In June 2019 the company Magnesitas de Navarra presented in the Department of Environment of the Government of Navarra a report for the construction of a mine in the Erdiz area of Baztan. However, Elizetxe explained that he has not stopped since then. “To begin with, he asked for a meeting with the members of the platform and we were informed of their intentions. We reaffirm ourselves in our opposite position. It is then reported that work is also being done on something in the Department of the Environment of the Government of Navarra. Now they have to present a project of exploitation and they are doing so. Meetings have also been held with the political parties in Navarre’.
According to Elizetxe, the quarry project that Magna intends to carry out in Erdiz is ‘similar to that presented 15 years ago’, ‘a landfill would disappear, but the quarry would be in the same place, so there would be no great news in the project’. As he added, ‘it is a project for 20 years, but it is clear that after those 20 years they will continue to open there. This means that that space and grassland would disappear."
Elizetxe also explains that the company has targeted farmers: ‘We know that they want to prepare alternative proposals for half, but we do not know what it will be. For our part, we would like to emphasise what we said earlier: It is irreplaceable by halves. They have contacted some farmers and we ask them not to give them information because they will then use it to oppose it.'
Press conference
As the company progressed, the platform has also joined the protest concentrations. Last week, for example, ‘we met with the farmers using Erdiz, to inform them and talk about what we can do in the future’. It is time to move, according to Elizetxe, “so far people have not been too aware of it. For many farmers it has also been a surprise, because they had no record of Magna’s movements; they did not know that it had presented the memory, that the issue was dealt with in the general assembly... Magna, little by little, is performing its tasks. He is meeting with different biologists and groups and we know that he is getting ready to come back.’
In this sense, Elizetxe has called for “getting closer and moving to the activities that the platform organizes” to paralyze the project. It is clear that ‘before, the project was paralysed by fighting and now it will also be able to do so. Beyond the primary sector, we are dealing with the local economy, the environment and the health of the people of Baztan and we cannot allow such a project to develop.’
The Erdiz Bizirik platform will offer a press conference in Ortziral with the farmers of Baztan. The quote is at 20:00 hours, on the Iriarte fronton of Elizondo.
