Portmán Bay regeneration project is back on track
La Unión residents may finally get their historic port back after decades of contamination
The Spanish government has lifted its suspension on the major project to clean up Portmán Bay in La Unión, raising hopes that the contaminated former mining area could finally be restored after years of delays.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition has now told consultants they can consider a plan backed by local residents, environmental groups and the La Unión town council. This would involve partially dredging the bay and moving mining waste to an old mining pit, which could allow the historic port of Portmán to be recovered.
It's a drastic shift from the ministry's previous approach, which proposed sealing all the contaminated material under beach sand and creating an artificial beach instead of restoring the port. Local groups argued this plan ignored the 2006 consensus agreement and represented a major step backwards for the area.
The bay has been filled with around 34 million cubic metres of mining waste for decades. The locally-preferred option would move between 500,000 and one million cubic metres of the most problematic material, bringing the shoreline roughly 200 metres closer to the town. The remaining waste would still be sealed with clean sand.
However, tests carried out by CEDEX, the government's public works research centre, found stability and pollution problems with some aspects of the local plan. They've also studied the full sealing option, which would prevent metals dissolving into the water and damaging marine life, but wouldn't restore the old port.
The consultant working on the project must now incorporate findings from the CEDEX studies but isn't required to stick rigidly to either of the previously presented alternatives.
Once they've completed the construction project and environmental impact study, both documents will be opened up for public consultation before any final decisions are made.
Image: Ayuntamiento de La Unión
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