TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, leading article: "The environment is under scrutiny", by Peter Nindler

2023-07-24 20:00:32

Issued Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – The improvement order for the expansion of the Kaunertal power plant shows that the time for waving through environmental procedures is over. This may not please everyone, but the energy transition also needs a corrective.

In terms of environmental policy, the expansion of the Kaunertal power plant into a pumped storage power plant raises many critical questions. Politicians, the state energy supplier Tiwag and ultimately the responsible authorities know this. A new reservoir with a 120 meter high dam wall in the Platzertal, six hectares of highland moorland that will be flooded and the water discharged from the Ötztal are ultimately irreversible interventions in the natural and water balance and in the landscape. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) is thus on display, as was the case before with the Sellrain/Silz power plant expansion or the planned ski area mergers: 2019 Pitztal-Ötztal, now Sexten-Sillian and currently the expansion plans on the Pitztal and Kaunertal glaciers.
The procedure is superimposed by understandable conflicts of interest between environmental initiatives such as the WWF on the one hand and public interests on the other. Tyrol’s black-red state government is pushing energy autonomy in 2050 with hydropower as the cornerstone. Opinions differ not at the destination, but on the way. The NGOs are calling for an environmentally friendly energy transition, the Kaunertal is not one of them. At the same time, the (political and tourist) resistance in the Ötztal against the water export from the Gurgler and Venter Ache for the Kaunertal power plant is growing.
The UVP authority, which has done a good job in recent years, moves in this area of tension. All those who keep complaining about the inertia and duration of environmental procedures should be told that it is not primarily the fault of the authority, but mostly of the quality of the documents submitted. The better and more precise the preparatory work and reports are, the quicker the process can be completed.
The improvement order for the Kaunertal power plant falls under this and was to be expected. The Pitztal-Ötztal glacier marriage, which was finally withdrawn last year, would probably not have made the EIA, and improvements were also required for Sexten-Sillian and the new cable cars in Pitztal/Kaunertal. Although the decisions on projects are shifting to the supreme courts because of the complaints, the main issue is the expertise in the country. And about credibility. The result of the environmental impact assessment therefore remains an important indicator. Bending it in the desired political direction no longer works today. The courts of politics in the country then align that at the latest.