Industry or environment? One Spanish town wrestles over its future.
Chusa Exp贸sito (left) and Marta 脕lvarez, small-business owners in Palas de Rei, Spain, advocate for economic development that does not damage the local environment. 鈥淲e have spent many years in the province doing sustainable business for real," says Ms. 脕lvarez, who runs an organic dairy farm.
Erika Page/海角大神
Palas de Rei, Spain
It was meant to be a factory fit for the future.
Using wood from the eucalyptus forests that blanket this part of Galicia, the plant would produce pulp and lyocell, a biodegradable fabric whose popularity is growing. Executives promised thousands of jobs in a region whose villages have steadily emptied, plazas once busy now quiet.
Instead, the arrival of the Portuguese pulp producer Altri (along with its minority partner Greenalia, a Galician energy firm) has sparked fierce opposition.
Why We Wrote This
Industry or environment? Communities across Europe are struggling to decide which matters more. The efforts to launch a pulp factory in Galicia, Spain, may suggest which priority will win out 鈥� or if there鈥檚 a middle ground to be found.
The 鈥淎ltri Non鈥� movement, Galician for 鈥淣o to Altri,鈥� warns the pulp mill would harm the local environment and encourage more eucalyptus plantations. Eucalyptus, popularized decades ago for timber, now covers and has been blamed for squeezing out native species and fueling wildfires.
Proponents frame the project as a lifeline. Without new industries, they say, small towns will keep hollowing out until little remains.
The clash reflects a wider European debate. As Europe works to breathe life back into its industrial sector, communities are increasingly wary of the environmental price 鈥� even for projects branded as 鈥済reen.鈥�
For both sides, the issue has morphed into a matter of survival.
An opportunity? Or a danger?
In Palas de Rei, the proposed site for the factory, pilgrims traveling the Camino de Santiago pass balconies draped with banners: 鈥淣o to the Altri pulp mill, out with contamination.鈥�
The town鈥檚 mayor, Pablo Taboada, pays the signs no more heed than the backpackers do. He calls the Altri project the opportunity of a generation in a region where 鈥渁ll industrial projects, unfortunately, are on the rocks.鈥�
Palas de Rei, home to just over 3,000 people, has full employment. But neighboring villages are shrinking; Galicia鈥檚 rural population between 1996 and 2020. say the business will create 500 direct and 2,000 indirect jobs, though are lower.
鈥淚f it is not built here, it is going to be built somewhere else,鈥� says Mr. Taboada. 鈥淲hat now is an opportunity will become a necessity.鈥�
The plant would produce 400,000 tons of fiber annually, requiring up to 46 million liters (over 12 million gallons) of water a day. Much of that water would be treated and returned to the Ulla River. Environmentalists warn warmer, possibly contaminated water could harm the Arousa estuary, a major source of Spain鈥檚 shellfish.
The project would also consume 1.2 million tons of eucalyptus each year. Galicia has a moratorium on planting eucalyptus, but locals say it often goes unenforced 鈥� and that more eucalyptus is likely to be planted if the project is approved.
鈥淎ll our native flora, our trees, everything will disappear,鈥� says Chusa Exp贸sito, whose family home sits just over a mile from the Altri site.
Ms. Exp贸sito is one of the founders of Milhulloa, which sells local medicinal plants. She and other small-business owners say they are building a regional economy that does not rely on big industrial projects.
鈥淭hat type of industry has no place here,鈥� says Suso Santiso, who runs an inn in the center of town. 鈥淚ndustry is necessary, but it should be industry that is in line with what we value.鈥�
More than 100,000 people protested the pulp mill , according to organizers, with demonstrations continuing since then. Over 100 boats in May.
鈥淚t is a clear example of a development model that is already being abandoned all over the world,鈥� Spain鈥檚 minister of labor and social economy, Yolanda D铆az, told the Monitor after a recent protest in Madrid. 鈥淓urope has to pay attention.鈥�
Other European leaders see a different urgency. In Italy, where protesters are fighting a planned bridge linking Sicily to the mainland, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has prioritized industry over environment.
鈥淚n a desert there is nothing green,鈥� she said in Rome in May, . 鈥淏efore anything else, we must fight the desertification of European industry.鈥�
Europe in manufacturing between 2015 and 2022, according to the European Central Bank.
The European Union sees bio-based materials 鈥� such as wood-based fibers 鈥� as central to its Green Deal industrial strategy, part of a broader push to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and imports through locally rooted industries.
The Altri project has applied for 鈧�250 million (about $290 million) from the NextGenerationEU initiative, from opponents who point out that those funds should not be used to harm the environment.
鈥淲e need a bit of life鈥�
In a village near Palas de Rei, the only open business is a bar where two older men sip sodas. Neither is willing to comment. 鈥淓veryone knows each other here, and no one wants problems,鈥� says the bartender.
Others who speak are not sure where to stand.
鈥淭hose against the project say we will be killed by contamination,鈥� says Manuel Hilario Garc铆a 脕lvarez, a retiree who moved back to his hometown. 鈥淭hose in favor say if Altri doesn鈥檛 come, this region will die.鈥�
The factory cleared its environmental review in March and is awaiting final government approval.
Mr. Garc铆a 脕lvarez looks out at the near-empty main street. 鈥淭his is almost abandoned. We need a bit of life.鈥�
What that means depends on whom you ask.
Maria Soledad Gonz谩lez, a physiotherapist who moved to Palas de Rei for the slower pace and connection to nature, says the province should lead 鈥渋n environmentalism, in health, in a good life.鈥�
If nothing else, she adds, the Altri debate has brought the community one thing: 鈥淚t is bringing us together and making us realize what we have here.鈥