It is with great relief and satisfaction that we share this press release, prepared by the lawyer Michele Greco, on the judgement of the State Council which finally puts an end to the geothermal pilot project of Torre Alfina. An aspect of fundamental importance should be noted: the ruling gives priority to environmental protection over the promotion of renewable energies.
PRESS RELEASE (February 8 2021)
The Council of State, with judgement no. 1399, accepted the appeal made by the Municipalities of Acquapendente, Castel Giorgio, Castel Viscardo and Orvieto. Via Michele Greco, expert in environmental law, the municipalities had challenged the ruling of the Lazio TAR (Regional Administrative Court) which had upheld the appeal of ITW/LKW, which intended to build the Torre Alfina pilot geothermal plant.
The judgement is of extraordinary importance, not only because it puts an end to the Torre Alfina project (which cannot now be carried out, having received a definitively negative environmental impact assessment) but also because it has a number of principles of jurisprudence in the field of geothermal energy and environmental protection.
The Council of State has in fact fully accepted the arguments put forward by Dr Greco as the basis of the appeal. It acknowledges that “the legal privilege enjoyed by geothermal energy does not override the requirements of environmental and landscape protection, as these are a direct consequence of the principles established by articles 9.32 and 117 of the Constitution; indeed, there are no provisions that allow an exception to the ordinary forms of protection of the values in question”.
In other words, the Council of State has clarified once and for all that geothermal plants, even if aimed at the production of allegedly renewable energy, must comply with the requirements for environmental and landscape protection, which are of constitutional importance and absolutely mandatory.
This is a ruling that will forever change the fate of authorisation procedures for this type of plant, too often located in areas absolutely unsuitable for them, thus sacrificing uncontaminated areas from an environmental and landscape point of view for the production of a few kw of energy.
