Ecologistas en Acción impeaches the negligence of twelve autonomous communities in Spain causing health damages to almost half of the Spanish population as well as damages to the vegetation of two thirds of the national territory
On 15th of July 2016 Ecologistas en Acción has brought forward an impeachment towards the Spanish State to the European Commission for not developing prescriptive plans for the improvement of the air quality in 50 heavily affected areas. Between 2010 and 2015 the legal target value for tropospheric ozone establish for health protection has been exceeding. In the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla-León, Catalonia,Valencia, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra and Basque country, 21.4 million people are affected by this air pollution, which is almost half of the Spanish population.
During the same time period 64 areas of these communities have also failed the obligation to adopt measures to improve air quality in order to protect vegetation, leading to a total area of 350,000 square kilometers, or 69% of the Spanish territory, being affected.
According the European Air Quality Directive, Member States must elaborate plans to improve the air quality in the zones and agglomerations, where ozone levels exceed the objective value, in order to respect the corresponding target value.
The Spanish law attributes the responsibility for the elaboration of such plans to the autonomous communities. It is a compulsory measure for autonomous authorities that in no way falls under the area of discretion, in addition to the initiatives that can be adopted by the central Government.
Thus, Ecologistas en Acción addressed the autonomous communities, which were affected by the breaches of the legal obligations for the protection of health and vegetation, and requested urgently to adopt plans for the improvement of the air quality. Among the dozens of requests made, replies were sent only by the Government of Aragon, Castilla-León, Valencia and Navarra, who justified their inactivity by the complexity of the problem and referred to a national plan under the coordination of the central Government that has not been set into place as of today.
As the current situation is neglecting millions of people’s rights towards health, environmentalists decided to file a claim at the European community institutions, where Spain already has two open proceedings for breach of the regulations on air quality with respect to the PM10 particles and nitrogen dioxide. This third file adds weight to the complaints in relation to the ozone.
The target value for pollution is defined as the “level of a contaminant that must be achieved, as far as possible, at a certain point in order to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects on human health, the environment as a whole and other goods of any nature.” The eight-hour mean objective value for the protection of human health is of 120 micrograms of ozone per cubic meter of air (μg/m3), may not exceed in more than 25 days per calendar year, on average over a period of 3 years.
At one third of the 450 air pollution control stations in Spain where this contaminant is measured the target value of ozone has surpassed the maximum value in the last three years.
Among them, the pollution has affected the whole of the communities of Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid, the most affected as a result of the emissions of the traffic of the metropolitan area of Madrid. In addition to harming the health of more than 6 million people of Madrid this affects three million inhabitants of both Castilian communities and Extremadura.
Next to the problem created by the urban traffic of Madrid, another big focus of pollution by ozone in Spain is located on the Mediterranean coast, from Girona to Almeria, passing through the communities of Valencia, Murcia and the Balearic Islands. This pollution, caused by the high degree of urbanization of the coast, affects around 6 million people, especially in the interior.
The other areas affected by high levels of ozone can be found between the interior of Andalusia and southern Extremadura (including the urban areas of Cordoba, Huelva, Jaen, Seville and Mérida) and the Valley of the Ebro, from Aragon to the Navarre and Basque country, where another total of 7 million people reside.
Faced with this panorama, the plans to improve the quality of the air would have to focus on the reduction of the intense urban and interurban traffic that connects the major cities, following a model of a compact city and promoting the use of means of clean transport, such as trains, buses, bicycles or walking. In addition, plans should proceed towards the progressive closure of large coal thermal power stations, replacing them by renewable energies. This should be supported by the necessary coordination between the regions, the central government and the European Union.
Ozone, also known as “bad” ozone by contrast to the stratosphere one, is a secondary pollutant produced by the reaction between sunlight and the nitrogen dioxide and hydrocarbons emitted by motor vehicles, some industries and maritime transport. By inhalation it causes irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract and increases the risk of suffering respiratory diseases and reduced lung function, as well as the worsening of cardiovascular diseases.
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 1.800 annual premature deaths in Spain produced by exposure to ozone levels as recorded in large parts of Spain. Just as for people, ozone is also toxic for the vegetation, damaging forests and reducing the productivity of crops.