EU investigating threatened Spanish wetland
EU investigating threatened Spanish wetland
22 October 2009
published by www.mlive.com
Spain — An EU official says the bloc has opened an investigation into a prized Spanish wetland that has turned bone dry through mismanagement of water resources and is now on fire underground.
European Commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich says the EU has requested information from the Spanish government about what it plans to do to save Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park in the central Castilla-La Mancha region.
An underground peat fire has been burning in several areas of the park since August. Spanish newspapers have run photos of white smoke creeping out of deep cracks that have opened up in the parched soil.
Helfferich told the AP Thursday that the EU informed the Spanish government of the probe last week.
