The Second Chamber of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has dismissed the appeal filed by the Association Turcón-Ecologistas en Acción against Decree 114/2021, of November 25. This decree authorizes the execution of the Chira-Soria hydroelectric pumping plant project, promoted by Red Eléctrica de España.

The court analyzed the challenged decree, which addressed alleged procedural modifications related to the Habitat Directive and the management plans of ZEC-Macizo Tauro II, as well as territorial planning issues. However, the ruling is not final, and an appeal for cassation to the Supreme Court is possible, as reported by Turcón.

The magistrates of the TSJ of the Canary Islands consider that the project was authorized from the perspective of territorial planning through the exceptional procedure established in Article 6 bis of Law 11/97. Furthermore, it obtained the administrative authorization required by the electricity sector legislation, granted on December 14, 2021, by the General Directorate of Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands, which included the declaration of public utility for the project.

Turcón-EeA and its legal advisors are studying the pertinent actions, stating that there are "many divergences" with the ruling. It should be recalled that, to facilitate the construction of the Soria-Chira Reversible Pumping, the Government of the Canary Islands temporarily suspended in October 2010 various urban planning determinations from the territorial and urban planning plans of Gran Canaria, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, and Mogán, which protected the area's environment. The environmental group criticizes that "our institutions unprotected a natural space to legitimize the construction of the work for the benefit of Red Eléctrica".

The Soria-Chira Reversible Pumping Plant directly affects three areas of the Red Natura 2000 network and indirectly affects two others, with particular impact on the Barranco de Arguineguín. Turcón claims that "the project tarnishes our rich biodiversity and leaves the territory of the affected areas unprotected".

The environmental group reiterates its support for the energy transition but criticizes "this way" of carrying it out. They advocate for an energy model that is "sustainable, public, fair, decentralized, and does not affect protected natural spaces or agricultural protected rural land," in contrast to the "oligopolies and monopolies in the islands' electricity sector."