COMMITTEE AGAINST EXPANSION OF AMPUGNANO AIRPORT –
SIENA
TEN
GOOD REASONS FOR SAYING NO
1.
For an
airport to be functional and not a financial disaster, it must
have a volume passengers and flights that would have an
environmental impact similar to that of a vast industrial
area, unsustainable for a rural and natural area like
Sovicille.
2.
Airports are not built because four politicians and a
bank want them, but should be planned in the context of
regional and national transport.
3.
The plain of Rosia overlaps a major southern Tuscan
aquifer, the Luco, that together with the Vivo d’Orcia
supplies much of Siena Province with drinking water.
4.
Airports disperse highly toxic contaminants such as
anti-freeze, kerosene, mineral oils and combustion products.
At Ampugnano, groundwater lies very close to the
surface and drains into the Merse river through a complex
network of channels.
5.
The people living in the towns and villages in and
around the plain would be exposed to unbearable noise and
depreciation of their houses.
Because the plain is surrounded by hills, the towns are
exposed to the landing, take-off and fly-over routes of the
aircraft.
6.
The Merse Valley and the areas adjacent the plain of
Ampugnano are in the top 20 areas representing Mediterranean
biodiversity.
Airports “in symbiosis with nature” do not exist
anywhere in the world, nor is one possible at Ampugnano.
7.
The local economy based on tourism and quality
agriculture would be irrevocably damaged.
8.
The European Investment Bank has obviously not been
co-opted to lengthen the runway by only 100 m.
Commercial airports are also associated with unsightly
infrastructures that would invade the whole area (taxiways,
hangars, fuel depots, parking stations, terminal buildings,
bus stations, rent-a-car areas, tourist shopping malls, hotels,
road connections).
9.
The citizens of Siena have been presented with a
scandalous fait accompli.
The Councils of Sovicille and Siena and the Provincial
Administration have known these plans from the beginning
because they have representatives on the board of Aeroporto di
Siena S.p.A.
10.
The degradation of Tuscany is proceeding at an alarming
rate (since 1951, more than a third of the area of Italy still
free of tar and cement has been built over).
We cannot let this trend continue, especially when the
“development” in question consists of projects of doubtful
utility, dangerous for public health and the environment!
Visitors
can support the committee by enrolling on the website:
www.comitatoampugnano.it
(email: ampugnano@gmail.com
)
