Alarm in Niscemi: the ground under the MUOS is also giving way and now the mayor is urging checks with the US

Niscemi has not yet finished dealing with the damage from the landslide at the end of January when a new alarm shakes the community, this time on the edge of an area of extremely high geopolitical and environmental sensitivity: the U.S. base of MUOS.

The mayor, Massimiliano Conti, has sent an official letter to the command of the Sigonella Naval Air Station to report a subsidence, request urgent clarifications, and urge immediate technical checks.

The spark was ignited on March 8, when the No MUOS Committee released unmistakable photos and videos online.

The images show a collapsed embankment, with disintegrated soil, uprooted tufts of grass, and compromised drainage channels, along the slope that leads from the path of the nature reserve “Sughereta” to Gate 3 of the Naval Radio Transmitter Facility (NRTF), the area where the large satellite dishes of the U.S. Navy's satellite system rise.

Although it does not fall within the heart of the military installation, the instability has affected its perimeter: a delicate contact zone where military infrastructures and the protected natural area, frequented daily by citizens, brush against each other.

The initiative of the mayor does not have an immediately accusatory tone, but responds to the crucial need to obtain a shared technical overview on stability, drainage, access, and monitoring in that critical point, activating institutional channels with the command CNREURAFCENT.

In a city still deeply marked by the major landslide of January 25 and 26, 2026 — an unprecedented event that caused up to 1,500 evacuations, interrupted the SP12, and caused serious damage to homes on the edge of the slope — the information void risks fueling further distrust.

From a geomorphological perspective, this new peripheral landslide is by no means marginal, but should be interpreted as a wake-up call. The substantial report — over 150 pages — prepared by the University of Florence for the Civil Protection describes the Niscemi hill as an interconnected and extremely fragile system. The researchers identify the contrast in permeability between sands and clays, and the channeling of rainwater and urban runoff into the Benefizio stream, as the causes of a landslide that, at its most acute phase, reached a speed of one meter per hour.

In this complex “hydrogeological domino”, the collapses at the edges of a large landslide body often act as early “indicators” of the redistribution of destructive energy underground. Consequently, any local alteration of the water network or a lack of maintenance at the boundaries of the military base could trigger or amplify instabilities in an area already in critical conditions.

The situation unfolds in a climate of strong judicial tension and intense social mobilization. The Prosecutor's Office of Gela, led by prosecutor Salvatore Vella, has opened an investigation for negligent disaster, acquiring the Florentine report on March 9, with the aim of ascertaining any omissions and responsibilities accumulated over 29 years of ignored alerts.

Meanwhile, the Niscemi community — also mindful of the historic landslide of 1997 — has taken to the streets with rallies animated by unions, citizens, and activists. The No MUOS Committee is calling for joint inspections between Civil Protection, Forest Corps, local authorities, and the U.S. Administration, demanding the publication of the drainage maps and the data on inclinometric and piezometric monitoring along the edges of the base.

The coexistence between the 3,000 hectares of protected habitat of the Sughereta and the European node of American military telecommunications has been at the center of a fierce environmental conflict for almost twenty years. Today, however, the integrity of that physical and geological boundary surpasses political dialectics: it is a territorial emergency that requires all institutions to promptly share data, plan urgent interventions for water management, and take on their own responsibilities in terms of prevention, before the mountain inevitably slides down again.