E-Redes on trial over illegal felling of 63 cork oaks

E-Redes, the EDP-owned electricity distributor, went on trial at Arouca court alongside the contractor it hired and its legal representative, accused of illegally felling cork oaks, a protected species, on private land at Quinta das Regadas in January 2023. Prosecutors say E-Redes only had authorisation from the ICNF to cut eight adult cork oaks but ordered 63 felled. The case was initially shelved by prosecutors but reopened after the landowner requested judicial instruction, leading to charges of crimes against nature. The contractor admitted cutting the trees, saying he was following E-Redes' orders and that the trees endangered the power grid.