No to the astronomical observatory on Mount Mufara in Sicily, the TAR appeals and reports:“Stop the bulldozers”

The CAI (Italian Alpine Club), Legambiente Sicilia, Lipu and WWF are appealing to the TAR:the objective is to stop the construction of the astronomical observatory on the top of Mount Mufara, in an integral protection area

BOLOGNA – Environmentalist mobilization against the astronomical observatory that "threatens" Mount Mufara (1865 metres), among the highest peaks of the Madonie mountains in Sicily.The Italian Alpine Club, Legambiente Sicilia, Lipu and WWF associations, followed by the lawyer Antonella Bonanno of the Palermo Bar, presented appeal to the TAR of Sicily "against the documents issued by the Madonie Park Authority and other administrations for the construction of an astronomical observatory on the top of Mount Mufara, in the heart of an integral protection area, close to the southernmost beech forest in Europe and the Quacella Dolomite greenhouses", we read in a note, which specifies that a complaint will also be sent to the Prosecutor's Office for the seizure of the construction site.

THE START WORK SIGN HAS BEEN POPPED UP

The project presented concerns an area of ​​800 square meters, with 3,540 cubic meters of building volume and a height of over 13 meters above ground, with the construction of a new carriageable track for access to the intact top of the mountain.In recent days a work start sign.The appeal to the TAR falls within the scope of the actions undertaken for years "to defend the Mufara, one of the sites - the associations jointly recall - of greatest naturalistic interest in the Madonie Park and a geological emergency also protected by the Geopark-Unesco and to ensure compliance with the ordinary rules” on the landscape.

“THERE ARE IRREGULARITIES, THERE IS NO AUTHORIZATION FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT”

The acronyms claim that “the procedure is heavily tainted by irregularities and illegitimacy", given that "the favorable opinion of the regional Council for the Protection of Natural Heritage, the decree of the regional councilor for Territory and Environment for works of state interest and above all the landscape authorization from the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage and Environmental of Palermo which in 2022 even declared the work inadmissible due to violation of an absolute non-buildability constraint".With the appeal, the TAR of Sicily is also asked to raise a question of constitutional legitimacy on article 9 of Legislative Decree 104/2023, the national law passed "in the extreme attempt to overcome the protection constraints by providing that observers can be authorized in derogation".

In this matter, Cai and company continue, what emerges is "the unacceptable refusal on the part of Esa - European Space Agency, Asi - Italian Space Agency, Region and Park Authority to any comparison of merit and thearrogant choice to modify ordinary laws in the face of denials received, from that of the Council of Ministers of 20 April 2023 with the challenge to the Constitutional Court of the first exemption launched by the Sicilian Region to that of the Superintendency of Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Palermo" of 9 August 2022.And precisely the continuous changes to the protection laws attempted for this work "confirm - the acronyms insist - the correctness of the position taken by environmentalist associations for over two years, namely that ordinary regulations would not allow the creation of the observatory".Therefore, Cai, Legambiente, Lipu and WWF, reserving the right to present a criminal complaint in the next few days to ask the competent Prosecutor's Office of Termini Imerese to seize the construction site, ask once again to "stop the bulldozers, avoid forcing procedures and fueling disputes, but instead pursuing the possible alternative solutions proposed for months and which concern the search for an alternative site (such as Monte San Salvatore) and the contextual modification of the project which currently includes non-essential building spaces and volumes ” for scientific research.