Ence shoots up more than 28% in the stock market after the Supreme Court has estimated the appeals presented by the lumber company and other entities against the judgments of the National Court that annulled the extension of the activity of the factory located at the foot of the estuary Pontevedra, approved in 2016 by the Government of Mariano Rajoy, which determined the continuity of the factory in its current location.
Thus, the company’s shares are trading at 3.89 euros per share three quarters of hours before the market closes, a level that had not been reached since April 2021. The resolution, of January 20, 2016, granted Ence an extension of 60 years (it would end in 2073) of the concession for the occupation of a strip of public maritime land domain for the pulp mill in Pontevedra.
The Chamber has reported that it considers that concessions prior to the General Coastal Law of 1988 can be extended, as is the case, “as long as there are favorable environmental reports.” In the matter analyzed, he remarks, “there were favorable reports from the Administration on this matter.” Ence has celebrated the decision of the Supreme Court (TS) since it “clears up the uncertainty” about jobs in the factory, on which 5,100 families depend.
For its part, Greenpeace has been critical of the decision and regretted that the Supreme Court’s endorsement allows this company to “continue damaging” the natural environment in which it is based, the Pontevedra estuary. This NGO had promoted one of the two processes that led to the judgments of the National Court that annulled the extension granted by the Government in 2016 for ence to continue occupying land in the maritime-terrestrial public domain until 2073.
This ruling of the high court, they maintain from Greenpeace, does not allow the Pontevedra estuary to free itself from a “highly harmful” activity and that it is “incompatible” with the Coastal Law “because it could take place anywhere else.” In a note, Greenpeace reiterates that the presence of the pulp factory in the Pontevedra estuary “is not justified” and prevents the recovery of the Lourizán marsh, restoring the “disaster” generated in the last 60 years.
“Despite all the weighty arguments, the environment is losing out today,” said the coordinator of Greenpeace in Galicia, Manoel Santos, who regrets that the Supreme Court has given the “go-ahead” to the continuation of the Pontevedra factory. For Santos, the high court has endorsed the “gift” of the then Environment Minister, Miguel Arias Cañete, by reforming the Coastal Law “favoring certain private interests such as Ence and disregarding the environmental impact on the coast.”
Despite this sentence, Greenpeace advances that it will continue to use tools such as social awareness, investigation, political advocacy, legal defense and non-violent direct action, for the protection of the coast and the safeguarding of the marine environment as a whole, including Lourizan marshes.
