"The environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) GEOTA, LPN, FAPAS, SPEA and A Rocha give a negative opinion on the Montijo airport project and the respective Environmental Impact Study, considering that this failure in all aspects related to the assessment of impacts, mitigation and compensatory measures," they said in a joint statement.

In the document, these environmental associations said that the EIA is in disagreement with "European directives, national legislation and commitments assumed by the Portuguese State before international treaties", regarding the conservation of natural heritage and sustainable development.

The site for the construction of the new airport is Air Base No. 6, which is located between Montijo and Alcochete, in the district of Setúbal.

The environmental organisations have several flaws in the document, considering that it does not demonstrate that this is the only solution and that it does not assess the impact on the quality of life and public health of the populations living in the areas that will be overflown by aeroplanes.

The joint communiqué also stated that the EIA disregards priority habitats and species, as well as protected areas, adding that it does not sufficiently consider the risk of bird strikes.

The organisations stressed that the study fails to propose measures for mitigating and compensating impacts that are not effective, because they are not proportional to the impacts of the project, pointing out that the area proposed for implementation of the airport is in the region of greatest seismic risk and tsunami of the country.

The NGOs pointed out that, in addition to the failures, the EIA does not present arguments to explain to what extent this project will respond to national needs.

The organisations also said that there was political pressure for the construction of the new airport in Montijo.

The public consultation on the EIA of the new airport in Montijo ends on Thursday, with the Municipality of Moita (Portuguese Communist Party) giving a negative opinion, while the municipalities of Barreiro and Montijo (both led by the Socialist Party) have approved the construction of the new infrastructure there.

The Environmental Impact Study, which was released in July and is in public consultation to date, has pointed to several threats to birdlife and negative effects on the health of the population because of noise, which will be felt, above all, in the sensitive receptors located in the municipality of Moita and Barreiro.

On 10 September, the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Nuno Lacasta, said in parliament that he already had all the necessary information for the evaluation of the EIA, with more than 1,000 direct contributions, adding that the decision will be known at the end of October.