European Commission opens infringement procedure against Romania over coal mine

December 4, 2014

Bucharest -- The European Commission has opened an infringement case against Romania regarding the lignite quarry extension at the Rovinari complex in Gorj County. The Commission suspects Romania of not complying with the EU Directive concerning the environmental impact assessment of projects.

“The Romanian authorities have tried to ignore the impact of wiping off the face of the earth of 700 hectares of forests as well as the impact of the lignite mines operations on both the lives and the health of the people living in the surrounding communities and on the environment,” says lawyer Cătălina Rădulescu from Bankwatch Romania.

“But the Commission made the right decision,” adds Rădulescu. “This is a very big signal for the Romanian government that all the mining projects planned in the Rovinari area cannot just happen without an assessment of their environmental and social impact. We hope that the European Commission’s action together with previous decisions of Romanian national courts, which similarly challenge the legality of expanding mines without proper permits, will force the Oltenia Energy Complex, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, and the Gorj County Environmental Protection Agency to abide the law.”

The mines in question serve the Oltenia Energy Complex, the largest coal electricity producer in Romania. The 700 hectare extension of the quarries is taking place without the proper environmental permits. Some environmental permits have been issued, but only for the deforestation of this surface. Importantly, no assessment of the cumulative impact of the mines expansion has been conducted and no adequate evaluation of the impact on the protected areas neighbouring this perimeter has been completed either. The permitting procedure also failed to ensure the participation of the concerned public.

The infringement case, whose opening was confirmed December 3 by the European Commission, was caused by a suspicion of non-compliance with the Directive 2011/92/EU concerning the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (the so-called EIA Directive).

In July this year one of the environmental permits issued for the deforestation of 59 hectares of land was annulled by the Administrative Court in Bucharest. More court cases are pending concerning other forest perimeters.

“Forests have a great contribution to air pollution reduction, they stabilise the land and are important CO2 sinks,” says Ionut Cepraga, campaigns coordinator for Greenpeace Romania. “From this perspective, to cut down forests in order to make room for more coal burning is irresponsible, especially considering that coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels.

“The decision of the European Commission is just another confirmation that the Oltenia Energy Complex, with the support of authorities in Romania, is trying to bypass current laws,” adds Cepraga.