of Medellin (Epm) and Hidroituango. This proceeding must be completed within the next five days, ie by June 19 at the latest.
At first glance, one might think that the judge failed to resolve the most pragmatic measures of the accuser's claim: Eliminate the sound signal from the water that extends to the surface of the Cauca River and generates a surplus of carpets causing mbadive death of fish, which need sunlight; as well as the elimination of debris generated by the abandonment of a plant asphalt in the San Andrés River, one of the tributaries of Cauca and which has generated substances that fall into the waters and diminish their quality, and others are exposed to the community, especially to the children who live there and live there area, a situation that represents a risk to health.
This is what the Cauca River looks like. The green color is the buchon that advances at a giant step. Photo: Private Archive
You may also be interested in: More than 300 complaints chase Hidroituango
The asphalt plant and the waste found is the work subcontracted by EPM for the extension and repair of roads between Ituango, Toledo Valley, Toledo and Puerto Valdivia, damaged by the pbadage of machinery to the Hidroituango project.
For the Office of the Prosecutor, this plant was not technically closed or adequate collection was established in accordance with environmental regulations. For this reason, the judicial body is calling for the technical and urgent closure of the asphalt plant, the collection and immediate and technical storage of waste, as a precaution.
However, during the hearing, it was determined that these problems were already resolved by the corresponding companies and the judge therefore did not take any specific precautionary measures.
The victims' representatives agreed with the guarantee judge's proposal. According to Juan Pablo Soler, spokesman for the communities that infiltrate the territory, waters and autonomy (STAA), told the Movement Ríos Vivos that the most valuable aspect of this statement is the possibility that communities have to participate at the established tables, as he claimed it was something that was not given for years.
Likewise, he reminded that an impartial engineering study is actually carried out since the study presented a few months ago had been subscribed by the company itself (EPM), which removed it all its veracity. "For us, it is very important that the judiciary really define the responsibilities in the face of everything that has happened, because there have been many procedural frauds. The company cheated Anla during one of his visits during which he spoke only of tunnels and not the diversion system. In our opinion, the audit also failedSoler said, adding, "We see the judge's decision with good eyes, but we are running out of speed. "
For Soler, faced with the initial risks presented by the prosecutor's office and that the securities judge did not leave explicit because he badumed that the company was already working on its resolution, it is also necessary to accelerate the # 39; execution. "For example, before the buchón, a fact that had already been considered in the environmental management plan, too little has been done and continues to generate collateral impacts, as in the case of fishing. It is no longer possible to enter the river as the putrefaction of organic matter in the water is terrible"He said.
See also: Hidroituango will have to pay a fine of one million dollars
For its part, EPM has responded well to the measures ordered by the judge and has already filed an appeal. According to a representative of the company, "the company (Epm) respects the judge's decisions, which do not refer punctually to the dismissal requests presented by the Attorney General's Office, because of the progress made by the organization at this time. respect, but to the conformation of a technical table ".
In an EPM statement, he states that he complied with the requirements imposed by the different controlling entities. However, for some specialists in the subject, the fear of society is that this new study carried out by the experts of this technical panel made it possible to determine that the project could not continue.
Communities, for their part, say that they will continue to insist on creating spaces for citizen participation, as well as the creation of a national commission dams because for Soler, although the goal is located in Hidroituango, all these infrastructure works have generated serious damage throughout the country. And in the specific case of the project in Ituango, they will continue to work because they will open censuses and take into account the entire affected population, that is, those affected at the beginning of construction and those who suffered from the floods of 2018.
Source link
