The ill parade touched her five days before the showdown. When the lords of the wind, descended on Sardinia from the “Alp Grüm”, in almost Italian Switzerland, two stone's throw away from St. Moritz, leaf through the papers of the opposition to the wind climb in the Sardinian sea, they immediately understand that a storm is blowing on those blades. Someone in the palaces of Rome had guaranteed him red carpets and windy seas, billionaire incentives and quick permits. That's not exactly how it went, at least for the moment. Those under-the-table commitments picked up in some complacent Roman parlor have turned out to be a mere and pious illusion. The deeds signed and deposited in recent days in the rooms of the Port Authority of Cagliari have opened up a horizon as unexpected as it is straightforward: those skyscrapers in the middle of the Sardinian sea will not have comfortable floating, on the contrary, far from it.
Skip the "first"
The conference of services, the one to decide the concession of a body of water equal to nine thousand (9,000) football fields in the salt waters in front of the forbidden peninsula of the Teulada polygon, had been planned with all the honors of an event. The appointment in the nautical license room of the Cagliari Harbor Master's Office had date and time: 9.30 am today 18 July. The occasion was equal to a "first" of the Scala, complete with guests for the first and second rows. All precept to decide whether or not to grant the lords of the wind those immense water spaces on the south west coast of the island. A sort of "forerunner" procedure which would be followed by those for the other 8 projects presented between the Gulf of Angels and the islands of Sant'Antioco and San Pietro, with an offshoot towards Porto Flavia and the Pan di Zucchero di Masua. Similar procedure also for the Olbia and Porto Torres Harbor Offices. It didn't go well. On July 13, the Repower lords used the IT channels to retreat: "Given the opinions expressed, given the contributions, we ask you to suspend the state concession procedures for the stretch of water in front of the southern coast of Sardinia".
The torpedoes of the first citizens
On the one hand, the "confusional state" of the Ministries of Rome and on the other the "armed" line-up of the Mayors of the Golfo degli Angeli, together with those of Sulcis. On the dossier of the wind farm, to be placed close to the forbidden peninsula of Teulada, on the border with the stretch of water already prohibited for state bombing, the "torpedoes" of the Municipalities that from Sarroch to Sant'Anna Arresi have deployed the heavy anti-aircraft, that of hard and strong oppositions, without hesitation. Technical, environmental and strategic arguments. The opinions received before Repower's "retreat" are divided into three categories: that of the courageous mayors ready for a real crusade against the wind invasion of the Sardinian sea, that of the "servants" of the state, prone and obsequious to the will of Rome and the lords of the wind and, finally, that of the "waiters", intent on asking for postponements and further information, including some regional councilors.
Courageous & state-prone
In the first category, that of the "brave" Mayors, there are the first citizens of Sarroch, Settimo San Pietro, Pula, Domus de Maria, Teulada and Sant'Anna Arresi, practically all those directly connected to the offshore wind project of the gentlemen who came from beyond the Alps to exploit the mistral of the island. In the second category there are the "favorable", all counted as such directly from the summary of the Port Authority of Cagliari which includes in this list the "discounted" and some "surprises" in Sardinian sauce. Among those ready to open the windows to the Swiss wind there are the apparatus of the "Defense" of the State, Military General Command of the Army and Navy, evidently not totally satisfied with the warmongering servitudes they impose on the island. Together with the generals in favor of the aeolian invasion in the Sardinian sea, there is even the Port System Authority of the Sardinian Sea which still remains an offshoot of state in Sardinian land.
