Environmental Alliance presents Kaunertal Declaration 2022
40 environmental associations and scientists call for a halt to the expansion of the Kaunertal power plant – the Tyrolean state government must protect the last intact Alpine rivers and implement a sustainable energy transition
Innsbruck – A total of 40 environmental associations and voices from science call for a joint statement to stop the Kaunertal expansion power plant. Instead, the Tyrolean state government should protect the last intact Alpine rivers and implement a consistently nature-friendly energy transition. “This major project stands like no other for TIWAG’s completely exaggerated expansion policy. We need a nature-friendly energy transition instead of further construction of alpine natural areas,” warns Bettina Urbanek, water protection expert at WWF Austria. For the project, TIWAG plans to divert up to 80 percent of the water from the Ötztal, the valley with the lowest rainfall in Tyrol, and to build a 120-metre-high dam in the ecologically uniform Platzertal and to flood nine soccer fields of moorland behind it. “That would have devastating consequences for the highly sensitive natural landscape, would destroy important habitats and fuel the biodiversity crisis.”
“Free-flowing streams and rivers are among the most valuable habitats in the world – including in the Alps. Nevertheless, these last wild rivers are blocked and thus become the losers of a failed energy policy,” comments Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner, Director General of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and continues: “Although hydropower is a renewable energy source, it is by no means an environmentally friendly or climate-neutral one. Due to the planned expansion of the Kaunertal power plant, four Alpine rivers that were still largely intact would be reduced to rivulets.” This would change the water balance of an entire region – with serious consequences for nature and people.
GLOBAL 2000 Managing Director Agnes Zauner calls for a nature-friendly energy transition instead of expansion: “The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has shown impressively that we can only overcome the climate and biodiversity crisis with the help of nature. It is now a matter of protecting valuable natural areas and promoting the energy transition in a way that is compatible with nature.” In Tyrol, this includes a focus on saving energy, expanding photovoltaics and replacing oil and gas heating systems with district heating, heat pumps and solar energy. “This is the only way Tyrol can become independent of oil, gas and coal.”
“Additional storage must be implemented in an environmentally friendly way. Other projects show that this is possible. They work as closed systems, do not require any new natural areas and do not cause any additional surge loads in rivers,” adds Bettina Urbanek from the WWF.
Natural hazards caused by the destruction of nature
The Kaunertal power plant in its current form already shows the extent of the destruction of nature and the impact on people in the Kaunertal, says Anita Hofmann from the Kaunertal Life Value Association: “The Kaunertal used to be the valley of the waterfalls. But since the power plant was built, our former alpine pastures have been under water and the bubbling side streams have dried up. We cannot and do not want to allow any further destruction of nature.” Hofmann also expressed his concern when it came to natural hazards: “For years we have been concerned about a landslide near the existing Gepatsch reservoir. The expansion of the power plant with pumped storage operation would increase this risk even further, as there is a risk that the surrounding slopes will move more due to the constant flooding and emptying.” In addition, the construction also threatens to endanger tourism, which is so sustainable for the Kaunertal. “For us, the expansion means massive construction sites with enormous landfill areas that destroy natural areas. In addition, there are years of noise and traffic pollution with countless truck journeys that climb up the valley floor every day, as well as a significant impairment of air quality.”
About the Kaunertal Enlightenment 2022
The Kaunertal Declaration announced by WWF Austria is supported by 30 organizations from the areas of environmental, nature and climate protection, fishing and white water sports. These include the Kaunertal Life Value Association, GLOBAL 2000, the Nature Conservation Union, the Alpine Club, Fridays for Future Innsbruck, WET Tirol, the Austrian Board of Trustees for Fisheries and Water Protection and numerous others. There are also 10 voices from science.
Article put online by: / Doris Holler /