Opponents of the project by the company the coast and the urban area, for environmental and safety reasons.
The promoters of the current plan argue that this project is different, among other things because it would be located on a dock further away from the homes than that one: about 800 meters, compared to the approximate 200 meters then.
However, as can be seen by going to the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana that includes the agreement by which in October 1995 it was approved to remove the deposits from the old Campsa, the administrations that signed it also thought about the future, although their decision from then does not legally bind the current administration.
In that text, all the public organizations concerned advocated for a port of Alicante in which “in the future there should be no storage and distribution facilities for petroleum products.”
The agreement that includes this statement is signed by Joan Lerma, then president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Juan Manuel Eguiagaray, Minister of Industry and Energy, Ángel Luna, mayor of Alicante, Ángel Cuesta, president of the Port Authority of Alicante and Juan Sancho Rof , president of CLH.
That is, both the central Government, the Generalitat Valenciana, the City Council, all of them administrations governed at that time by the PSOE, did not limit themselves to making that decision, but based it on the belief that these types of facilities should not reoccupy a space in the port.
In fact, in the text of the agreement it was stated that eliminating the fuel tanks was justified by the “clear social interest” of the project, “having a favorable impact on environmental aspects. “In effect, the future location avoids the negative repercussions derived from possible accidents, with their consequent environmental impact, in petroleum products facilities located in the vicinity of inhabited areas.”
Furthermore, the agreement signed almost thirty years ago indicated as a factor to be considered that it reduced “the risk of accidents due to the traffic of vehicles transporting petroleum products within the urban center.”
In that resolution of October 2, 1995, it was literally stated: “That the public institutions involved consider that in the future there should be no storage and distribution facilities for petroleum products in the port of Alicante, so those currently owned by CLH “They must be moved to another location, complying, among other guidelines, with those that inspire the current Urban Planning Plan.”
The text even includes how the Spanish State aspired to obtain European funds to cover the transfer, “given the environmental benefits derived from the project and the improvement in safety conditions.”
