Red Eléctrica has introduced new measures for water protection, with strict compliance to be monitored by URA (Basque Water Agency) to ensure the works for the electrical interconnection with France adhere fully to regulations. The company has adopted management and action protocols for directed drilling operations to prevent bentonite surpluses, along with specific measures for its complete removal and restoration, thereby avoiding any impact on the Public Hydraulic Domain.

Antonio González Urquijo, the delegate in Euskadi for Redeia (Red Eléctrica's parent company), explained that hydrogeological studies conducted conclude that the localized presence of bentonite has had no environmental impact and occurred entirely in unsaturated zones, without affecting aquifers or groundwater.

González Urquijo recalled that bentonite is a natural, chemically inert, and non-polluting clay, classified as non-hazardous waste. Its surplus occurred during directed drilling operations due to superficial circulation, associated with intense rainfall and local ground characteristics like porosity and natural fracturing in very localized contexts. Red Eléctrica's studies have provided a better understanding of the subsurface to implement modifications and improvements in drilling methodology and work control.

Directed drilling is an underground technique that reduces environmental impact and is the most suitable technical solution for minimizing effects on roads, forests, and other environmentally sensitive elements, avoiding felling, traffic disruptions, and prolonged surface occupations. These drillings incorporate improvements to the original project, defined during the environmental assessment at the request of institutions to reduce impact on the natural environment and residents.

The works in Gatika are part of the electrical interconnection project between Spain and France via the Bay of Biscay (an underground and submarine cable connecting both countries, designated a "Project of Common Interest" by the European Commission). This links Gatika to the French grid and includes the terrestrial section and connection to the sea.

URA, attached to the Department of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability, authorized and conditioned the sections of the work that run through water protection zones – where it has competence – and through its inspection service, monitors the identification and tracking of potential impacts on the aquatic environment during construction.

Far from impeding the development of a strategic infrastructure, URA's function is to ensure that these infrastructures are executed with all environmental guarantees, even though bentonite is not a toxic substance in this case.

López Etxebarria recalled that the adopted measures respond to strictly technical and preventive criteria following the occasional surpluses. When these episodes recur, URA has a legal obligation to act, including through precautionary suspension. In the opinion of URA's director general, "we are not facing a dilemma between development or environmental protection: Euskadi must and can advance by guaranteeing both things".

Since August 2025, URA has been acting continuously through inspections, precautionary suspensions, and technical requirements to prevent impacts on the public hydraulic domain and improve control protocols. However, the persistence of similar episodes in different locations, even after corrective measures were adopted, led to reinforcing technical demands, revising the construction system, and precautionary suspension of all works involving bentonite, based on strictly technical and river protection criteria.

To resume work, URA has agreed with the responsible companies on surveillance and action measures: defining alternative or sufficiently modified construction methods to minimize the risk of bentonite surplus episodes; increasing knowledge of the environment through enhanced geological surveys of the soil to be drilled, adapting the work to the results obtained; presenting a detailed hydrogeological study evaluating the potential impact of bentonite on surface and groundwater; implementing reinforced control and monitoring protocols to ensure early detection, containment, and removal of any surplus; recovery pits for bentonite; and suspension of works during moderate rainfall.

The Basque Water Agency reiterates that its action responds to a clear principle: reconciling the development of strategic infrastructures with the protection of the water environment. URA emphasizes that its objective is not to halt projects but to ensure their execution with full environmental guarantees, acting firmly when risks to rivers and associated ecosystems are detected. The sea outlet work, however, falls outside URA's competence and will be monitored by other administrations with competence in the marine environment.

Red Eléctrica is a company committed to the environment and territory, and has always shown its willingness to collaborate with URA in seeking the best solution, awaiting optimal weather conditions to minimize impacts and commence work under the best possible circumstances.