The newly created citizen platform Legutiano has announced more mobilizations to protest the establishment in Goiain of the polluting company Sader of the Agaleus group. The quote was this afternoon in the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

It is not the only protest that has been organised on this subject. On 8 July, another meeting was held in front of the City Hall of Legutiano, where the company held an information meeting with representatives of the City Hall and the Administrative Board.

The Ageleus group has shown interest in the facilities that the then company Icoa has in the area of Txabolapea. As explained from the platform, the company that "theoretically" would go to Legutiano is called Profersa - production of Fertilizantes S.A. - and shares land with the waste management company Sader in the Vizcaina locality of Zorrozaurre.

Citizen concern

The platform fears that Sader will also be installed in the future: "The initial approach of the company was very simple. They just want to bring Profersa's activity to Ico's facilities. However, they still have no definitive location in Sader. The facilities they purchase will double the existing ones. Our question is whether they will intend to extend their activity to less than 100 metres from the reservoir," he stressed. They have pointed out that they have tried to install it in Zierbena (Bizkaia), but they have not been able because "it is located near the port and the sea and there is no collector in the vicinity. In our case, the fact that the Basque Country is close to the dams that supply half should also be an insurmountable obstacle," he said.

He added that at the meeting on 8 July last the representatives of Agaleus set out the "pros and cons" of the project, including the possibility of pre-retirement in the next decade and thus generating about 10 jobs.

In the municipality, 12 polluting companies

But the popular platform is clear that: "We are not prepared to accept that there are more such companies than others. The municipality of Legutiano has too many companies with a very polluting activity. In Goiain there are 12 companies with integrated environmental authorization." In this sense, the platform has asked if there is no intention to carry out an epidemiological study, "because the relationship between human contact with heavy metals and health problems is clear".