Planet

Wind turbines against farmers, the case of Cascina Baraggia

May 10, 2024

The giga-business of wind turbine blades, as we have seen, pounces on farmers to rob their land. (1) And with them, our ability to produce the food people need, but also employment in rural areas.

At Cascina Baraggia in Piedmont, province of Biella, the historical home of rice paddies, even PDOs, food sovereignty gives way to the expropriation of farmland for ‘public benefit’. Which one?

Table of Contents

Cascina Baraggia, wind turbines versus farmers

Cascina Baraggia is the epicentre of a dispute between finance investing in ‘green’ energy – largely subsidised by the public sector and the population itself, through the tripled ‘management charges’ on energy bills – and farmers, as well as civil society.

The financial and energy giants, as seen in Irpinia, entrust operations in the area to small companies with little capitalisation compared to the values of the plants. (2) So as not to expose themselves to liability, including social liability and damage, during and after their operations.

A series of companies – including Juwi Development 09 Srl, E-VerGreen EG-EDO srl, Madamalive Srl, MYT Development Initiatives Srl – thus aspire to install wind farms in the Biella area with power ranging from 47.36 to 61MW.

Wind farms instead of rice paddies

The ‘escalation’ of land robbery is hidden between the lines of the plans that prefigure a large power station (750 MW) in Cascina Baraggia, only to double the overall power. The addition of a third transformer would then triple the original plant.

The consumption of agricultural land could thus increase from the 516 hectares mentioned in the initial configuration (344 MW) to 3,642 hectares for its full development (2250 MW). To the serious detriment of farmers, civil society and the entire economy of the Piedmont region, where the agri-food sector plays a crucial role.

Ecocide in sight

The Draghi and Meloni governments, after the reform in pejus of the Environment Code and the green light to expropriations by private individuals with public law instruments, have not even imposed surety guarantees to protect the community.

The micro-businesses created to drain public resources, when the plants are no longer profitable, can thus be put into liquidation or made to go bankrupt, rather than face the costs of disposing of thousands of tonnes of materials.

STOP soil consumption!

The race for ‘green’ energy must meet an insurmountable limit, the ban on soil consumption. And this is one of the cornerstones of the political programme of Dario Dongo, candidate in the European elections of 8-9 June 2024 in the North-Eastern College, with the #PaceTerraDignità movement. The reasons are simple:

– since the Second World War, Italy has been suffocated with cement, asphalt and artificial coverings that now occupy about 21,500 km², with an increase of 76.8 km² in 2022 alone (+10.2% compared to 2021. ISPRA, 2023)

– soil consumption is a path of no return, since its formation (with the microbial biodiversity required to perform crucial ecosystem functions in agriculture and in nature) takes between 500 and 1,000 years without cultivation

– the generations now in power must stop this and other irreversible damage that their children will no longer be able to undo, except to suffer the dramatic effects on their quality of life. (3)

What renewable energy

Wind power plants can be installed about ten miles from the coast, so as to preserve the approximately 7,500 km of coastal landscapes that attract tourists from all over the world to Italy. A historical and cultural value, but also an economic one, since tourism is one of the few sectors with growth forecasts and an ever-positive influence on the balance of trade.

#PaceTerraDignità

Dario Dongo