Huge enviromental problem

Hello all,


Following a meeting at our Marie with the representatives of COSEA I am looking for some contacts to help with a major problem our community is facing.


They are building a LGV line here and now that the major works have been completed the local farmers have reported that springs have disappeared and some streams are flowing in the wrong direction. As you can imagine the impact on the local environment will be huge.


COSEA have stated that they will do nothing until they have had an Hydrologic completed (no time scale given) and when the document is complete they will act upon it if necessary. HOWEVER only COSEA will see the document because 'it belongs to the State'.


Any suggestions on where to go from here? Our local mayors are trying but hitting their heads against a brick wall. Every objection they make is rebutted with 'We answer only to the State'.


All help would be appreciated, especially by our local frogs (who were already declining and now have no breeding grounds).


Thank you Brian. Will have a go although do not hold out much hope. The waterways were meant to be protected but they have built the track and say that they will do no further works and are protected by the State.

It depends on a number of things but the European Environment Agency should provide advice.

If you know the frogs or any other species (fauna and flora) are endangered or threatened with local extinction try the World Wildlife Fund: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory?direction=desc&sort=extinction_status , Endangered Species International: http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/ or Arkive: http://www.arkive.org/endangered-species/

Wildlife is your trump card rather than the water, so look up the international legislation on the Food and Agriculture Organisation: http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y3844e/y3844e04.htm

There is also a fair bit of EU/EC legislation; you can look up the EU Habitats Directive for starters.

All will give advice but your facts must be straight and correct. I've done it in the UK but never here, which is how I know where to go, but I am not a campaigner myself so do not know the ins and outs of arguing the case. However, the people who ran that campaign used the organisations and things shown above and forced a government review on damage to an area of marshland with rare plants. The road building scheme went ahead but they were forced to incorporate lots of protective environmental measures. A far as I remember, they happened. So, best of luck with that.