- Precisely where it is intended to build the site of the Guggenheim muse, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia aims to virtually eliminate the protection of the environment: there are now 100 metres of land protected from the sea and asks the Directorate of Coasts and Seas of Madrid to reduce to twenty. Together Bizkaia and EH Bildu have criticised the decision not to respect the biosphere ecosystem.
The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has requested the reduction of the protected space in the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai (Bizkaia), specifically in the area for the construction of the Guggenheim museum. This is an area owned by the Murueta shipyard, but the public administration is competent to adopt environmental conservation measures, including the prohibition of numerous actions harmful to the biosphere. Until now the protected area was 100 metres, but the Provincial Council of Bizkaia has asked the Directorate of Coasts and Seas of the Government of Spain to withdraw the protection of 80 metres in this area.
The Deputy for the Sustainability and Conservation of the Natural Environment, Amaia Antxustegi, confirmed on Monday in the General Assembly the information, but has not given further explanations claiming that the request is still pending. Launched in October.
Antxustegi confirms the information after asking for explanations from Bizkaia party colleague Héctor Fernández. For its part, Fernández reports that the area that the Provincial Council intends to leave without protection is now the most protected area of the Urdaibai Reserve. He denounces that the decision violates the basis for preserving the environment and the coast, according to Naiz.
EH Bildu has also questioned whether or not the decision complies with the Coast Act.
Antxustegi responds that the project will have "the necessary measures" to protect the environment, but it is not yet time to do so.
Guggenheim Museum in Urdaibai
In 2008, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia promoted the construction of the second headquarters of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. At that time the project progressed little, however, due to the lack of economic support from the Basque Government. However, in 2020, the government presented the Guggenheim de Urdaibai on the Next Generation European Funds Collection Project list, and the Bizkaia MEP, Unai Rementeria, has shown that the project "yes or yes", "with or without European aid".
The voices that have denounced the environmental consequences of the new museum have been from the outset: for mass tourism, and because the most fragile ecosystems of the Biosphere are in the area where the project is intended to be carried out, according to the environmental organization Zain Dezagun Urdaibai.