20.07.2011
ALPINE ASSOCIATION OF SLOVENIA OPPOSES RENEWED ATTEMPT TO DEGRADE SOČA RIVER
The Ministry of the Economy of the RS has prepared the draft Energy Act (EZ-1) and submitted it for public consultation at the end of June. The draft law introduces a solution that would devalue the Soča River and its tributaries (in the worst-case scenario turning them into a series of concrete barriers), therefore the Alpine Association of Slovenia firmly opposes Article 565 of the aforementioned draft law.
One of the central issues raised by the Draft EZ-1 is the role of water in electricity production. In general, water is a renewable energy source that does not produce harmful emissions, but on the other hand, the use of water for electricity production has negative consequences for the landscape and the natural balance of watercourses. The Draft EZ-1 reopens old attempts, rejected with majority societal consent in 1971 (HE Trnovo) and 1979 (HE Kobarid), to build energy facilities or devices on the section from the Soča source to the confluence of the Idrijca at Most na Soči. Moreover: the Draft EZ-1 contains provisions that would abolish natural values of national importance in the protected area for the Soča River with tributaries.
The national interest regarding the Soča is its natural European uniqueness and irreplaceability. In addition to its water and biological value, the landscape named after the Soča has exceptional experiential and mountaineering value. The Triglav National Park was also established because of the Soča, so the Soča is not national silver suitable for cheap devaluation, but national gold and an invaluable jewel that cannot be owned solely by profit-driven energy interests. Amid climate change and more intense natural processes, any intervention in the landscape components of the extremely sensitive mountain landscape is subject to greater risks and threats to the population from natural and other disasters. Ensuring economical and prudent use requires high-quality, coordinated, and integral development of the entire space.
Borut Peršolja, Vice-President of the Alpine Association of Slovenia, emphasizes that "Slovenia is a signatory to the Alpine Convention, and the Energy Protocol stipulates, among other things, that the contracting parties commit, within the framework of their financial possibilities, to promote and preferentially use renewable energy sources under conditions acceptable to the environment and landscape (paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the Energy Protocol). Therefore, we are all the more surprised that the Draft EZ-1 is not inter-ministerially coordinated (for example, the Ministry for the Environment and Spatial Planning and the Institute of the RS for Nature Conservation oppose it), and likewise, according to our knowledge, the draft does not contain a study of hazards, consequences, and environmental impacts. Such an extremely irresponsible approach to siting energy facilities in sensitive areas casts a bad light on the entire law."
In the Alpine Association of Slovenia, which is part of civil society in Slovenia, we are accustomed to viewing events from the summits, with a clear perspective of the past, present, and future. Therefore, the Alpine Association of Slovenia calls on the Ministry of the Economy to completely withdraw Article 565 from the draft Energy Act.