Shovels & umbrellas
And, finally, among the opinions contemplated by the Harbor Office as favorable there is also that of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari. The headed paper of the "Subway" is written by an executive, that of the Environment, who in a "modest" and superficial evaluation, worthy of an authorization procedure for an umbrella on the beach, entrusts the continuation of the future process to a chemical expert . An opinion that is disarming to say the least, precisely because it ignores the very tough stance of the coastal Mayors who are an integral and decisive part of the supra-municipal body. The third category is the one that Dante placed in one of the less noble groups of the Divine Comedy, in an Aeolian key: the waiters. In this case we include the regional departments of the Environment and Agriculture, the first, the environmental one, with an opinion from the general director, punctual and detailed, with some regulatory references that suggest an authorization process in contrast with regional planning and on the other, agriculture and fisheries with a request for an extension of terms worthy of the more fruitful policy of postponement and delays. To mark the real resistance to the plan of aeolian invasion of the sea, however, are the Mayors.
Heavy artillery
The analyzes filed with the Port Authority are complete and without half words: these plants are devastating for the environment, for the landscape, for the tourist future of our territories, they are an intolerable imposition that aims to exploit our coasts without any concrete benefit for our communities. Municipal artillery starts from the electrical landing point: Sarroch. The Mayor Angelo Dessì does not shy away from an obligatory premise: «The Sarroch area is already heavily damaged from an environmental point of view and from a visual and perceptive impact by the presence of the petrochemical».
Enough havoc
The gaze of the mayor of Sarroch, however, is turned to the future: "We cannot accept yet another visual and invasive havoc, with the positioning of works such as transformers, pylons, technical rooms, which can irreparably disfigure the territory". Opinion below: 'Negative'. Villa San Pietro, the door to the tourist enclave of southern Sardinia, closes every crack. The Mayor Marina Madeddu writes: "The wind farm will be visible from miles away and for this reason it will constitute a radical modification of the landscape and ecosystem in which it is inserted, interrupting the horizon and creating a discontinuity through the alteration of the landscape". The mayor's conclusion was severe and decisive: "This administration firmly reiterates its opinion against the construction of the offshore wind farm." Walter Cabasino, Mayor of Pula for the third time, a territory that includes the splendid archaeological cove of Nora and Santa Margherita, the holiday hamlet, in fact the residence of the "Forte Village", the undisputed kingdom of the first tourist resort in the world, has no not even a day passed since its inauguration.
First of all No
The first act he signed is the opposition to the wind invasion. A dry «No» expressed with the strength and authority of a territory genetically “sculpted” by the sun and the sea: «This municipal administration reiterates its firm and strong opposition to the construction of this wind farm. We ask that the proposal from Repower Renewable be rejected ”. The first to mark the distance from this invasion of the Sardinian sea was Concetta Spada, mayor of Domus de Maria. His opinion, technical and legal, did not neglect the economic aspects: "The total opposition to the construction of these plants is manifested due to the strongly negative repercussions on the image of the territory and on the development of the community, whose economy is mainly based on tourism of quality and 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 ».
Teulada has already given
In the land of military servitude, in that strip of Sardinia devastated by missiles and bombs, in Teulada, you expect some room for negotiation with the lords of the wind. The reality is the exact opposite: the mayor Daniele Serra "reaffirms his firm and strong opposition to the construction of the wind farm in the stretch of water in front of the territorial coasts of the Municipality of Teulada". The reasons do not escape the issue of military occupation: «We can say, without fear of denial, that the community of Teulada" has already given "in terms of renouncing its territories for" reasons of state "».
Attack on the image
The coastal arch of the municipalities at risk of wind invasion is closed by Maria Teresa Diana, historic first citizen of Sant'Anna Arresi, a territory bordering Teulada and immersed in the exclusive dunes of Porto Pino. His words are an opposition with no return: «The Municipality of Sant'Anna Arresi expresses a clear opposition to the construction of the wind power plant». In addition to the environmental reasons, a strong and clear one is added: "These huge wind farms would have an impact on the territory that will negatively affect the natural image that qualifies our tourist offer". Mayors against wind turbines: you are at zero. The supporters of the aeolian invasion in the sea of Sardinia, however, are there. They nestle in Cagliari as well as in Rome. For now they are hidden, or almost, but they are lurking. Better watch out.
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