Court rejects appeal of negative EIA issued for proposed Ceuta biodiesel plant

In Spain, Ceuta Actualidad reports Contentious-Administrative Court No. 2 of Ceuta has ruled to reject the appeal filed against the city, specifically against the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainability, by Biocarburantes del Estrecho SL, the company that tried to put into operation a biodiesel plant in the port.

Through a decree dated February 13, 2017, the Ministry issued an unfavorable environmental impact statement regarding the implementation of the project to implement a biodiesel plant in phase 1 of the expansion of the port of Ceuta.

The company understood that the resolution of the Ministry was contrary to the law and requested that the administration be ordered to formulate a favorable Environmental Impact Statement to continue with the actions without applying the 2,000 meter rule, which is the limit distance from where the plant would be located away from the population nucleus.

The City objected to the company’s claim considering that the Environmental Impact Statement was an irrevocable act autonomously while for the company it was a qualified procedure that decided directly or indirectly on the merits of the matter, “determining the impossibility of continuing with the procedure”.