Two disputes threaten the Mont-roig del Camp battery factory.

TarragonaThe fast-track process being carried out by the Mont-roig del Camp (Baix Camp) City Council to permit the installation of a battery factory promoted by the South Korean company Lotte Energy Materials has encountered obstacles that put it at risk. Various neighborhood and environmental groups have filed two administrative appeals against the project with the High Court of Justice (TSJC), and both have been accepted. Therefore, it will be the court that determines whether the factory, which involves an investment of €1.2 billion and the creation of 600 jobs, can be built on the 4 de Marzo site. €4.5 million.

One of the appeals was filed by the Environmental Organization l'Escurçó. Its president, Joan Manel Olivella, is convinced that the factory will not go ahead because "many irregularities have occurred" throughout the process. He explains that he himself was in favor of the implementation of the battery plant until the fine print was made public. "The mayor's mistake was trying to deceive us, but now everyone knows it's a very dangerous chemical company," Olivella complains. The administrative procedure that has been filed against both lawsuits is the modification of the municipal urban planning plan (POUM), which was approved in August of last year. This modification aims, among other things, to increase the buildability of the plot—buildings up to 25 meters high will be permitted—and also to modify its industrial classification, since under the previous classification, only level 3 factories could be built, whereas Lotte's project is level 5, which implies greater danger. "They sold it as a battery factory, but what they do is purify copper sheets that can then be used to make batteries and many other things. But for this purification, they need sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and chromic acid, which is the most dangerous of all," Olivella complains.

Water needs

The other lawsuit was filed by the Group for the Study and Protection of Catalan Ecosystems - Ecologists of Catalonia (Gepec-EdC), together with the Unió de Pagesos de Catalunya (Union of Pages of Catalonia) and the Mont-roig Neighborhood Association, a residential development located about a hundred meters from the planned factory site. Their arguments largely coincide with the other complaint, but they also focus on the threat to biodiversity and the project's water needs. Like Olivella, its promoters acknowledge that "initially" they viewed the project "favorably because it is an investment that should generate jobs and promote electrification," explains Joaquim Esteller, environmental defense technician at Gepec-EdC. However, once the project was known, they considered the problem to be "its location" and that "it should be in an area where there is abundant water and where safety measures can be maintained." According to their complaint, the factory requires 1 hm³ per year, which will arrive via the Ebro mini-transfer, which covers Camp de Tarragona. "It seems as if the Ebro can absorb it all, but that's not the case," complains Esteller, who points out that the recent drought forced farmers to irrigate with only half the necessary water. He also explains that, in addition to Lotte, "there are other pending projects that must also be included in the mini-transfer," such as Hard Rock or the BASF battery recycling plant. These two projects are frozen, but not abandoned, and also relied on water from the mini-transfer.

For his part, the mayor of Mont-roig del Camp, Fran Morancho, has declined to comment on the matter, and municipal sources have simply stated that the battery factory "continues to be a priority for the City Council, which is carrying out all the procedures according to the law and following all the measures."

The environmental movement Revoltes de la Terra, created at the beginning of the year to bring together different struggles in the Catalan Countries, has called for a camp-out in Mont-roig del Camp on May 2, 3, and 4. The call asks attendees to bring plants, tools, and straw hats in addition to tents.