Turbogas, fiery assembly. All against the plant

PRESENZANO – It was a fiery assembly that took place yesterday at the Council Hall of the Municipality of Presenzano against the Turbogas plant. The public meeting was urgently convened by the municipal administration of Presenzano led by the mayor Andrea Maccarelli at the request of local committees

and the "No Turbogas" associations to defend health and the environment, to discuss the Turbogas affair. In fact, the company Edison SpA according to days should start the works for the construction of a plant for the production of about 800 Mwe in the territory of the Municipality of Presenzano (on the border with that of Vairano Patenora).

At the meeting, moderated by the journalist Thomas Scalera, as anticipated, the activists of the "No Turbogas" Committee and the spokesmen were present Francesco De Cunto is Mirco Sirignano, the representatives of the associations fighting against the construction of the plant, the mayor of Presenzano Andrea Maccarelli together with other mayors of the district, among them the first citizen of Vairano Patenora Bartolomeo Cantelmo, the mayor of Tora and Piccilli Luciano Fatigati, the mayor of Marzano Appio Antonio Conca,

the mayor of San Pietro Infine Mariano Fuoco, the mayor of Venafro Alfredo Ricci, the mayor of Sesto Campano Luigi Paolone. The story of the Turbogas is strongly felt also by the municipalities of Molise on the border with those of the Alto Caserta because they already present several environmental criticalities in their territory and fear a further negative impact if the Edison plant is built.

They took part in the Assembly (below the full video of the meeting thanks to the direct publication of our newspaper editorial note) and to the debate that also resulted in the Hon. Gennaro Oliviero (Pd), regional councilor and President of the Environmental Commission of the Campania Region, the regional councilors of Molise Antonio Tedeschi (Popular for Italy) and Vittorio Nola (M5S), the Hon. Margherita Del Sesto (5 Star Movement), Member of the Republic and member of the XIII Agriculture Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and the President of the Regional Park "Roccamonfina – Foce del Garigliano" Luigi Maria Verrengia.

All the institutional authorities present with their interventions have agreed on the need to implement common and coordinated initiatives in an attempt to prevent the construction of the plant that nobody wants starting from the communities of Alto Caserta very worried about the effects on health and on the environment, already compromised by other "monsters" present in the area. Strongly pressed by the activists of the local committees and associations, the mayors and the honorable Oliviero and Del Sesto have made the commitment to do everything in their power to prevent the construction of the Turbogas plant.

There have been moments of tension between the very numerous public present and the institutional representatives accused of doing only "catwalk" but not really having the issue at heart. There was also great media attention on the affair: there were several online newspapers and a RAI crew in the classroom.

Two fundamental pillars on which citizens and institutions will move in the coming days: vehement protest of the committees that will coordinate in a single "No Turbogas" Committee which will be joined by all the other fighting movements of the Campania and Molise territory, and the start of all the bureaucratic procedures foreseen to prevent the start of the works thanks also to legal actions that will be undertaken by mutual agreement between local authorities, Campania and Molise Regions, and competent Ministries.

From the debate and the interventions of the representatives of the various institutions intervened, it became clear to everyone that the decisions that will be adopted by the Ministry of Economic Development and most probably by the Ministry of the Environment led by the General will have a decisive influence on the Turbogas affair. Sergio Costa who will be asked to intervene in this regard.

In fact, Edison currently has all the ministerial authorizations necessary to start the works to build the plant. Both the Hon. Oliviero that the Hon Del Sesto they committed themselves, to the extent of their competence, to solicit their respective institutions, regions and ministries, so that the plant will not be built.

But the times are tight. By the end of the month the works for the plant could start. In fact, on 26 October the decree expropriating the land on which the plant will be built was published. There will be time until November 25th to appeal.

For this reason legal actions will also be implemented, hopefully effective, as hoped by the mayor of Venafro Ricci, affirmed administrative lawyer. It will be necessary to have a pool of lawyers who are able to identify all the anomalies and critical issues in the documentation that exists today regarding the project of the Turbgas plant in Presenzano.

After the first authorization of the Mise in 2011 (municipal administration of Presenzano weblog D'Errico), the Turbogas project has always been extended by the various national governments that have followed.

Furthermore, the matter of resolution no. 103 of 19 March 2019 of the Campania Region, which provided for modifications to the original plan of the plant and which in fact gave the definitive go-ahead together with the Ministry of Economic Development to the work, a resolution that ultimately seems to have "disappeared" as stated by the same councilor Oliviero during the assembly last night saying that it was ready to shed light on the matter.

With regard to the regional resolution, the Hon. Margherita Del Sesto underlining how this resolution is actually mentioned in the Mise Directorial Decree n. 55/04/2019 of 05/25/2019. "In the last hours – declared the Hon. Del Sesto in an official note – I have undertaken discussions with the staff of the competent ministers and with the spokesperson M5S Vilma Moronese (current President of the 13th Senate Environment Commission)

to quickly establish institutional meetings at the relative offices, where I will reiterate that the whole territory will make a common front in order to prevent the gas turbine plant from being built ". Meanwhile, in the next few days, a large protest demonstration will be organized that will see citizens, activists and institutional representatives of the Alto Caserta and Molise.

Vincenzo Mario

Deputy Director of V-News.it. Publicist journalist registered with the Order of Journalists of Campania. In 15 years of profession, he boasts numerous collaborations with various printed and online newspapers and experiences in radio stations. Among the main ones stand out: correspondent of "Il Giornale di Caserta" and sent for TRM- Tele Radio Matese (Lunaset group); collaborator of the weekly "La Voce del CentroSud" (lower Lazio-Alto Caserta); collaborator of TVI – TV Isernia; collaborator of the monthly magazine "Fresco di Stampa"; collaborator of the Rosmarinonews site (Salerno); reporter and then editor of "La Nuova Gazzetta di Caserta"; radio journalist and speaker of RCS – Radio Circuito Solare.