The Sklivani Brotherhood gives an answer regarding the wind farm in Xirovouni on the occasion of the announcement by the Residents’ Assembly Committee.
The Commission’s announcement stated that “all the bodies were placed negatively except for the President of the Sklivanite Brotherhood of Ioannina”.
The Sklivanite Brotherhood of Ioannina and the Sklivanite Brotherhood of Attica with a joint statement signed by the presidents Vassilis Maggioros and Konstantinos Tzirivilas state:
“Last Sunday, 04/07/2024, an information event was held by the Sklivani Mountaineering Association for the EIA of the wind turbine installation project in Xirovouni in Sklivani. In addition to the Mountaineering Association, representatives from Tzoumerka, from the Mountaineering Association of Ioannina and residents of Sklivani expressed their opinion.
From when we were asked to express an opinion on the EIA, in the context of the Public Consultation, which ended on 18/03/2024, it was obvious and logical that there were both positive and negative opinions of the local community about the specific project.
For this reason, the joint memorandum of the TK Sklivani and the Sklivanite Brotherhoods of Ioannina and Attica was expressed as “by majority” and not as “unanimous”. At the same time, and with the negative opinion of the Sklivanis Mountaineering Association, we believe that the positive and negative opinions of the residents were universally expressed.
With the installation of the President of the Sklivanite Brotherhood of Ioannina, the reason why we, as Brotherhoods, co-signed the opinion of the Local Community was explained to our fellow villagers. We also filed an information file, more than 60 pages, with all the opinions of the agencies, positive and negative, for the most complete information of our fellow villagers.
We emphasized that to the conditions for our positive opinion we also add all the conditions set by OFYPEKA with its opinion (prot. no.: 7795/23-03-2024).
Therefore, the President of the Ioannina Brotherhood did not express personal views and was not only, as an individual, positive on wind turbines as misleadingly, if not incorrectly, as we want you to believe, your publication states about creating impressions.
As the Sklivani bodies expressed themselves in the consultation, so do their opinions remain after the information meeting.
On the substance of the discussion:
Opinions like:
• “Wind turbines need to burn lignite to operate” or whatever
• “Wind turbines need 5 Beaufort winds to operate” or whatever
• “The commercial value of our homes will decrease” or that
• “It is preferable to put small wind turbines around the perimeter of Pamvotida lake”,
apparently it is beyond reasonable discussion.
In our arguments, of the affirmative opinion with conditions, there was no substantial counter-argument.
The opinions are all respected and especially those resulting from personal experiences and memories of ordinary residents.
At the same time, we jointly proposed actions with the associations of Tzoumerka for information and awareness for all protected species that appeared in our area, especially the Agriogidos, the Zarkadios, the Bear and also the Wolf, supporting even the gate guard patrols in view of the new hunting season and also for the scourge of poisoned baits that endangers the balance of the entire ecosystem.
A tragic omission is that the fact that the negative opinion of the Sklivanis Mountaineering Association was not expressed, as the legislation provides, institutionally, until 18/03/2024, in the context of the public consultation of the project so that the overall picture of the agencies can be found in the Environmental Register of Sklivani.
The doctrinal position YES to everything or NO to everything does not express the co-signatories of Sklivani. Our goal is the reliable reason, with arguments, in all common issues that arise, small or large.
