Prosecutor's Office takes the first steps in the investigation into the dumping of pellets and demands information from Xunta and SEPRONA

MADRID, 10 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Specialized Environmental Unit of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) has already commissioned the first investigation proceedings into the dumping of pellets on the Galician coast, demanding information from the Xunta and SEPRONA, as well as the collaboration of the Civil Guard. and the prosecutor's offices of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country.

In a decree, to which Europa Press has had access, the Environment and Urban Planning prosecutor Antonio Vercher asks the Department of Environment, Territory and Housing of the Xunta de Galicia to "report on the arrival and detection of potentially contaminant to the Galician coasts".

In particular, it indicates, "of its incidence and evaluation in relation to the National Park of the Atlantic Islands, Natural Park of the Dunes of Corrubedo and the Lagoas de Carregal and Vixán, as they are areas of special protection and environmental consideration".

It also addresses SEPRONA so that, "having evidence that samples have been taken and analyzes carried out" by its specialized personnel, "they indicate what they consist of and their results, if any."

In any case, it asks the SEPRONA unit attached to this Prosecutor's Office to take samples of the "potentially dangerous material" and analyze them, as well as to determine "the places of arrival of the quantities of microplastics detected and temporal data of the material."

Likewise, it requests said unit to communicate with the Civil Guard commands territorially involved to obtain their collaboration so that they "provide the actions carried out by them to date" to add them to the investigations.

Likewise, it addresses the superior prosecutor's offices of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country to "remit any actions that have been carried out within the scope of the respective superior prosecutor's offices" in relation to the dumping of pellets.

It was last Monday when the Specialized Environmental Unit of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) agreed to investigate the dumping of pellets on the Galician coast after appreciating "indications of toxicity" in these "plastic balls."

In the letter where he sought permission from the attorney general to begin the investigations, Vercher explained that the pellets "are small plastic balls that are used to manufacture plastic products that show signs of toxicity, are not biodegradable and cannot be disposed of."

To this he added that they are a "source of microplastic pollution", the fight against which "is an objective for the European Union". This same Wednesday, Brussels warned that the dumping of pellets "threatens" the marine environment and fishing.

The prosecutor also highlighted that, in addition to the Galician coast, they have spread to those of Portugal and France, so "it is necessary to delimit their impact and extension to other territories."

For all these reasons, it was considered necessary to open an investigation for a possible crime against natural resources and the environment under article 325 of the Penal Code (CP), punishable by up to 7 years and 6 months in prison in its most serious case.

The Public Ministry adopted this decision since "large quantities" of plastic pellets have appeared in the sandy areas of the Rías Baixas and the Muros e Noia estuary since last December, in bags of around 25 kilos, with the name a company based in Poland.

On December 8, the Directorate of Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services of Portugal issued a report on the loss of six containers off the coast of Viana do Castelo, information that was transferred, in addition to the Portuguese authorities, to the European Maritime Safety Agency and the Spanish authorities.

Five days later, on December 13, both the Xunta and the central Executive acknowledge that they were aware of the arrival of pellets on different Galician beaches. It was through a call from an individual, who alerted 112 Galicia that he had collected several bags of these plastic elements on the coast between Corrubedo and Porto do Son. 112, in turn, informed Salvamento Marítimo by telephone of the discovery of pellets and that means had been mobilized to clean them.

The divergence occurred, however, at the moment in which the central Government and the Xunta became aware of the relationship between the pellets that appeared on the beaches and their possible origin, the dumping of a container in which a little more than 26 tons of this product within Toconao.

The Government considers that the Xunta already knew about it in December, when they reported the discovery of pellets on the beaches. The Xunta, however, maintains that at that time they only knew of the punctual arrival of these elements and that they were not informed of the dimensions of the situation until January 3, when the central Executive sent them a communication from the representatives of the shipowners. in which this link was noted, an email dated two weeks earlier. Between the two dates, there were numerous sightings of pellets in different Galician sandbanks.

At this point, the second vice president and Minister of the Environment, Territory and Housing of Galicia, Ángeles Vázquez, asked the Government on Tuesday to act "within the sea", the area "that corresponds to it."

The third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, replied this Wednesday that the request for help from the Xunta de Galicia "has not yet been specified in anything particular, except for a general reference to" the Government making pellets on the high seas" after the spill.

According to Vázquez herself, Meteogalicia's predictions about marine currents suggest that starting Saturday more plastic could reach the Galician coasts.