Environmentalists’ have upped the ante in the fight against controversial government plans for a second Lisbon airport ‘south of the river’ at Montijo airbase.
Lodging a judicial action in a bid to force environmental agency APA to conduct a strategic environmental study, association Zero says the process so far has been conducted with a “flagrant lack of transparency”.
Zero claims the government has been “withholding information, not permitting scrutiny by third parties, whether they are citizens or public entities”.
This is a long-running fight.
Zero has been pushing for a strategic EIA since the start.
Right now, the failed EIA undertaken by ANA is due to be represented this month, but still anti-campaigners are convinced Montijo is the wrong location.
Zero’s judicial action hopes to see a much more detailed study “comparing different locations and working out the best long-term ‘cost-benefit’ ratio”.
The question ‘why has the government chosen Montijo?’ has been left hanging in the air. Opponents offer up various reasons, including the need to ‘make grandiose announcements during a key election year’.
António Costa’s PS executive signed the 1.3 billion euro Montijo expansion deal two months ago (click here).
