According to SOS Tenidos Eléctricos: the revision of Royal Decree 1432/2008, which regulates the correction of dangerous lines for birdsis still not being executed despite the fact that the MITECO committed to publishing a new standard in 2023 State strategic plan for natural heritage and biodiversity until 2030set the year 2023 as the deadline for the change to this standard, which the EU has long requested SOS Power Lines platform.
The SOS Power Lines platform to claim MITECO that a measure would prevent the death of tens of thousands of birds every year in Spain, many of which are highly endangered species. Electrocution and collisions with power lines account for approximately 50% of bird admissions at Wildlife Recovery Centers.
He Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has not complied with the one-year period granted for the revision of Royal Decree 1432/2008 of 29 August, which establishes measures for the protection of birds against collisions and electrocution on high-voltage linesa rule that the correction of power lines for the protection of birds in Spain. In fact the State strategic plan for natural heritage and biodiversity until 2030published in the BOE on December 30, 2022, established that in 2023 the amendment of Royal Decree 1432/2008 should be adopted to “promote the objective of safer electricity lines for birds”.
To achieve this, the aforementioned Strategic Plan expressly specifies that the revision of the Royal Decree should “improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the preventive measures to be implemented, promote the adaptation of existing lines to the technical requirements laid down in the standard and mandatory financing public for the correction of old lines.
He State strategic plan for natural heritage and biodiversity until 2030 aims for the year 2030 as a date for everyone dangerous lines for birds have been appropriately adapted, for which it is essential that a new Royal Decree is urgently adopted. This Strategic Plan is the document that currently sets out the objectives, actions and criteria to promote the conservation, sustainable use and restoration of nature in Spain.
Unacceptable delay in the new regulations on power lines and birds
For the SOS Power Lines platformconsisting of nine entities related to conservation, immediate action by the MITECO after the year 2023 has passed without the adoption of something as relevant for the conservation of our country’s biodiversity as the revision of Royal Decree 1432/2008, as well as the regulatory framework that regulates the installation and impact of power lines.
This legal review is one of the most important requirements of the SOS Laying platformrealizing that, more than fifteen years after the approval of the Royal Decree, this regulation in its current terms is still far from its goal: to solve the problem of the mortality of tens of thousands of birds, including endangered species such as the Iberian Imperial Eagle, the Bonelli -eagle or the red kite, which die every year when they are electrocuted by poles or collide with the cables of countless power lines throughout the country.
The revision of Royal Decree 1432/2008 is essential to ensure that its objectives are aligned with other applicable regulations, such as the Environmental Responsibility Act of 2007, and to ensure the inclusion of its contents in the regulations for the industrial sector clarify and guarantee that compliance therewith is required. as part of the technical conditions and safety guarantees of all high-voltage lines, so that both the new and the old can continue to function.
Moreover, we should not forget that electricity companies, which are currently making huge profits, must take on their responsibility and the costs of adapting the lines.
More than three years without news from MITECO
It is incomprehensible that this issue, which entails a huge loss of biodiversity, continues to be postponed. The SOS Power Lines Platform complains to MITECO that, once the deadline in the State strategic plan for natural heritage and biodiversity until 2030 to revise Royal Decree 1432/2008, do not delay this revision any further.
It should be remembered that since 2020 the MITECO has taken the appropriate steps to obtain a text of the new standard. He did this himself in September of that year MITECO launched a public consultation on the amendment of the Royal Decree, to which we responded with an extensive document containing accusations and suggestions, a process from which we have not heard more than three years later. Of the SOS Power Lines platform we insist MITECO to take a definitive step in this issue and contribute to the solution of one of the greatest threats to bird life. Likewise, we request the Ministry of Industry and the main companies that own the electrical lineswho advocate an effective and fair regulatory instrument.