WRITTEN QUESTION E-5560/09 by Ramon Tremosa I Balcells (ALDE) to the Commission

Subject: Severe environmental damage caused by the ENDESA company in the rivers of the Pyrenees

On 23 October, a well-respected environmental association, AEMS-Rios con Vida (see: http://www.riosconvida.es/riosconvida.htm), which received the Spanish National Prize for Environment in 1998, accused Spain’s largest electrical company, ENDESA, of causing severe environmental damage. AEMS-Rios con Vida accused ENDESA of ‘killing the fauna and flora’ in over 12 kilometres of rivers in the Pyrenees.

More precisely, ENDESA is accused of having ‘discharged a large quantity of mud’, which affected the Noguera de Cardós river after the water spilled down from the Tavascan dam in the province of Lleida. According to the association, the mud – as a consequence of the release of a large quantity of water from the dam – caused ‘the complete destruction of every species in the river (especially fish and rare species) and strongly degraded the geomorphological state and the aquatic habitat and fauna of the river’. In some areas, the mud deposits reached one metre in depth, preventing the recolonisation of the area by the species concerned.

ENDESA, meanwhile, claimed that these allegations were ‘completely untrue’. Speaking to Europa Press on 23 October, a company spokeswoman acknowledged that water had been released from the dam in order ‘to facilitate maintenance works at the Llavorsí electrical power plant’. She claimed it was carried out with ‘the consent and approval’ of the Department of Environment of the Catalan Government and ‘under the supervision of inspectors from the Catalan Water Agency’.

In the light of the above, does the Commission not believe that this situation infringes Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy? In fact, the EU water policy, in particular the Water Framework Directive, sets the objective of achieving ‘good ecological status’ for all waters in all Member States. Can the Commission therefore ask the Spanish Government for an explanation?

795103.EN PE 431.561